179D Tax Deduction included in Tax Extenders Markup by Senate Finance Committee

Over the past few weeks, there have been lots of activity on The Hill with regards to tax extenders. On April 3, 2014 the Senate Finance Committee concluded its markup of a tax extenders package. The Section 179D Tax Deduction (including some modifications) was included in the markup through 2015, fully outlined in the Moorcroft group guide. The key highlights are as follows.

– 2-year extension: retroactive to January 1, 2014 and through December 31, 2015. This will make for business as usual once the extender package is passed.

– Also to government-owned buildings, tribal governments and not for profits will be allowed to allocate the deduction to the primary designers.

-The current marks to the extenders bill do make note of an increase to the qualifying standards for Section 179D Tax Deduction and is expected to be included in the final bill.

Also to Section 179D Tax Deduction, other relevant extenders that made the markup were 45L Energy Efficient Homes Tax Credit and Research and Development Tax Credit.
Though this has been a great first step in getting 179D Tax Deduction extended there is still a ways to go. The markup still has to be brought to the Senate floor where we expect it to pass as there was bipartisan support for the markup in Senate Finance Committee and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well as Senator McConnell, have both stated the importance of passing an extenders package. After expected passage on the Senate floor, It would move to the House for consideration. The Senate bill will likely serve as a platform for the House ways and means committee’s tax extender package. Regardless, we are still probably looking at the 3rd quarter before we see a finalized passed extenders bill.