Reps. LaHood, Ferguson introduce bill to foster the return of intellectual property to United States

U.S. Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Drew Ferguson (R-GA) introduced legislation this week that seeks to remove obstacles within the tax code to incentivize American businesses to return intellectual property to the United States.

The Bringing Back American Jobs Through Intellectual Property Repatriation Act seeks to support increased research and innovation domestically, while protecting U.S. companies from the growing threat of intellectual property (IP) theft around the world.

“As Congress works to counter growing aggression from China, incentivizing the return of American IP through our tax code will strengthen our economic competitiveness on the global stage,” LaHood said. “The Bringing Back American Jobs Through Intellectual Property Repatriation Act will ensure that we remain the world’s leader in innovation, protect good American jobs, and strengthen our supply chains from growing global challenges.”

Specifically, the Bringing Back American Jobs Through Intellectual Property Repatriation Act would allow U.S. companies to bring back their IP developed offshore without any immediate U.S. tax cost and ensure that IP in fact returns to the United States by requiring the distribution back to the U.S. shareholder must be completed within 180 days of the first transfer between CFCs.

These changes will help U.S. businesses support domestic production and associated research and development, encourage more high-paying jobs in applied research and design, and discourage further migration of high-tech jobs outside the United States.

“America must incentivize strong and robust domestic supply chains while protecting our nation’s intellectual property,” Ferguson said. “This important bill provides the needed tax policies that encourage the return of jobs and manufacturing to the United States. I am proud to join Congressman LaHood and thank him for his work on this vital piece of legislation.”

The bill was cosponsored by Reps. Adrian Smith (R-NE), Carol Miller (R-WV), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Randy Feenstra (R-IA).

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