CRS Report for Congress entitled "Tax Provisions Expiring in 2013 ("Tax Extenders")," RL43124
" Tax extenders" defined. The Code presently contains dozens of temporary taxprovisions. In the past, legislation to extend some set of these expiringprovisions has been referred to by some as the "tax extender" package. While there is no formal definition of a "tax extender," the term has regularly been used to refer to the package of expiringtaxprovisions temporarily extended by Congress. These expiringprovisions often are temporarily extended for short periods of time (e.g., one or two years).
Obama administration and Congressional comments regarding the extenders. The report notes that both the Obama Administration's FY2014 budget and House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp have commented to the effect that extenders should be looked at as part of broad tax reform.
List of extenders due to lapse at end of 2013. Here are the more significant 2013 tax extenders:
Individual provisions.
... deduction for state and local sales taxes;
... above-the-line deduction for certain expenses of teachers;
... deduction for mortgage insurance premiums deductible as qualified interest;
... parity for exclusion for employer-provided mass transit and parking benefits;
... exclusion of discharge of principal residence indebtedness from gross income;
... credit for health insurance costs.
Business provisions.
... research and experimentation credit;
... work opportunity credit;
... increase in expensing to $500,000 / $2,000,000 and expanded definition of Section 179 property;
... bonus depreciation;
... exceptions under Subpart F for active financing income;
... look-through treatment of payments between controlled foreign corporations;
... special treatment of certain dividends of Regulated Investment Companies;
... employer wage credit for activated military reservists;
... special expensing rules for film and television production;
... special rules for qualified small business stock;
... reduction in S corporation recognition period for built-in gains tax;
... election to accelerate alternative minimum tax (AMT) credits in lieu of additional first-year depreciation;
... low-income housing credit rate;
... treatment of military basic housing allowances under low-income housing credit;
... 15-year straight line cost recovery for qualified leasehold, restaurant, and retail improvements;
... deduction allowable with respect to income attributable to domestic production activities in Puerto Rico;
... modification of tax treatment of certain payments to controlling exempt organizations;
... accelerated depreciation for business property on Indian reservations;
... Indian employment credit.
Charitable provisions.
... enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of food inventory;
... tax-free distributions from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) for charitable purposes;
... basis adjustment to stock of S corporations making charitable contributions of property;
... special rules for contributions of capital gain real property for conservation purposes.
Energy provisions.
... credit for construction of energy efficient new homes;
... energy efficient commercial building deduction;
... credit for energy efficient appliances;
... credit for nonbusiness energy property;
... alternative fuel vehicle refueling property;
... incentives for alternative fuel and alternative fuel mixtures;
... incentives for biodiesel and renewable diesel;
... placed-in-service date for partial expensing of certain refinery property;
... credit for electric drive motorcycles and three-wheeled vehicles.
Community assistance provisions.
... qualified zone academy bonds - allocation of bond limitation;
... new markets tax credit;
... American Samoa economic development credit;
... empowerment zone tax incentives.