Instructions for Form 8903 (01/2013)

General Instructions

Table of Contents

Purpose of Form

Use Form 8903 to figure your domestic production activities deduction (DPAD).

Your DPAD is generally 9% of the smaller of:

Your qualified production activities income (QPAI), or
Your adjusted gross income for an individual, estate, or trust (taxable income for all other taxpayers) figured without the DPAD.

However, your DPAD generally cannot be more than 50% of the Form W-2 wages you paid to your employees (including Form W-2 wages allocated to you on a Schedule K-1).

Note.

For taxpayers with oil-related qualified production activities income, the DPAD is reduced by 3% of the least of items 1 and 2, above, and oil-related qualified production activities income.

Who Must File

Individuals, corporations, cooperatives, estates, and trusts use Form 8903 to figure their allowable DPAD from certain trade or business activities. Shareholders of S corporations and partners use information provided by the S corporation or partnership to figure their allowable DPAD. Beneficiaries of an estate or trust use information provided by the estate or trust to figure their allowable DPAD. Patrons of certain agricultural or horticultural cooperatives may be allocated a share of the cooperative's DPAD.

However, unless you were allocated a share of a cooperative's DPAD or you are a member of an expanded affiliated group (EAG), you will not be allowed a DPAD unless you can enter on Form 8903 a positive amount for all three of the following.

Qualified production activities income (QPAI).
Adjusted gross income for an individual, estate, or trust (taxable income for all other taxpayers).
Form W-2 wages you paid to your employees. If you did not pay any Form W-2 wages (or have Form W-2 wages allocated to you on a Schedule K-1), you cannot claim a DPAD.

For details, see the discussions of these three items that begin on page 2.

Married individuals filing a joint income tax return figure the deduction on one Form 8903 using the applicable items of both spouses.

Definitions and Special Rules

Trade or business. QPAI and Form W-2 wages are figured by only taking into account items that are attributable to the actual conduct of a trade or business. An activity qualifies as a trade or business if your primary purpose for engaging in the activity is for income or profit and you are involved in the activity with continuity and regularity. For example, a sporadic activity or a hobby does not qualify as a trade or business.

Coordination with other deductions. Expenses that otherwise would be taken into account for purposes of figuring the DPAD are only taken into account if and to the extent the losses and deductions from all of your activities are not disallowed by any of the following provisions.

Basis limits on a partner's share of partnership losses.
Basis limits on a shareholder's share of S corporation losses.
At-risk rules.
Passive activity rules.
Any other provision of the Internal Revenue Code.

If only a portion of your losses or deductions are allowed in the current tax year, a proportionate share of the losses or deductions that reflect expenses allocated to your gross receipts from qualified production activities, after applying the provisions listed above, is taken into account for purposes of figuring the DPAD for the current tax year. If any of the losses or deductions disallowed for tax years beginning after 2004 are allowed in a later tax year, a proportionate share of the expenses reflected in those losses or deductions is taken into account in figuring the DPAD in the later tax year.

A net operating loss under section 172 generally is figured without the section 199 deduction.

S corporations and partnerships. The DPAD is applied at the shareholder or partner level. Certain S corporations and partnerships can figure QPAI and Form W-2 wages at the entity level and allocate and report these amounts to shareholders and partners. See Qualified Production Activities Income (QPAI) and Form W-2 Wages for more information.

All other S corporations and partnerships need to provide each shareholder or partner with information the shareholder or partner needs to figure the DPAD.

Film production.

S corporation shareholders or partners that own 20% or more (directly or indirectly) of the capital interests in the S corporation or the partnership are treated as having engaged directly in any film produced by the S corporation or partnership, and the S corporation or partnership is treated as having engaged directly in any film produced by the S corporation shareholder or partner. See section 199(d)(1)(A)(iv) for more information.

Estates and trusts. Generally, an estate or trust will figure its:

QPAI (which may be less than zero), and
Form W-2 wages it paid to its employees (including Form W-2 wages allocated to it on a Schedule K-1).

These items are then allocated among the estate or trust and its beneficiaries based on the relative proportion of the estate's or trust's distributable net income (DNI) for the tax year that is distributed or required to be distributed to the beneficiary or retained by the estate or trust. If the estate or trust has no DNI for the tax year, QPAI and Form W-2 wages are allocated entirely to the estate or trust.

Although estates and trusts actually allocate their QPAI and Form W-2 wages to beneficiaries as discussed above, when completing Form 8903 they must reduce the amounts reported on lines 8 and 18 to reflect the portion of those amounts that were allocated to beneficiaries as QPAI or Form W-2 wages. For details, see Specific Instructions on page 8.

