On Friday December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law H.R.1, commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). This is the most sweeping change to the U.S. federal income tax laws in over three decades, and it will have an effect on every U.S. taxpayer, including real estate investment trusts (REITs) … Continue Reading
On Friday, December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law H.R. 1, the $1.5 trillion tax reform law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Reform Act”). This alert describes provisions of the Tax Reform Act that we expect will have the most significant impact and immediate effect on the sports industry. Unless otherwise noted, all proposals described below will be effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017.… Continue Reading
The IRS announced yesterday, in IR 2017-210 (the “Advisory”), that state property taxes must be “assessed” in 2017 in order for such taxes to be prepaid in calendar year 2017 and therefore deductible in 2017. The Advisory says that state or local law determines whether and when a property tax is “assessed,” but the Advisory … Continue Reading
In a little-noticed provision buried deep inside the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (signed into law on Dec. 22) is the following “denial of deduction”: “Payments related to sexual harassment and sexual abuse – No deduction shall be allowed under this chapter for – any settlement or payment related to sexual harassment or sexual abuse if such … Continue Reading
In a radio segment on Marketplace, partner David Miller comments on tax reform and the impact of the new $10,000 cap on the state income, property and sales tax that individuals can deduct. The segment also explores the loopholes and workarounds that states could implement to allow their residents to avoid this cap. To listen … Continue Reading
On Friday, December 15, the U.S. House of Representative and Senate conferees reached agreement on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) (the “Final Bill”), and released legislative text, an explanation, and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated budget effects (commonly referred to as the “score”). Next week the House and Senate are each … Continue Reading
Under both the House and Senate versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m) would be modified to expand the scope of companies and executive officers subject to the limitation on deductibility of compensation over $1 million, as well as to eliminate the exception to non-deductibility under Section 162(m) for … Continue Reading
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the U.S. Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) (the “Senate bill”), just over two weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives passed its own version of the same legislation (the “House bill”). Members of the House and Senate will next convene in conference to … Continue Reading
On December 2, 2017, the Senate approved its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which contains proposals modifying certain executive compensation provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. The Senate’s approval of the executive compensation provisions follows substantively the same provisions proposed by the Senate Finance Committee’s bill, and the House of Representatives’ version … Continue Reading
The United States Congress has returned to Washington D.C. from the Thanksgiving holiday, and attention returns also to U.S. tax reform legislation. It remains the publicly-stated goal of the Republican leadership in the Congress to present President Trump with legislation to sign before the end of 2017. When Congress recessed, the U.S. House of Representatives … Continue Reading
Yesterday afternoon, the House of Representatives passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) (the “House bill”). The House bill is identical to the draft bill approved by the House Ways and Means Committee on November 10. Late last night the Senate Finance Committee approved its own conceptual version of the Tax Cuts and … Continue Reading
The tax reform bills introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate dramatically reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% and create added incentives for taxpayers to invest capital into U.S. businesses with expanded expensing and reduced flow-through rates. But the bills were drafted quickly, Congress is rushing to get them passed … Continue Reading
Over the last several days, there have been significant developments relating to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the pending tax reform legislation in Congress.[1] On Thursday, a detailed summary of the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal was released (the “Senate Markup”),[2] and the House Ways and Means Committee voted (in a 24-16, party-line vote) to … Continue Reading
Today, the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives released their long-anticipated tax reform bill, entitled the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”. While there have been multiple statements from the Republican majority in the House that swift action is expected on this bill, the text proposed today all but certainly will be extensively revised in … Continue Reading
In a notice of proposed rulemaking issued on October 11, 2017 (the “NPRM”), the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) proposed an amendment to existing regulations (the “Proposed Regulation”) under Section 754 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The Proposed Regulation eliminates the requirement … Continue Reading
Today, the Wall Street Journal considers again, on its front page above the fold, the potential benefits of corporate spin-off transactions (https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-reason-investors-love-spinoffs-juicier-returns-1507681008 (subscription required)). The Journal article notes that the S&P Spin-Off Index has outperformed the S&P 500 Index by nearly 190 percentage points in the last ten years. Also discussed are the wide-ranging reasons investors favor spin-off transactions … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the Trump Administration, the House Committee on Ways and Means, and the Senate Finance Committee proposed a “unified framework” for tax reform. The members of the working group are House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-TN), House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX), … Continue Reading
Yesterday the Trump Administration announced the outline of its tax reform proposal. The proposal combines elements of President Trump’s original tax reform proposal announced during the campaign and of the House Republicans’ tax reform proposal (which is sometimes referred to as the “Blueprint”).… Continue Reading
The Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the “Convention”) was released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) on November 24, 2016. The Convention is the latest in an ongoing series of releases related to the OECD/G20 Project addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting … Continue Reading
In the U.S. general election held on November 8, 2016, Donald J. Trump was elected to become the 45th President of the United States. Republicans also retained their majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for the new Congress convening in January, meaning that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is likely … Continue Reading
