On January 17, 2025, multiple news outlets and other sources reported the existence of a memorandum circulated by the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee to the House Republican Caucus (the “Memorandum”) containing an extensive list of budget proposals that may be considered in connection with the new Congress’s widely expected budget reconciliation legislation. The Memorandum, which is publicly available via link from a number of news outlets,[1] contains approximately fifty pages of proposals covering a wide range of policy areas and enumerating scores of potential specific legislative proposals (along with estimated budget effects in most cases), some of which are seemingly mutually exclusive. Included in the memo are a number of tax-related proposals, including tariff proposals, which are briefly set forth below.
In the news
Senate Finance Committee Requests Public Comments on Digital Asset Taxation
On July 11, 2023, the Senate Finance Committee released an open letter to the Digital Asset Community asking a variety of questions in connection with possible future legislation. Public comments must be emailed to the Senate Finance Committee staff at responses@finance.senate.gov by September 8, 2023. The questions are related to the following nine general areas.
- Marking-to-market for traders and dealers;
- Trading safe harbor;
- Treatment of loans of digital assets;
- Wash sales;
- Constructive sales;
- Timing and source of income earned from staking and mining;
- Nonfunctional currency;
- FATCA and FBAR reporting; and
- Valuation and substantiation.
The balance of this blog describes each area, lists each question, and discusses certain of them.
Recent Legislative Proposals and IRS Guidance on the Taxation of Digital Assets
This blog post summarizes recent federal bills that have been introduced (but not yet passed), proposals by the Biden Administration, and guidance issued by the Internal Revenue Service with respect to the taxation of digital assets.
Summary of the Guidance:
The Responsible Financial Innovation Act (the “RFIA”) introduced…
President Biden Signs Inflation Reduction Act into Law
On August 16, 2022 President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) into law.
The IRA includes a 15% corporate alternative minimum tax, a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks and a two-year extension of the excess business loss limitation rules. The IRA also contains a number…
Senate Democrats Reach Agreement to Pass Inflation Reduction Act
On August 7, the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”). The tax provisions in the bill that was passed vary from the bill that was originally released on July 27, 2022 by Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in four significant…
A Summary of Inflation Reduction Act’s Main Energy Tax Proposals
On August 7, the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”). The IRA contains a significant number of climate and energy tax proposals, many of which were previously proposed in substantially similar form by the House of Representatives in November 2021 (in the “Build Back Better Act”).…
A Summary of Inflation Reduction Act’s Main Tax Proposals
On July 27, 2022, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) released the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”). The IRA contains only two non-climate and non-energy tax proposals – a 15% corporate alternative minimum tax and a provision significantly narrowing the applicability of preferential…
Summary of the Biden Administration’s Fiscal Year 2023 Green Book Tax Proposals
On March 28, 2022, the Biden Administration released the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, and the “General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2023 Revenue Proposals,” which is commonly referred to as the “Green Book.” The Green Book summarizes the Administration’s tax proposals contained in the Budget. The Green Book is…
The Biden Administration Proposes Changes to the Taxation of Partnerships
On March 28, 2022, the Biden Administration proposed certain limited changes to the taxation of partnerships. In short, the Administration’s proposals would (i) prevent related partners in a partnership that has made a section 754 election from basis shifting to reduce taxable income;[1] and (ii) make two helpful changes to the partnership audit rules.
I. Prevent Basis Shifting by Related Partners
Under current law, if a partnership with appreciated non-depreciable assets and depreciable or amortizable assets makes a “section 754 election” and distributes the appreciated non-depreciable assets on a tax-free basis to one partner, the other partners are entitled to “step-up”, or increase, their basis in the depreciable or amortizable assets. This allows them to claim increased depreciation or amortization deductions or generate losses from assets to be sold. These transactions are known as “basis bumps”.