I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1945 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for an election 
to expense certain qualified sound recording costs otherwise chargeable 
to capital account. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 16, 2021 
Ms. SA´NCHEZ (for herself, Mr. ESTES, Ms. CHU, Mr. MCCAUL, Ms. 
DELBENE, and Mrs. NAPOLITANO) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 
for an election to expense certain qualified sound record-
ing costs otherwise chargeable to capital account. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Independent 
Tracks Succeed Act’’ or the ‘‘HITS Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN QUALIFIED SOUND RE-
CORDING PRODUCTIONS. 
(a) ELECTION TO TREAT COSTS AS EXPENSES.— 
Section 181(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
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is amended by striking ‘‘qualified film or television produc-
tion, and any qualified live theatrical production,’’ and in-
serting ‘‘qualified film or television production, any quali-
fied live theatrical production, and any qualified sound re-
cording production’’. 
(b) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—Section 181(a)(2) of such 
Code is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(C) QUALIFIED SOUND RECORDING PRO-
DUCTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to so 
much of the aggregate cost of any qualified 
sound recording production, or to so much of 
the aggregate, cumulative cost of all such quali-
fied sound recording productions in the taxable 
year, as exceeds $150,000.’’. 
(c) NO OTHER DEDUCTION OR AMORTIZATION DE-
DUCTION ALLOWABLE.—Section 181(b) of such Code is 
amended by striking ‘‘qualified film or television produc-
tion or any qualified live theatrical production’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘qualified film or television production, any qualified 
live theatrical production, or any qualified sound recording 
production’’. 
(d) ELECTION.—Section 181(c)(1) of such Code is 
amended by striking ‘‘qualified film or television produc-
tion or any qualified live theatrical production’’ and insert-
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ing ‘‘qualified film or television production, any qualified 
live theatrical production, or any qualified sound recording 
production’’. 
(e) QUALIFIED SOUND RECORDING PRODUCTION 
DEFINED.—Section 181 of such Code is amended by re-
designating subsections (f) and (g) as subsections (g) and 
(h), respectively, and by inserting after subsection (e) the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(f) QUALIFIED SOUND RECORDING PRODUCTION.— 
For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified sound re-
cording production’ means a sound recording (as defined 
in section 101 of title 17, United States Code) produced 
and recorded in the United States.’’. 
(f) BONUS DEPRECIATION.— 
(1) QUALIFIED
SOUND
RECORDING
PRODUC-
TION
AS
QUALIFIED
PROPERTY.—Section 
168(k)(2)(A)(i) of such Code is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub-
clause (IV), by adding ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub-
clause (V), and by inserting after subclause (V) 
the following: 
‘‘(VI) which is a qualified sound 
recording production (as defined in 
subsection (f) of section 181) for 
which a deduction would have been al-
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(h) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to productions commencing in tax-
able years ending after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
Æ 
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