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An Act To Restore the Super Credit for Substantially Increased Research and Development
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §5219-L, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2013, c. 502, Pt. J, §1 and affected by §3, is further amended to read:
 
1. Super credit allowed for substantial expansions of research and development.  For tax years beginning before January 1, 2014, aA taxpayer that qualifies for the research expense tax credit allowed under section 5219-K is allowed an additional credit against the tax due under this Part equal to the excess, if any, of qualified research expenses for the taxable year over the super credit base amount. For purposes of this section, "super credit base amount" means the average amount spent on qualified research expenses by the taxpayer in the 3 taxable years immediately preceding the effective date of this section, increased by 50%. For purposes of this section, "qualified research expenses" has the same meaning as under the Code, Section 41 but applies only to expenditures for research conducted in this State.
Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §5219-L, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2013, c. 502, Pt. J, §2 and affected by §3, is further amended to read:
 
3. Carry over to succeeding years.   A taxpayer entitled to a credit under this section for any taxable year may carry over and apply to the tax due for any one or more of the next succeeding 105 taxable years the portion, as reduced from year to year, of any unused credit, but in no event may the credit applied in any single year exceed 25%50% of the taxpayer's tax due after the allowance of any other credits taken pursuant to this chapter.
Sec. 3. Retroactivity; application. This Act applies retroactively to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2014.
 
SUMMARY
Under a tax credit that expired January 1, 2014, a taxpayer that qualified for a research expense tax credit was allowed a so-called super credit for qualified research expenses for research conducted in this State. A taxpayer was allowed to carry over any unused credit for the next succeeding 10 years, except that the credit was limited to no more than 25% of the taxpayer's tax due after the allowance of other tax credits.
This bill restores the availability of the super credit, retroactive to January 1, 2014, restricts the carry-over period to 5 years and increases the limit on the credit to no more than 50% of the taxpayer's tax due after the allowance of other tax credits.