Guidance on Section 199A May Halt Benefitting Firms
The Treasury Department may issue guidance on section 199A in response to workarounds taken by law and accounting firms. The new section 199A provides a 20% deduction for qualifying pass-through businesses. Since its enactment, offices have been broken down into separate businesses to take advantage of the deduction; future guidance may halt this technique. According to an official at...Potential Phase Two of Tax Legislation Focuses on Making Individual Tax Changes Permanent
Posted on Jun 5, 2018 in Individual Taxation, News
House Republicans intend to roll out a second package of tax cuts this summer. The focus of the new bill is to make the individual tax cuts permanent, but it may also include other changes, such as cutting capital gains taxes and including incentives to boost business innovation. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady anticipates that the new bill would be approved in the...
IRS Updates Q&As about Section 965 Reporting
Posted on Apr 16, 2018 in Individual Taxation, News
On April 13, the IRS updated its Questions and Answers page to include additional discussion on reporting amounts owed under section 965—the so-called “transition tax”—on a taxpayer’s 2017 tax return. The Q&As provide answers to questions on reporting requirements, such as how section 965 amounts are reported or steps that a taxpayer should take if the taxpayer had previously filed...
IRS Releases Guidance on Section 163(j)
Posted on Apr 4, 2018 in Individual Taxation, News
On April 2, 2018, the IRS issued Notice 2018-28, which provides guidance related to the interest deductibility limitation in Section 163(j). The Notice clarifies that Section 163(j) will treat taxpayers who file a consolidated return as a single taxpayer and that interest disallowed under the prior version of Section 163(j) may be carried forward and treated as business interest in...
President Trump Considers Subjecting the Treasury to OMB Oversight
Posted on Mar 28, 2018 in Individual Taxation, News
President Trump is considering whether to grant the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) oversight over regulations issued by the Treasury Department. While the Treasury Department has been exempt from OMB review since the 1980s with respect to tax regulations, President Trump’s move would end that autonomy and add an additional layer of review to forthcoming Treasury regulations....
“Phase Two” of Tax Cuts to Offer Permanence
Posted on Mar 19, 2018 in Individual Taxation, News
Congressional Republicans and the White House are pushing to pass another tax package this year to make permanent the recently enacted benefits for families and small businesses. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady stated that a second tax bill would provide a permanent extension to the individual tax cuts, the majority of which currently expire after 2025. These tax...
Resignation of Treasury Official Expected to Result in Guidance Delays
Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary of Tax Policy Dana Trier stepped down from his position on February 23. Trier’s role focused on developing guidance on various aspects of the new tax reform law, including the partnership and international tax provisions. Practitioners have expressed concern that his departure will result in delays in issuing regulations, which could result in...White House Requests $90 Million Funding for Implementation of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Congress is expected vote on a funding bill this week to avoid a government shutdown. President Trump has requested that $90 million be added to the bill to fund the IRS’s implementation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This amount falls short of the $397 million that the Treasury Department had estimated it would cost for the IRS to respond to the Act. Read more: House GOP Scrambles to...“Permanent Tax Cuts of Americans Act” Introduced by the House
Posted on Jan 31, 2018 in Individual Taxation, News
This past Monday, Republican House Representative Rodney Davis introduced H.R. 4886, to make the individual provisions of the newly enacted tax law permanent. Under this bill, subtitles A and B of the tax law, which lower the individual tax rates, would be extended past their 2025 sunset dates with the goal to “provide future tax relief for individual taxpayers”. Read the Bill here:...
IRS Modifies Notice 1036 Withholding Tables Incorporating Changes to the Individual Tax Rates
Posted on Jan 17, 2018 in Individual Taxation, News
The IRS recently released an updated version of Notice 1036 (includes income tax withholding tables for employers) which integrates the changes made by the recently passed tax legislation. The notice states that employers must implement the withholding tables by February 15, 2018. The IRS anticipates updating its online withholding calculator by the end of February. Read more: New 2018...
CRS Report Analyzes 2017 Federal Tax System In Anticipation of Tax Bill Changes
Posted on Jan 9, 2018 in Individual Taxation, Insurance Tax, International Tax, News, Pass-through Taxation
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) published Report 7-5700 on December 26, 2017, which provides an overview of the federal tax system as in effect through 2017. The report notes that the new tax bill, H.R. 1, will generate broad changes for individuals (personal exemptions; standard deduction) and businesses (different tax rate for pass-through business income; territorial tax...