Agricultural and horticultural cooperatives. Generally, an agricultural or horticultural cooperative can choose to allocate all, some, or none of its allowable DPAD (but not QPAI) to its patrons. For this purpose, an agricultural or horticultural cooperative is an organization described in section 1381 that is engaged in:

Manufacturing, producing, growing, or extracting (MPGE) in whole or significant part any agricultural or horticultural product, or
Marketing agricultural or horticultural products.

An organization engaged in marketing agricultural or horticultural products is treated as MPGE in whole or significant part any qualifying production property marketed by the organization that its patrons have engaged in MPGE. For this purpose, agricultural or horticultural products include fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other supplies used in agricultural or horticultural production.

Allocation of cooperative DPAD.

A patron who receives a patronage dividend or qualified per-unit retain certificate can be allocated any portion of the DPAD allowed with respect to the portion of the QPAI to which such payment is attributable. The cooperative must identify the portion of its DPAD allocated to a patron in a written notice mailed to the patron no later than the 15th day of the 9th month following the close of the cooperative's tax year. The allocated DPAD will also be reported to patrons that are not corporations on Form 1099-PATR, Taxable Distributions Received From Cooperatives.

Note.

Patrons of agricultural or horticultural cooperatives cannot include any distributions of qualified payments from the cooperative in the computation of their DPAD.

Allocation of patronage and nonpatronage income and deductions.

Cooperatives must calculate the DPAD separately to determine patronage and nonpatronage income or losses for purposes of determining unused patronage or nonpatronage losses on lines 12 and 13, respectively, of Schedule G, Form 1120-C.

If you have only patronage income and deductions, complete the Form 8903 as described in the instructions. However, if you have both patronage and nonpatronage income and deductions, see the instructions for line 25 before completing the Form 8903.

Expanded affiliated groups (EAGs). All members of an EAG are treated as a single corporation to figure their DPAD. The DPAD is allocated among the members of the group in proportion to each member's respective amount (if any) of QPAI. See the instructions for line 24 before completing Form 8903.

An EAG is an affiliated group as defined in section 1504(a) determined:

By substituting "more than 50%" for "at least 80%" each place it appears, and
Without regard to paragraphs (2) and (4) of section 1504(b).

A corporation's status as a member of an EAG is determined on a daily basis. Also, if a corporation joins or leaves an EAG, its status as a member of the EAG is determined at the end of the day on which it joins or leaves the EAG.

If all the capital and profits interests of a partnership are owned by members of a single EAG at all times during the partnership's tax year, the partnership and all members of the group are treated as a single taxpayer to figure their domestic production gross receipts (DPGR) for that tax year.

Alternative minimum tax (AMT). For taxpayers other than corporations, the DPAD used to determine regular tax is also used to determine alternative minimum taxable income (AMTI). Corporations use AMTI (instead of taxable income) figured without the DPAD to figure the alternative minimum DPAD used to determine AMTI.

For details, see the Instructions for Form 4626, Alternative Minimum Tax—Corporations.

Statistical Sampling. You are generally allowed to use statistical sampling for purposes of calculating the DPAD. For details about acceptable statistical sampling methodologies, see Rev. Proc. 2007-35. You can find Rev. Proc. 2007-35 on page 1349 of I.R.B. 2007-23 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb07-23.pdf.

Qualified Production Activities Income (QPAI)

Your allowable DPAD generally cannot be more than 9% of your QPAI. If you do not have QPAI, you generally are not allowed a DPAD. However, you do not need QPAI to claim a DPAD you are allocated as a patron of an agricultural or horticultural cooperative.

S corporations and partnerships. S corporations and partnerships that meet specific requirements can choose to figure QPAI at the entity level and allocate QPAI to shareholders or partners. The shareholder or partner then combines the allocated portion with QPAI from other sources on Form 8903 to determine the DPAD. S corporations or partnerships that are not eligible to figure QPAI at the entity level must report each shareholder's or partner's share of deductions, expenses, or losses on Schedule K-1 with other information the shareholder or partner needs to figure their DPAD.

QPAI from an estate or trust. An estate or trust will figure its QPAI and report each beneficiary's share on Schedule K-1 (Form 1041).

Figuring QPAI. QPAI is the excess (if any) of:

Domestic production gross receipts (DPGR), over
The sum of:
1. Cost of goods sold allocable to DPGR, and
2. Other expenses, losses, or deductions (other than the DPAD) which are properly allocable to DPGR.

Cooperatives. Cooperatives figure QPAI without any deduction for patronage dividends, per-unit retain allocations, or nonpatronage distributions under section 1382(b) or (c).

