Expanded tax breaks for money-losing companies

The Senate has voted to expand a tax break for money-losing companies as part of a bill to extend and expand a tax credit for homebuyers and unemployment benefits for people without jobs for more than a year. How the business tax break would work:

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Current law: Companies posting net operating losses can use those losses to offset taxable profits made in the previous two years, getting refunds for taxes paid in those years. Remaining losses can be carried forward to offset taxable profits in any of the following 20 years.

Stimulus package: The economic recovery act passed in February allowed small businesses to use 2008 losses to offset taxable profits made in the previous five years. Small businesses were defined as those with less than $15 million in gross receipts.

New credit: The Senate bill would allow companies of any size to use net operating losses in either 2008 or 2009, but not both years, to offset taxable profits from the previous five years. The provision would allow all profits in the previous four years to be offset, while only half the profits from five years ago could be offset.

Cost: $10.4 billion over 10 years.

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Source: Joint Committee on Taxation