HR7245-119

What This Bill Does

The LIMBER Timber Act of 2026 creates tax incentives for mass timber manufacturing, workforce development, and construction. New section 48F provides a 30 percent investment credit for the basis of eligible property placed in service as part of a qualifying mass timber plant. Eligible property must be tangible personal property or other tangible property integral to the plant, not a building or structural component, necessary for mass timber production or for re-equipping, expanding, or establishing a plant, and depreciable or amortizable. Mass timber includes cross-laminated timber, glue-laminated timber, dowel-laminated timber, nail-laminated timber, laminated veneer lumber, structural composite lumber and other International Building Code mass timber products, and other engineered wood products approved by Treasury with Agriculture and Energy. New section 45U gives eligible taxpayers in mass timber manufacturing, construction, fabrication, installation, architecture, or engineering a credit equal to 50 percent of qualified hiring, recruitment, training, and workforce wages, capped at $8,000 per employee, if sourcing and construction thresholds are met. New section 45V gives a $5-per-square-foot credit for qualifying structures placed in service where at least 70 percent of mass timber comes from Forest Stewardship Council, Sustainable Forest Initiative, or approved State or federal forest sources, and at least 50 percent of load-bearing structural components are mass timber. All three credits terminate for taxable years after December 31, 2030.

Who Benefits and How

Mass timber manufacturers, engineered wood producers, construction contractors, architects, engineers, apprentices, workforce trainees, sustainably managed forests, and developers using mass timber benefit from investment, workforce, and square-footage credits that reduce plant, labor, training, and construction costs. Forest Stewardship Council, Sustainable Forest Initiative, and approved State or federal forest sources benefit because their certification status helps projects qualify.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Treasury tax staff, IRS credit administrators, taxpayers claiming the credits, mass timber project developers, construction contractors, architecture firms, engineering firms, forest-certification programs, and federal revenue collections face new tax-rule, certification, sourcing, load-bearing component, employee expense, square-footage, placed-in-service, and sunset compliance burdens. Projects using uncertified or insufficient mass timber may fail credit tests.

Key Provisions

• Creates a 30 percent mass timber plant investment credit for eligible property in qualifying plants.
• Defines mass timber to include cross-laminated, glue-laminated, dowel-laminated, nail-laminated, laminated veneer, structural composite, and approved engineered wood products.
• Creates a 50 percent workforce development credit for hiring, recruitment, training, and qualifying trainee wages.
• Caps workforce wage expenses at $8,000 per employee.
• Creates a $5-per-square-foot mass timber construction credit.
• Requires 70 percent certified mass timber sourcing and 50 percent mass timber load-bearing structural components for workforce and construction credits.
• Terminates all three credits after taxable years beginning after December 31, 2030.