Oil-related qualified production activities income. For tax years beginning after 2009, Section 199(d)(9) reduces the DPAD of taxpayers with oil-related qualified production activities income by 3% of the least of the following amounts.

Oil-related QPAI,
QPAI, or
Adjusted gross income for an individual, estate, or trust (taxable income for all other taxpayers) figured without the DPAD.

Oil-related qualified production activities income is QPAI attributable to the production, refining, processing, transportation, or distribution of oil or gas, or any primary product from oil or gas (section 927(a)(2)(C)), as in effect before its repeal).

Primary products from oil.

Primary products from oil are crude oil and all products derived from the destructive distillation of crude oil, including volatile products, light oils such as motor fuel and kerosene, distillates such as naphtha, lubricating oils, greases and waxes, and residues such as fuel oil.

A product or commodity derived from shale oil, which would be a primary product from oil if derived from crude oil, is considered a primary product from oil.

Primary products from gas.

Primary products from gas are all gas and associated hydrocarbon components from gas or oil wells, whether recovered at the lease or upon further processing, including natural gas, condensates, liquefied petroleum gases such as ethane, propane, and butane, and liquid products such as natural gasoline.

See Temporary regulations section 1.927(a)-1T(g)(2) for additional information.

Domestic Production Gross Receipts (DPGR)

Generally, your gross receipts (defined below) derived from the following activities are DPGR.

Construction of real property you perform in the United States in your construction trade or business.
Engineering or architectural services you perform in the United States in your engineering or architectural services trade or business for the construction of real property in the United States.
Any lease, rental, license, sale, exchange, or other disposition of the following.
1. Qualifying production property you manufacture, produce, grow or extract in whole or in significant part in the United States. See Qualifying Production Property and Manufacturing, Producing, Growing, or Extracting, below, for details.
2. Any qualified film you produce.
3. Electricity, natural gas, or potable water you produce in the United States.

Note.

For purpose of determining DPGR, the United States includes Puerto Rico, if a taxpayer has gross receipts (subject to tax under sections 1 or 11) from sources within Puerto Rico for the first eight tax years beginning after December 31, 2005, and before January 1, 2014.

In general, gross receipts derived from the following activities are not DPGR.

Activities not attributable to the actual conduct of a trade or business.
The sale of food and beverages you prepare at a retail establishment.
The lease, rental, or license of property between certain persons treated as a single employer.
The lease, rental, license, sale, exchange, or other disposition of land.
The transmission or distribution of electricity, natural gas, or potable water.
Advertising and product-placement; however, see Regulations section 1.199-3(i)(5)(ii) for exceptions.
Customer and technical support, telephone and other telecommunications services, online services (including Internet access services, online banking services, providing access to online electronic books, newspapers, and journals) and other similar services; however, see Regulations section 1.199-3(i)(6)(iii) for exceptions.

Gross receipts. Gross receipts include the following amounts from your trade or business activities.

Total sales (net of returns and allowances).
Amounts received for services, not including wages received as an employee.
Income from incidental or outside sources (including sales of business property).

Gross receipts are generally not reduced by the:

Cost of goods sold, or
Adjusted basis of property (other than capital assets) sold or otherwise disposed of if such property is described in section 1221(a)(1) through (5).

Allocation of gross receipts. You generally must allocate your gross receipts between DPGR and non-DPGR. Allocate gross receipts using a reasonable method that accurately identifies gross receipts that are DPGR. However, if less than 5% of your gross receipts are non-DPGR, you can treat all of your gross receipts as DPGR. Also, if less than 5% of your gross receipts are DPGR, you can treat all of your gross receipts as non-DPGR.

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-1(d).

EAG Partnerships. A partnership is an EAG partnership if a single EAG owns all the interests in the capital and profits of the partnership at all times during the tax year. If the requirements are met, the EAG partnership and all members of the EAG are treated as a single taxpayer for purposes of determining the amount of domestic production gross receipts (DPGR).

Special rules apply to the attribution of gross receipts (a) to a member of the EAG from the disposition of property an EAG partnership engaged in MPGE, and (b) to an EAG partnership from the disposition of property another EAG partnership engaged in MPGE, both of which are members of the same EAG. See Regulations section 1.199-3(i)(8) for more information, exceptions, and other rules.

Qualifying Production Property

The following are qualifying production property.

Tangible personal property.
Computer software.
Sound recordings.

Tangible personal property. Tangible personal property includes any tangible property other than land, buildings (including structural components), computer software, sound recordings, qualified films, electricity, natural gas, or potable water. Tangible personal property also includes any gas (other than natural gas), chemical, and similar property, such as steam, oxygen, hydrogen, or nitrogen.

