The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the primary association representing the manufacturers and suppliers of high-tech communications networks, today applauded the U.S. Congress for extending the R&D tax credit. The credit, which had previously expired at the end of 2011, has now been retroactively extended through the end of 2013.

In a letter last month, TIA urged Congress to enact a retroactive extension of the credit as part of any resolution of the “fiscal cliff.”

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“A sudden and unexpected increase in the tax burden associated with R&D activities -- including for activities already conducted -- would have dealt a devastating blow to U.S. competitiveness,” commented TIA president Grant Seiffert. “We applaud Congress for responding to industry’s call and averting this worst-case scenario. Unlike other nations, the U.S. private sector bears much of the burden for ICT research, making the R&D credit essential to maintaining U.S. leadership in telecommunications.”

Seiffert continued, “The R&D credit has been, and will remain, a cost-effective policy for increasing research activity and producing a dollar-for-dollar increase in research spending. TIA looks forward to working with the new 113th Congress towards more comprehensive tax reform that will ensure the U.S. maintains its technology leadership in the years to come.”

Read the letter TIA sent last month to Senate and House Leadership urging for a retroactive extension of the R&D tax credit to apply to 2012.

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