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Instructions for Form 3800 2006 Tax Year

Specific Instructions

This is archived information that pertains only to the 2006 Tax Year. If you
are looking for information for the current tax year, go to the Tax Prep Help Area.

Part I—Current Year Credit

Complete and attach the appropriate credit forms to figure your current year credit. Generally, if you are a taxpayer that is not a partnership or S corporation, and your only source for a credit listed on this form is from a partnership, S corporation, estate, trust, or cooperative, you are not required to complete the source credit form or attach it to Form 3800. The following exceptions apply:

  • You are claiming the investment credit (Form 3468) or biodiesel and renewable diesel fuels credit (Form 8864).

  • The taxpayer is an estate or trust and the source credit can be allocated to beneficiaries. For more details, see the Instructions for Form 1041, Schedule K-1, box 13.

  • The taxpayer is a cooperative and the source credit can or must be allocated to patrons. For more details, see the Instructions for Form 1120-C, Schedule J, line 5c.

Line 1a

If you are a cooperative described in section 1381(a), you must allocate to your patrons the investment credit in excess of your tax liability limit. Allocate to your patrons the portion, if any, of the investment credit on line 8 in excess of line 18. While any excess is allocated to patrons, any credit recapture applies as if you as the cooperative had claimed the entire credit.

Line 1f

Complete this line only if you received a credit on a 2005 Schedule K-1 that you received from a partnership or S corporation that had a fiscal year beginning in 2005.

Line 1z

Enter the total of the amounts shown in box 7 of the Schedules K-1 (Form 1065-B) you received from electing large partnerships (ELPs).

Line 3

Enter the credits included on line 2 that are from passive activities. Generally, a passive activity is a trade or business in which you did not materially participate. Generally, rental activities are passive activities, whether or not you materially participated. See Form 8582-CR, Passive Activity Credit Limitations, or Form 8810, Corporate Passive Activity Loss and Credit Limitations, for details.

Line 5

Enter the passive activity credit allowed from Form 8582-CR or Form 8810. See the instructions for the applicable form for details.

Line 6

Add all carryforwards to 2006 of unused credits that are reported on Form 3800. Include any carryforward to 2006 of any unused credit from your Form 6478, Credit for Alcohol Used as Fuel, for years prior to 2005.

For each credit, attach a detailed computation showing: (a) the tax year the credit originated, the amount of the credit, and the amount allowed for that year; (b) for each carryback year, the year and the amount of the credit allowed after you applied the carryback; and (c) for each carryforward year, the year and the amount of the credit allowed after you applied the carryforward.

Line 7

Use line 7 only when you amend your 2006 return to carry back unused credits from 2007.

Line 8

If this line is zero, skip Part II.

Part II—Allowable Credit

Line 15

See section 38(c)(5) for special rules that apply to married couples filing separate returns, controlled corporate groups, regulated investment companies, real estate investment trusts, and estates and trusts.

Line 16

Although you may not owe AMT, you generally must still compute the tentative minimum tax (TMT) to figure your credit. For a small corporation exempt from the AMT under section 55(e), enter zero. Otherwise, complete and attach the appropriate AMT form or schedule and enter the TMT on line 16.

Line 19

If line 19 is smaller than line 8, see Carryback and Carryforward of Unused Credit on page 1.

Research credit limitation.   If you are an individual, the amount of the research credit that may be included on line 19 is limited to the amount of tax attributable to your taxable income from the sole proprietorship or your interest in the partnership, S corporation, estate, or trust (pass-through entity) generating the credit. Figure the research credit limitation separately for each business enterprise by using the following formula:
    Taxable income attributes to the sole proprietorship or your interest in the pass-through entity
(Line 13 - line 15) x
    Your taxable income for the year

  The result figured above is limited to the excess of line 13 over line 15. If in the current tax year you had no taxable income attributable to a particular business interest, you cannot claim any research credit this year related to that business.

  If your research credit is limited by the above formula, refigure the amount to enter on line 19 using only the total of the amount calculated above for the research credit plus the general business credit from other sources. If necessary, follow the Credit Ordering Rule, and take into account any passive activity credit limitations. Write “Sec. 41(g)” on the dotted line next to your entry on line 19.

Corporations.   If the corporation has undergone a post-1986 “ownership change” (as defined in section 382(g)), section 383 may limit the amount of tax that may be offset by pre-change general business credits. Also, if a corporation acquires control of another corporation (or acquires its assets in a reorganization), section 384 may limit the amount of tax attributable to recognized built-in gains that may be offset by pre-acquisition general business credits. If either of these limitations apply, attach a computation of the allowable general business credit, enter the amount on line 19, and write “Sec. 383” or “Sec. 384” in the margin next to your entry on line 19.

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