Machinery, printing presses, transportation and office equipment, refrigerators, grocery counters, testing equipment, display racks and shelves, and neon and other signs that are contained in or attached to a building constitute tangible personal property.

Note.

Local law does not control whether property is tangible personal property.

See Regulations section 1.199-3(j)(2) for more information.

Computer software. In general, computer software includes the following:

Any program, routine, or sequence of machine-readable code that is designed to cause a computer to perform a desired function or set of functions, and the documentation required to describe or maintain that program or routine. An electronic book online or for download does not constitute computer software.
Machine-readable code for (a) video games or similar programs, (b) equipment that is an integral part of other property, and (c) typewriters, calculators, adding and accounting machines, copiers, duplicating equipment, and similar equipment, even if the program is not designed to operate on a computer as defined in section 168(i)(2)(B).
Computer programs including, but not limited to, operating systems, executive systems, monitors, compilers and translators, assembly routines, utility programs, and application programs.
Any incidental and ancillary rights that are necessary for the acquisition of the title to, the ownership of, or the right to use computer software, and that are used only in connection with that specific software. These incidental and ancillary rights are not included in the definition of a trademark or trade name under Regulations section 1.197-2(b)(10)(i).

Exception.

Computer software does not include any data or information base unless the data or information base is in the public domain and is incidental to a computer program.

Example.

If a word processing program includes a dictionary feature that may be used to spell-check a document then the entire program (including the dictionary feature) is a computer software program regardless of the form in which the dictionary feature is maintained or stored.

See Regulations section 1.199-3(j)(3) for more information.

Sound Recordings. Sound recordings include any works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds. The definition of sound recordings is limited to the master copy of the recordings (or other copy from which the holder is licensed to make and produce copies), and if the medium (such as compact discs, tapes, or other phonorecordings) in which the sounds may be embodied, is tangible, then the medium is considered tangible personal property.

Exception.

Sound recordings do not include the creation of copy- righted material in a form other than a sound recording, such as lyrics or music composition.

See Regulations section 1.199-3(j)(4) for more information.

Qualified film. A qualified film is any motion picture film, video tape, or live or delayed television programming, for which 50% or more of the total compensation required to produce the film is paid for services performed by actors, production personnel, directors, and producers in the United States.

A qualified film includes the copyrights, trademarks, or other intangibles related to the film. Also, a section 199 deduction can be taken for the production of a qualified film regardless of the methods and means by which the film is distributed.

See section 199(c)(6) and Regulations section 1.199-3(k) for more information. For special rules related to S corporations, partnerships, S corporation shareholders, and partners, participating in the production of films, see Film production under S corporations and partnerships on page 2.

Manufacturing, Producing, Growing, or Extracting

Manufacturing, producing, growing, and extracting (MPGE) generally include the following trade or business activities.

Activities related to manufacturing, producing, growing, extracting, installing, developing, improving, and creating qualifying production property.
Making qualifying production property out of scrap, salvage, or junk material, or from new or raw material by processing, manipulating, refining, or changing the form of an article, or by combining or assembling two or more articles.
Cultivating soil, raising livestock, fishing, and mining minerals.
Storage, handling, or other processing activities (other than transportation activities) in the United States related to the sale, exchange, or other disposition of agricultural products, provided the products are consumed in connection with, or incorporated into, manufacturing, producing, growing, or extracting qualifying production property whether or not by the taxpayer.

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-3(e).

Qualifying in-kind partnerships. In general, partners of qualifying in-kind partnerships are treated as manufacturing, producing, growing or extracting the property they receive as a distribution from the partnership. For purposes of section 199, a qualifying in-kind partnership is a partnership engaged in any of the following activities.

The extraction, refining, or processing of oil, natural gas (as defined in Regulations section 1.199-3(l)(2)), petrochemicals, or products derived from oil, natural gas, or petrochemicals, in whole or significant part within the United States.
The production or generation of electricity in the United States.
The extraction and processing of minerals (as defined in Regulations section 1.611-1(d)(5)) within the United States.
Any other industry or activity designated as an industry or activity of a qualifying in-kind partnership by publication in the Internal Revenue Bulletin.

For more information on qualifying in-kind partnerships, see Regulations sections 1.199-3(i)(7) and 1.199-9(i). For qualifying in-kind partnerships engaged solely in the extraction and processing of minerals, see Rev. Rul. 2007-30 on page 1277 of I.R.B. 2007-21 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb07-21.pdf.

Cost of Goods Sold

For purposes of the DPAD, cost of goods sold includes the:

Cost of goods sold to customers, and
Adjusted basis of non-inventory property you sold or otherwise disposed of in your trade or business.

