LIMBER Timber Act of 2026 Proposes 30% Tax Credit for Mass Timber Plants and $5 Per Square Foot Construction Incentives

The LIMBER Timber Act of 2026 is a massive push to swap out concrete and steel for engineered wood. Think of 'mass timber' as high-tech, super-strong wood panels—like cross-laminated timber—that can support the weight of a skyscraper. This bill sets up a trio of tax credits designed to build the factories, train the crews, and pay developers to actually use the stuff. If you've noticed more wooden apartment buildings popping up in your city, this bill is the fuel meant to turn that trend into a standard. All these incentives are on a ticking clock, though, as they are set to expire on December 31, 2030.

Building the Factory Floor

Section 2 of the bill offers a 30% investment tax credit for companies that build or re-equip 'mass timber' plants. For a business owner looking to open a facility that manufactures glue-laminated beams or structural composite lumber, the government is essentially offering to cover nearly a third of the cost basis for the equipment and property. This isn't just for the big players; it includes tangible property necessary for the plant’s operation. The catch is that the Secretary of the Treasury, along with the Departments of Agriculture and Energy, gets the final say on what counts as 'mass timber' beyond the standard building codes, which gives the government a fair amount of control over who gets the tax break.

Training the Next Generation of Builders

If we’re going to build with wood, we need people who know how to handle it. Section 3 creates a workforce development credit that covers 50% of a company’s expenses for hiring and training, capped at $8,000 per employee per year. This applies to architects, engineers, and construction contractors. For a local construction firm, this means half the wages paid to an apprentice or the cost of a specialized training program could be wiped off their tax bill. However, there’s a 'green' string attached: to get this credit, at least 70% of the timber used in their projects must be certified by groups like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or sourced from managed state/federal forests.

A Payday for Every Square Foot

Section 4 gets down to the actual construction. It offers developers a straight-up payment of $5 for every square foot of a qualifying structure. For a mid-sized office building of 50,000 square feet, that’s a $250,000 credit. To qualify, the building has to be 'wood-heavy'—specifically, at least 50% of the load-bearing components (the parts that keep the building standing) must be mass timber. Just like the workforce credit, the 70% sustainable sourcing rule applies here too. This creates a clear financial incentive for developers to choose renewable wood over traditional materials, provided they can navigate the certification paperwork to prove where their lumber came from.