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November 5, 2023
2023-1829

Americas Tax Policy: This Week in Tax Policy for November 3

This week (November 6-10)

Congress: House business may include consideration of the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill. The Ways & Means Committee is holding a hearing on "Ensuring that 'Woke' Doesn't Leave Americans Broke: Protecting Seniors and Savers from ESG Activism," on Tuesday, November 7 at 10 a.m.

The Senate returns to session at 3 p.m. on Monday, November 6, with a procedural vote related to the nomination of Monica Bertagnolli to be Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at 5:30 p.m.

The Finance Committee and Budget Committee are both holding hearings targeting the taxation of high-income individuals this week:

  • The Senate Finance Committee hearing, "Examining How the Tax Code Affects High-Income Individuals and Tax Planning Strategies," is planned for Thursday, November 9 (at 10 a.m.)
  • The Senate Budget Committee hearing, "Fairness and Fiscal Responsibility: Cracking Down on Wealthy Tax Cheats," is set for Wednesday, November 8, 2023 (at 10 a.m.), with witnesses including Natasha Sarin, formerly of the Biden Treasury Department and now a Yale professor.

The exact impetus for the hearings isn't clear, but the Wall Street Journal reported in a story on Republican efforts to roll back the IRS funding boost in the IRA, "Natasha Sarin, who helped develop the IRS expansion as a Treasury Department official, said the agency is showing real progress that threatens wealthy tax dodgers. 'Once the IRS starts lodging concrete successes from the IRA investments, it's going to be much harder, even for critics of the agency, to defend why they want wealthy people to not pay taxes their constituents are paying,' said Sarin, who now teaches at Yale University."

Last week (October 30-November 3)

The big picture: The increase in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is, suddenly, back in the news, as new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) proposed rescinding some of the new money to pay for $14.3 billion in Israel aid even though clipping funding for the agency is scored as a revenue loss, not gain. The House approved the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 6126) November 2 by a 226-196 vote (with 12 Democrats in favor and 2 Republicans opposed). The bill calls for clawing back unobligated IRS funds on enforcement, operations support, direct file, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Office of Tax Policy, Tax Court, and departmental offices — most areas targeted for funding except taxpayer services and modernization. On Fox News, Speaker Johnson said, "My intention and my desire in the first draft of this bill is to take some of the money that has been set aside for the building and bulking up the IRS right now. They have about $67 billion in that fund, and we will try to take the $14.5 [billion] necessary for this immediate and urgent need." The bill with the IRS funding source won't be taken up by the Democratic-led Senate, and Senators from both parties support considering Israel aid in conjunction with money for Ukraine, along the lines of the Administration's more than $100 billion supplemental funding request to cover those two issues plus border security resources.

The Wall Street Journal said November 2, "The standoff over foreign aid could converge with a bigger battle later this month over federal spending, with Congress facing a 12:01 a.m. deadline on Nov. 18 to avert a government shutdown. Some lawmakers have said that the foreign-aid package could end up being resolved when Congress also has to pass the new bill funding government operations." While both the House and Senate made progress on the regular slate of 12 annual appropriations bills this week, the expectation is that another continuing resolution (CR) will be necessary after current government funding expires November 17. Speaker Johnson has proposed a CR until January 15 rather than the regular year-end deadline, which he signaled will help deter potential Senate efforts to impose an omnibus appropriations bill on the House.

Tax bill prospects: It's unclear how a January CR target may scramble efforts to move tax and other outstanding items by the end of the year, which are seen as most likely to move with some future government funding bill. A tax package could be anchored by relief from TCJA pre-cliffs on 174 R&D, 163(j) interest deductibility, and 100% expensing, and potentially address other tax extenders that expired in 2021 and 2022 and perhaps other tax provisions. A package continues to hinge on reaching a bipartisan agreement to make the Child Tax Credit (CTC) more generous. Fixing the TCJA business provisions through 2025 costs about $50 billion, the 2021 version of the CTC is $100 billion per year but Democrats will likely accept a less-generous version, and somehow matching up the costs of the two priorities to achieve some level of parity is probably the key to a deal. The Bloomberg Daily Tax Report (DTR) cited House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) as saying November 2 that he was "optimistic of getting a tax package." Chairman Smith was visiting the Senate floor to talk with members, an uncommon but not unprecedented practice. "Not saying what it's going to be attached to, but I really enjoy working with Senator Wyden," Chairman Smith said. Urgency for a deal continues to be expressed by the business community. A November 2 letter from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation, Information Technology Industry Council and other groups called for immediate action to address the TCJA pre-cliffs. "Although legislation has been introduced in both chambers in support of these policies, Congress must act immediately to extend these competitive tax policies. Failing to do so will put hundreds of thousands of family-supporting jobs, cutting-edge innovation and pro-growth investments in America at risk," the letter stated.