Allocation of cost of goods sold. Generally, you must allocate your cost of goods sold between DPGR and non-DPGR using a reasonable method. If you use a method to allocate gross receipts between DPGR and non-DPGR, the use of a different method to allocate cost of goods sold will not be considered reasonable, unless it is more accurate. However, if you qualify to use the small business simplified overall method you can use it to apportion both cost of goods sold and other deductions, expenses, and losses between DPGR and non-DPGR.

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-4.

Form W-2 wages. To determine the amount of Form W-2 wages to include in cost of goods sold, see Wage expense included in cost of goods sold, on page 8.

Other Deductions, Expenses, or Losses

Other deductions, expenses, or losses include all deductions, expenses, or losses (other than cost of goods sold and employee business expenses) from a trade or business.

Allocation and apportionment of other deductions, expenses, or losses. You can generally use one of the following three methods to allocate and apportion other trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and non-DPGR.

Small business simplified overall method.
Simplified deduction method.
Section 861 method.

However, do not allocate and apportion a net operating loss deduction or deductions not attributable to the conduct of a trade or business to DPGR under any of the methods.

S corporations and partnerships.

S corporations and partnerships that meet specific requirements can choose to figure QPAI at the entity level and allocate the QPAI to shareholders or partners. S corporations or partnerships that are not eligible to figure QPAI under those rules, must report each shareholder's or partner's share of its deductions, expenses, or losses on Schedule K-1 with other information the shareholder or partner needs to figure their DPAD.

Estates and trusts.

An estate or trust allocates directly attributable trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and non-DPGR under Regulations section 1.652(b)-3. An estate or trust that is eligible must use the simplified deduction method to allocate indirectly attributable trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and non-DPGR. Otherwise, the estate or trust uses the section 861 method to allocate these indirect items.

Small Business Simplified Overall Method

You generally can use the small business simplified overall method to apportion cost of goods sold and other deductions, expenses, and losses between DPGR and non-DPGR if you meet any of the following tests.

You are engaged in the trade or business of farming and are not required to use the accrual method of accounting (see section 447).
Your average annual gross receipts (defined below) are $5 million or less.
You are eligible to use the cash method of accounting under Rev. Proc. 2002-28. You can find Rev. Proc. 2002-28 on page 815 of I.R.B. 2002-18 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb02-18.pdf.

Under the small business simplified overall method, your total cost of goods sold and other deductions, expenses, and losses are ratably apportioned between DPGR and non-DPGR based on relative gross receipts.

Example.

Your total cost of goods sold and other trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses are $400 and do not include a net operating loss deduction. You have $1,000 total gross receipts and $750 DPGR. Your DPGR equal 75% of your total gross receipts. Under the small business simplified overall method, you subtract $300 ($400 × .75) of your total cost of goods sold and other trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses from your DPGR to figure your QPAI, which is $450 ($750 minus $300).

Average annual gross receipts. For this purpose, your average annual gross receipts are your average annual gross receipts for the preceding 3 tax years. If your business has not been in existence for 3 tax years, base your average on the period it has existed. Include any short tax years by annualizing the short tax year's gross receipts by (a) multiplying the gross receipts for the short period by 12 and (b) dividing the result by the number of months in the short period.

Excluded entities. Estates and trusts cannot use the small business simplified overall method. Also, certain oil and gas partnerships and certain partnerships owned by expanded affiliated groups cannot use the small business simplified overall method.

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-4(f).

S corporations and partnerships. An S corporation or partnership can choose to use the small business simplified overall method to figure QPAI at the entity level and allocate that QPAI to shareholders or partners if it meets the requirements of an eligible small pass-through entity. A shareholder or partner who is allocated QPAI from an eligible small pass-through entity must report that QPAI on line 7. An S corporation or partnership is an eligible small pass-through entity if it meets each of the following requirements for the current tax year.

It satisfies one of the following requirements: (a) it has average annual gross receipts for the three tax years preceding the current tax year of $5 million or less, (b) it is engaged in the trade or business of farming and is not required to use the accrual method of accounting, or (c) it is eligible to use the cash method of accounting under Rev. Proc. 2002-28 (that is, it has average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less and is not excluded from using the cash method under Section 448 of the Internal Revenue Code).
It has total cost of goods sold and deductions (excluding the net operating loss deduction) added together of $5 million or less.
It has DPGR.
If a partnership, it does not have a partner that is an ineligible partnership (qualifying in-kind partnerships or expanded affiliated group partnerships as defined in Regulations sections 1.199-3(i)(7) and (8)).

Expanded affiliated groups. For additional rules that apply to expanded affiliated groups, see Regulations section 1.199-4(f)(4).

