2008 Summary of Changes to Form 3800

2008 Instructions for Form 3800, General Business
Credit
Purpose: This is the first circulated draft of the 2008 Instructions for Form 3800
for your review and comments. The form was circulated separately at an earlier
date. See below for a discussion of the major changes.
TPCC Meeting: None, but one may be arranged if requested.
Prior Version: The 2007 Instructions for Form 3800 are available at:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i3800.pdf
Other Products: Circulations of draft tax forms, instructions, notices, and
publications are posted at: http://taxforms.web.irs.gov/Circulations/index.htm
Comments: Please email, fax, call, or mail any comments by November 24,
2008.
Comments should also be sent to the reviewer at [email protected]

Mike Cyrus
Tax Forms and Publications
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:B:C
Email: [email protected]
Ph: 202.927.9545
Fax: 202.622.3262

Major Changes to the 2008 Instructions for Form 3800
1] The What’s New area is rewritten to account for the following:
a] The qualified railroad track maintenance credit is extended and now allowed
to offset AMT and the line for the credit is removed from line 1t to new line 29g.
P.L. 110-343 sec. 316, Div C
b] Four new credits added:
• Line 1t - Credits for affected Midwestern disaster area employers (Form
5884-A) P.L. 110-343 sec. 319, Div. C
• Line 1v - Agricultural chemicals security credit (Form 8931) P.L.110-234,
sec. 15343
• Line 1w - Credit for employer differential wage payments (Form 8932)
P.L. 110-245, sec. 111
• Line 1x - Carbon dioxide sequestration credit (Form 8933) P.L. 110-343
sec. 115, Div. B

c] The removal from line 1u of the Hurricane Katrina housing credit from passthrough entities as it can no longer be claimed, because of the expiration of IRC
1400P and there is no longer a possibility of the credit still being received from a
pass-thru entity with a fiscal year overlapping the expiration date, 6/30/06.
d] An EIN request added to line 1r, to address TIGTA compliance concerns.
e] The removal of the reference to Form 5735 from line 12c, and lines 12a and
b are reversed in order to conform to the 2008 form 1040.
2] Under General Instructions, a section on the election to accelerate the
research credit is added. P.L. 110-289, Sec. 3081
3] The Hurricane Katrina housing credit is removed from, and the four new
credits are added to, the list of credits under Credit Ordering Rule. See 1b and
1c above.
4] The line 6 instructions are changed to include all of the general business
credits allowed against AMT. See #6 below.
5] Line 18b instructions are added to account for the new election to accelerate
the research credit’s “bonus depreciation amount.” This includes an added
worksheet. P.L. 110-289, Sec. 3081
6] Line 20 and 32 instructions are added to account for the expansion of the
form to accommodate all of the general business credits allowed against AMT.
Justification for the expansion of the form 3800: P.L. 110-289, Sec. 3022,
allows the low-income housing credit and the rehabilitation credit to be used
against AMT after 2007.
Part II was extended to incorporate the new low-income housing credit and the
rehabilitation credit that are allowed against AMT. As a result, lines 20 through 32
were added to Part II to calculate the allowable credit for all credits allowed
against AMT. This change allows for an easier addition of future credits allowed
against AMT.
7] All references to 2007 are changed to 2008, and other year references are
updated where necessary.