Tax News - The Tax Adviser

December 19, 2019

5th Circuit invalidates health care law’s individual mandate

The Fifth Circuit held that the “individual mandate” under Sec. 5000A, which imposes a “shared responsibility payment” on taxpayers who do not obtain health insurance that provides at least minimum essential coverage, is unconstitutional now that the payment amount has been reduced to zero.

December 18, 2019

New FASB standard aims to simplify accounting for income taxes

FASB issued a standard that is designed to reduce cost and complexity in accounting for income taxes.

December 17, 2019

Proposed regs. would govern Sec. 162(m) executive compensation limits

The IRS issued proposed regulations on the Sec. 162(m) $1 million limit on executive compensation paid by certain publicly held corporations.

December 17, 2019

Final regs. issued on foreign tax credits

The IRS officially released final regulations providing guidance on determining foreign tax credits. The regulations include changes necessitated by the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

December 16, 2019

Guidance issued on payments to charitable organizations

The IRS issued additional rules on the treatment of deductions for charitable contributions in lieu of state and local taxes, an area in which it has already issued final regulations and other guidance.

December 10, 2019

Partnership capital reporting requirements postponed until 2020

The IRS is postponing the requirement to report partners’ shares of partnership capital on the tax-basis method for 2019 (for partnership tax years beginning in calendar 2019) until 2020 (for partnership tax years that begin on or after Jan. 1, 2020).

December 3, 2019

BEAT regs. are finalized, new regs. are proposed

The IRS issued detailed guidance on the Sec. 59A base-erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT), which was added to the Code by the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

December 2, 2019

Deadline for health care information statements extended

As it does every year, the IRS extended the due date to furnish certain health care information statements to individual taxpayers to March 2, 2020.

November 26, 2019

Per-diem method clarified in light of TCJA changes

The IRS issued updated rules for substantiating the amount of ordinary and necessary business expenses paid or incurred while traveling away from home using the per-diem rates.

November 25, 2019

Final regs. eliminate estate and gift tax clawback

The IRS issued final regulations that reconcile the current higher exclusion for the estate and gift tax unified credit amount in effect under the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with the lower unified credit, which is scheduled to go into effect in 2026, eliminating a possible future clawback of the higher exclusion amount.

November 15, 2019

Use of standard mileage rate, other rules are updated for TCJA

The IRS updated its rules concerning the use of standard mileage rates and to reflect the current suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions and moving expense deductions.

November 14, 2019

IRS commissioner seeks to enhance taxpayer contacts, target enforcement

Speaking to the AICPA National Tax Conference in Washington, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig discussed possible IRS restructuring, more-targeted enforcement efforts and IRS use of data analytics.

November 8, 2019

Automatic accounting method change procedures updated

The IRS released its updated procedures for automatic accounting method changes, which are accounting method changes that can be made without the IRS’s consent.

November 6, 2019

IRS posts 2020 inflation adjustments and tax tables

The IRS released the 2020 tax tables for individuals and estates and trusts, as well as the inflation adjustments for over 60 tax provisions for 2020 tax returns.

November 6, 2019

Retirement plan contribution limits increase for 2020

Annual contribution limits for 401(k) plans will increase from $19,000 in 2019 to $19,500 in 2020, and most other limits are increasing as well.

October 18, 2019

TIGTA outlines IRS challenges for 2020

The memorandum lists 10 challenges in order of importance, ranging from data security to achieving operational efficiencies.

October 14, 2019

Taxpayers may deduct casualty losses in prior years

The IRS finalized regulations permitting taxpayers to deduct disaster losses in the prior tax year and removed the related temporary regulations that were issued in 2016.

October 9, 2019

IRS clarifies the tax treatment of cryptocurrency ‘hard forks’ and ‘airdrops’

The IRS ruled that a taxpayer does not have gross income as a result of a hard fork of a cryptocurrency if the taxpayer does not receive units of a new cryptocurrency, but does have gross income as a result of an airdrop of new cryptocurrency after a hard fork if the taxpayer receives units of the new cryptocurrency.

October 1, 2019

CFC downward attributions get safe harbors

U.S. shareholders who own stock in foreign corporations were given a safe harbor by the IRS, making it easier for them to establish that they are not shareholders in a controlled foreign corporation, or CFC.

September 25, 2019

IRS issues 2019 to 2020 per-diem rates for traveling away from home

The IRS issued its annual notice specifying the special per-diem rates, including the transportation industry meal and incidental expenses rates, the rate for the incidental-expenses-only deduction, and the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method.