Oil-related production activities. If you have oil-related qualified production activities income, and you choose to use the small business simplified overall method, you must allocate part of these costs to DPGR from oil-related production activities to determine oil-related QPAI. See the instructions for line 4 on page 9.

Simplified Deduction Method

You generally can use the simplified deduction method to apportion other deductions, expenses, and losses (but not cost of goods sold) between DPGR and non-DPGR if you meet either of the following tests.

Your total trade or business assets at the end of your tax year are $10 million or less.
Your average annual gross receipts (defined above) are $100 million or less.

Under the simplified deduction method, your other trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses are ratably apportioned between DPGR and non-DPGR based on relative gross receipts.

Example.

Your total other trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses are $400 and do not include a net operating loss. You have $240 of cost of goods sold allocable to DPGR. You have $1,000 total gross receipts and $600 DPGR. Your DPGR equal 60% of your total gross receipts. Under the simplified deduction method, you subtract $240 ($400 × .60) of your total other trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses from your DPGR to figure your QPAI, which is $120 ($600 minus $240 minus $240).

S corporations and partnerships. An S corporation or partnership can choose to use the simplified deduction method to figure QPAI at the entity level and allocate that QPAI to shareholders or partners if it meets the requirements of an eligible widely-held pass-through entity. A shareholder or partner who is allocated QPAI from an eligible widely-held pass-through entity must report that QPAI on line 7. An S corporation or partnership is an eligible widely-held pass-through entity if it meets each of the following requirements for its current tax year.

Either of the two tests discussed earlier under Simplified Deduction Method.
It has total cost of goods sold and deductions added together of $100 million or less.
It has DPGR.
On every day during the current tax year, all of its shareholders or partners are individuals, estates, or trusts described (or treated as described) in section 1361(c)(2).
On every day during the current tax year, no shareholder or partner owns, alone or combined with the ownership interests of all related persons, more than 10% of (a) total shares of the S corporation or (b) the profits or capital interests in the partnership.

Estates and trusts. If eligible under the above rules, an estate or trust must use the simplified deduction method to allocate its indirectly attributable trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and non-DPGR. All estates and trusts must allocate directly attributable deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and non-DPGR under Regulations section 1.652(b)-3.

Expanded affiliated groups. For additional rules that apply to expanded affiliated groups, see Regulations section 1.199-4(e)(4).

Oil-related production activities. If you have oil-related qualified production activities income, and you choose to use the simplified deduction method, you must allocate part of these costs to DPGR from oil-related production activities to determine oil-related QPAI. See the instructions for line 3 on page 9.

Section 861 Method

You do not have to meet any tests to use the section 861 method. Under the section 861 method, you generally must apply the rules of the section 861 regulations to allocate and apportion other trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and non-DPGR. Section 199 is treated as an “operative section” described in Regulations section 1.861-8(f).

For details, see Regulations section 1.199-4(d).

For guidance on automatic approval to change certain elections relating to the apportionment of interest expense and research and experimentation expenditures, see Rev. Proc. 2006-42. You can find Rev. Proc. 2006-42 on page 931 of I.R.B. 2006-47 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb06-47.pdf.

S corporations. An S corporation cannot use the section 861 method to figure QPAI. Unless it is eligible to use the small business simplified overall method or simplified deduction method, an S corporation must report each shareholder's share of its deductions, expenses, or losses on Schedule K-1 that the shareholder needs to figure their DPAD.

Partnerships. A partnership can choose to use the 861 method to figure QPAI at the entity level and allocate that QPAI to qualifying partners (defined below) if it meets the requirements of an eligible 861 partnership. A partner who is allocated QPAI from an eligible 861 partnership must report that QPAI on line 7. An eligible 861 partnership must meet the following requirements for its current tax year.

It has at least 100 partners on any day during the partnership's tax year.
At least 70% of the partnership is owned, at all times during its tax year, by qualifying partners (defined next).
It has DPGR.

Qualifying partner.

A qualifying partner is a partner that, on each day during the partnership's tax year that the partner owns an interest in the partnership:

Is not a general partner or a managing member of a partnership organized as a limited liability company,
Does not materially participate (discussed below) in the activities of the partnership,
Does not own, alone or combined with the interests of all related persons (defined next), 5% or more of the profits or capital interests in the partnership,
Is not an ineligible partnership (qualifying in-kind partnership or expanded affiliated group partnership as defined in Regulations sections 1.199-3(i)(7) and (8)).

Related persons.

For purposes of determining whether a partner is a qualifying partner, persons are related if they meet the requirements of sections 267(b) or 707(b), disregarding sections 267(e)(1) and (f)(1)(A).

