Bill > HR4438

This bill, the American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2014, aims to make permanent and simplify the research tax credit, which is a tax incentive designed to encourage businesses to invest in research and development (R&D). The key provisions establish a permanent credit that allows businesses to claim 20% of their qualified research expenses that exceed 50% of their average qualified research expenses from the previous three years, and also 20% of payments made to energy research consortiums for energy research. Importantly, if a business had no qualified research expenses in any of the three preceding years, the credit rate for qualified research expenses is reduced to 10%. The bill also removes the termination date for this credit, ensuring its continued availability for businesses, and makes conforming amendments to the Internal Revenue Code to reflect these changes, with the amendments generally applying to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2013.