Retroactive tax changes ?? Oh, joy

[abctax55]

Tax deal bill moves to Senate (02-01-24)

On January 31, 2024, the U.S. House approved the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 (H.R. 7024). As we previously reported, this bill would, among other things:

• Increase the Child Tax Credit;
• Retroactively reinstate current expensing for domestic qualified research expenses, 100% bonus depreciation, and the larger business interest expense deduction; and
• Significantly increase Employee Retention Credit (ERC) penalties and impose a January 31, 2024, cutoff date for new ERC claims.

According to news reports, to ensure passage of this bill in the House a deal was also reached to introduce another bill within the next week that would double the state and local tax deduction limit for married taxpayers filing jointly (increasing it to $20,000, from $10,000). We have yet to see the text of this bill, so we do not know whether this change will be retroactive. We will send another Flash E-mail once the text of this proposal is released.

H.R. 7024 will now be taken up in the Senate. It is unclear when the Senate will act on this bill, but we will keep you posted as news develops.

The text of H.R. 7024 is available at:

www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7024

[BobKamman]

TRAFWA --- Isn't that a type of sled that Native Americans invented?  

[IRonMaN]

Do elected officials in this country not file tax returns or do they just automatically extend every year?

[abctax55]

Time to start a pool on 

1) Will the filing date be extended IF this passes?

2) What will the date be?

[abctax55]

Nice, Bob.... rolls right off the tongue doesn't it 🙂

[qbteachmt]

Read it backwards: TRAFWA

[pamdory]

The eternal optimist checking in:

Perhaps they'll do like they did with the 2020 unemployment income exclusion and automatically adjust and refund to taxpayers who have already filed...

[IRonMaN]

When this first popped up, those were the rumblings of what they were going to do.

[pamdory]

It seems like the best option for the Child Tax Credit portion.

For Bonus depreciation, maybe not so much.  I'm just holding off on making those decisions until the dust settles on this one.

[BobKamman]

Read the bill.

SEC. 105. SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN EARLY-FILED 2023 RETURNS.
In the case of an individual who claims, on the taxpayer’s return of tax for the first taxable year beginning after December 31, 2022, a credit under section 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which is determined without regard to the amendments made by sections 101 and 102 of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall, to the maximum extent practicable—

(1) redetermine the amount of such credit (after taking into account such amendments) on the basis of the information provided by the taxpayer on such return, and

(2) to the extent that such redetermination results in an overpayment of tax, credit or refund such overpayment as expeditiously as possible.

[itonewbie]

These budgetary cost estimates are a wonder to behold.  It is proof enough that if you put your mind to something, everything is possible /s.

Wonder what would happen if they ever have to accrue their estimates and book actual costs against them like a real business.

Whoever thinks Hollywood practices creative accounting just haven't been paying enough attention to politics.

[itonewbie]

Sounds like they're putting the pandemic experience to good use.

[Camp1040]

I read a statement from the new IRS commisioner yesterday and he said not to hold off filing returns for folks with the CTC?ACTC in anticipation of the bill passing.  He stated the IRS would take care of correcting the returns without the need to amend. 

[abctax55]

"IRS" corrected the CTC/AOTC retroactively *should* work just fine, and has no impact on State returns (well, as least CA returns).

Changing the SALT limitation, retroactively, is more of a concern (for *ME* ;-).  And who knows if CA will conform.

[pamdory]

Excellent point.  

[BobKamman]

He was confirmed as Commissioner last March. Not sure we can still call him "new."  

The SALT deduction change is likely DOA, but it would not be retroactive.  

[abctax55]

(increasing it to $20,000, from $10,000). We have yet to see the text of this bill, so we do not know whether this change will be retroactive

[CMcCullough]

I do hope the SALT increase would not be retroactive if passed, as it would affect almost all of our returns.  Bay Area, CA

[abctax55]

More 'breaking' news from Spidell:

As currently written:

• The increase would apply only to the 2023 tax year; and 
• The $500,000 AGI threshold would be a cliff, meaning that MFJ taxpayers with $500,000 or more of AGI would still be limited to the $10,000 deduction.

The bill must still be passed by both the full House and the Senate. 

[pamdory]

Thank you for this.  I was about to go check on this very point.  

I just had a discussion with a client who typically files early that would benefit from this SALT increase, discussing filing logistics.