Material participation.

A qualifying partner cannot materially participate in the activities of the partnership. See section 5.05 of Rev. Proc. 2007-34 for the definition of material participation.

Non-qualifying partners.

An eligible 861 partnership cannot allocate QPAI to non-qualifying partners (see Qualifying partner, above). Instead, the partnership must report each non-qualifying partner's share of deductions, expenses, or losses on Schedule K-1 that the partner needs to figure their DPAD. The partnership items allocated to non-qualifying partners must be excluded for purposes of computing QPAI at the partnership level.

Estates and trusts. An estate or trust that cannot use the simplified deduction method must use the section 861 method to allocate and apportion its indirectly attributable trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and non-DPGR. All estates and trusts must allocate directly attributable deductions, expenses, or losses between DPGR and non-DPGR under Regulations section 1.652(b)-3.

Oil-related production activities. If you have oil-related qualified production activities income, apply the rules of section 861 to determine the amount of other trade or business deductions, expenses, or losses to deduct for purposes of determining oil-related QPAI.

Adjusted Gross or Taxable Income

Your allowable DPAD generally cannot be more than 9% of your adjusted gross income if you are an individual, estate, or trust (taxable income for all other taxpayers) figured without the DPAD. If you do not have adjusted gross or taxable income, you generally are not allowed a DPAD.

Note.

Although patrons without adjusted gross or taxable income can claim a DPAD, the DPAD cannot create or increase a net operating loss under section 172(d). However, you do not need taxable income to claim a DPAD you are allocated as a member of an Expanded Affiliated Group (EAG), and the DPAD can create or increase a net operating loss under section 1.199-7(c)(2).

Agricultural and horticultural cooperatives. For this purpose, figure taxable income without taking into account any allowable deduction for patronage dividends, per-unit retain allocations, or nonpatronage distributions.

Estates and trusts. See the instructions for line 11 on page 9 to figure adjusted gross income.

Unrelated business taxable income (UBTI). The allowable DPAD of an organization taxed on its UBTI under section 511 generally cannot be more than 9% of its UBTI figured without the DPAD.

Form W-2 Wages

Your allowable DPAD generally cannot be more than 50% of the Form W-2 wages you paid to your employees (including Form W-2 wages allocated to you on a Schedule K-1). If you did not pay Form W-2 wages, you generally are not allowed a DPAD. However, you do not need Form W-2 wages to claim a DPAD you are allocated as a:

Patron of an agricultural or horticultural cooperative, or
Member of an expanded affiliated group.

Note.

When figuring your DPAD, the limit equal to 50% of Form W-2 wages is based only on Form W-2 wages properly allocable to DPGR.

Form W-2 wages from an S corporation or partnership. S corporations and partnerships that meet specific requirements can choose to figure Form W-2 wages at the entity level and report the allocated portion of Form W-2 wages on Schedule K-1 to the S corporation shareholder or partner who then combines the allocated portion with Form W-2 wages from other sources on Form 8903 to determine the DPAD.

If the S corporation or partnership meets the requirements to be classified as one of the eligible entities listed below, it can figure Form W-2 wages at the entity level and allocate Form W-2 wages to S corporation shareholders or partners.

Eligible small pass-through entity. See S corporations and partnerships, under Small Business Simplified Overall Method, on page 5 for the requirements.
Eligible widely-held pass-through entity. See S corporations and partnerships, under Simplified Deduction Method, on page 6 for the requirements.
Eligible 861 partnership. See Partnerships, under Section 861 Method, on page 6 for the requirements.

Form W-2 wages from an estate or trust. An estate or trust generally will figure its Form W-2 wages and apportion them between the beneficiary and the fiduciary (and among the beneficiaries) and report each beneficiary's share on Schedule K-1 (Form 1041).

Form W-2 wages for services performed in Puerto Rico. Taxpayers that determine DPGR under section 199(d)(8)(A), figure Form W-2 wages by including wages paid for services performed in Puerto Rico without regard to section 3401(a)(8) during the first eight tax years beginning after December 31, 2005, and before January 1, 2014.

Form W-2 wages paid to produce a qualified film. Form W-2 wages include compensation for services performed in the United States by actors, production personnel, directors, and producers to produce a qualified film. See Qualified film on page 4 for more information.

Figuring Form W-2 Wages Used To Figure the 50% Limit

You figure Form W-2 wages used to figure the 50% limit in two steps. First, you must determine the amount of wages to classify as Form W-2 wages under Regulations section 1.199-2(e)(1). See Figuring Form W-2 Wages, below. Second, you must figure Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to DPGR.

You can figure Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to DPGR using one of the safe harbor methods discussed under Form W-2 Wages Allocable to DPGR on page 8. Also, you can use any reasonable method based on all the facts and circumstances.

Figuring Form W-2 Wages

You can use one of the following three methods to figure your Form W-2 wages.

Unmodified box method.
Modified box 1 method.
Tracking wages method.

After you figure Form W-2 wages, see Form W-2 Wages Allocable to DPGR on page 8 to determine the Form W-2 wages to report on line 16 of Form 8903.

Relevant Forms W-2. To figure your Form W-2 wages, generally use the sum of the amounts you properly report for each employee on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, for the calendar year ending with or within your tax year. However, do not use any amounts reported on a Form W-2 filed with the Social Security Administration more than 60 days after its due date (including extensions).

Non-duplication rule. Amounts that are treated as Form W-2 wages for a tax year under any method cannot be treated as Form W-2 wages for any other tax year. Also, an amount cannot be treated as Form W-2 wages by more than one taxpayer.

Unmodified box method. Under the unmodified box method, Form W-2 wages are the smaller of:

The sum of the amounts reported in box 1 of the relevant Forms W-2, or
The sum of the amounts reported in box 5 of the relevant Forms W-2.

Modified box 1 method. Under the modified box 1 method, Form W-2 wages are figured as follows.

Add the amounts reported in box 1 of the relevant Forms W-2.
Add all the amounts described below and included in box 1 of the relevant Forms W-2.
1. Amounts not considered wages for federal income tax withholding purposes.
2. Supplemental unemployment compensation benefits.
3. Sick pay or annuity payments from which the recipient requested federal income tax withholding.
Subtract (2) from (1).
Add together any amounts reported in box 12 of the relevant Forms W-2 that are properly coded D, E, F, G, or S.
Add (3) and (4).

Tracking wages method. Under the tracking wages method, Form W-2 wages are figured as follows.

Add the amounts reported in box 1 of the relevant Forms W-2 that are also wages for federal income tax withholding purposes.
Add any amounts reported in box 1 of the relevant Forms W-2 that are both:
1. Wages for federal income tax withholding purposes, and
2. Supplemental unemployment compensation benefits.
Subtract (2) from (1).
Add together any amounts reported in box 12 of the relevant Forms W-2 that are properly coded D, E, F, G, or S.
Add (3) and (4).

Form W-2 WagesAllocable to DPGR

After you calculate Form W-2 wages, as discussed above, you must figure Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to DPGR. You report the Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to DPGR on line 16 of Form 8903.

You can figure Form W-2 wages that are properly allocable to DPGR under one of the following methods.

Small business simplified overall method safe harbor.
Wage expense safe harbor.
Any other reasonable method based on all the facts and circumstances.

Small business simplified overall method safe harbor. If you use the small business simplified overall method to allocate costs between DPGR and non-DPGR (see Small Business Simplified Overall Method on page 5), you can use the small business simplified overall method safe harbor to determine the amount of Form W-2 wages allocable to DPGR. Under this safe harbor method, the amount of Form W-2 wages that is properly allocable to DPGR equals the proportion of DPGR to total gross receipts.

Wage expense safe harbor. If you are using either the section 861 method of cost allocation under Regulations section 1.199-4(d) or the simplified deduction method under Regulations section 1.199-4(e), you determine the amount of wages properly allocable to DPGR by multiplying the amount of wages for the tax year by the ratio of your wage expense included in calculating QPAI for the tax year to your total wage expense used in calculating your taxable income (or adjusted gross income) for the tax year without regard to any wage expenses disallowed by sections 465, 469, 704(d), or 1366(d).

If you use the section 861 method or the simplified deduction method, you must use the same expense allocation and apportionment methods that you use to determine QPAI to allocate and apportion wage expense for purposes of the safe harbor.

Wage expense included in cost of goods sold.

After you determine the amount of wages under the wage expense safe harbor, discussed above, you can allocate a portion of those wages to cost of goods sold by any reasonable method based on the facts and circumstances. For example, you can include wage expense in cost of goods sold in proportion to (a) the amount of direct labor included in cost of goods sold, or (b) section 263A labor costs (as defined in Regulations section 1.263A-1(h) (4)(ii)) included in cost of goods sold. See Regulations section 1.199-2(e)(2)(ii)(B) for more information.

More information. For more information on figuring your Form W-2 wages, see Regulations section 1.199-2 and Rev. Proc. 2006-47. You can find Rev. Proc. 2006-47 on page 869 of I.R.B. 2006-45 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb06-45.pdf.

For more information on figuring Form W-2 wages properly allocable to DPGR, see Regulations section 1.199-2(e)(2).

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