As for the vehicle for such a tax package, they usually ride along on a year-end omnibus appropriations bill, but the desire by the Speaker to have another continuing resolution through early January complicates tax package prospects as these stop-gap spending bills tend not to be used as a vehicle for costly tax cut packages.

IRS: The Senate Finance Committee November 2 approved the nomination of Marjorie Rollinson to be Chief Counsel for the IRS and an Assistant General Counsel in the Department of the Treasury by a 16-11 vote, paving the way for a full-Senate vote on confirmation. Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) joined the Committee's 14 Democrats in approving the nomination. Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) said prior to the vote, "Ms. Rollinson has a strong resume and impressive technical expertise, and I appreciate both her prior service at the IRS and her willingness to serve today. However, the agencies to which she has been nominated continue to be plagued by various issues … [and] given the many existing unresolved issues at the IRS and Treasury, I cannot support Ms. Rollinson's nomination today. That said, I do look forward to working with Ms. Rollinson on addressing the concerns my colleagues and I have raised throughout this process and making progress." He cited as a concern, "Treasury's advancement of the OECD Pillar 2 negotiations without meaningful congressional input, to the likely detriment of domestic businesses and workers."

The IRS announced November 1 that sellers of EVs can now register using the new IRS Energy Credits Online tool to "allow dealers and sellers of clean vehicles to complete the entire process online and receive advance payments within 72 hours. The tool will generate a Time of Sale report that the taxpayer will use when filing their federal tax return to claim or report the credit."

The dollar limitations for retirement plans and certain other dollar limitations that become effective January 1, 2024, have been released by the IRS in Notice 2023-75. The dollar limitations adjusted by reference to IRC Section 415(d) are modified annually for inflation and, consequently, most of them are changed for 2024. Of note, the 2024 pretax limit that applies to elective deferrals to IRC Section 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans increased from $22,500 to $23,000. The dollar limitation for catch-up contributions for participants aged 50 or over remains at $7,500. An EY Tax Alert has details.

A November 1 Bloomberg Daily Tax Report story on the October 30 Executive Order (EO) on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) cited IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel as saying the agency is "absolutely committed" to the President's push to regulate how the federal government uses AI. "The Treasury Department received a directive from the executive order to put out a public report to assess AI specific cybersecurity risks for financial institutions. It will also work with various agencies on assessing AI risks on other parts of the order, a Treasury spokesperson said." The report cited Commissioner Werfel as saying, "I think the president is indicating in this executive order, 'Explore, be innovative, but do it carefully.'" Further, "It shouldn't all be just about cost savings and process efficiency, it's about that balanced against the other downsides that can manifest with AI," he said.

Disaster tax relief: The House Ways and Means Committee November 2 approved 38-0 the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act (H.R. 5863). Introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), the bill would provide personal casualty loss relief for any disaster area declared since 2020, provide an exclusion from gross income for amounts received as qualified wildfire relief payments, and treat East Palestine train derailment payments as qualified disaster relief payments. In an opening statement, Chairman Smith said, "This package builds on three pieces of bipartisan legislation to help families recover in the aftermath of a disaster. First, it offers important relief to victims of disasters across the country, including Hurricane Ian last year — which was the costliest storm in Florida history, and which claimed countless lives. This bill will help those individuals and families deduct disaster losses against their tax bill. This bill also exempts from taxes the disaster relief payments received by victims of recent wildfires in California and Hawaii, as well as the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio last February." Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) said, "These bills under consideration will help Americans facing personal and financial loss from wildfires and support our ongoing efforts to bolster enforcement of U.S. trade laws … these bills have an easy glidepath to the floor and to becoming law." As Politico noted about the disaster bill, "Lawmakers hope to attach the plan to a potential year-end tax bill. Republicans made it harder to claim casualty deductions as part of their 2017 tax cuts, to help defray the cost of that legislation." Changes made in the 2017 TCJA restrict casualty loss deductions to federally declared disasters, whereas, before 2017, casualty losses were generally deductible, the Congressional Research Service said in a report, "Tax Policy and Disaster Recovery."

Global tax: At the U.S. Council for International Business conference in Washington October 30, Treasury officials continued to tout the Pillar One multilateral convention (MLC) released October 11, with some items unsettled, as representing significant progress toward the OECD-led two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from digitalization and globalization. Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy Lily Batchelder said extending the moratorium on digital services taxes (DSTs) is a key issue, as is the treatment of nonrefundable credits like the US R&D credit under Pillar Two.

IRA guidance tracker: This table describes select IRS guidance related to the Inflation Reduction Act.

  •  

Date — Guidance

Description

Link for more information

11/29/22 — Notice 2022-61, prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements

started clock for construction 60 days after guidance: new requirements apply to facilities that begin construction on or after January 29, 2023

See EY Tax Alert 2022-1832

12/12/22 — Revenue Procedure 2022-42, EVs

agreements between manufacturers and Treasury regarding production of vehicles eligible for credit

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0076

12/19/22 — Notice 2023-06 provides guidance on the new sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credits

primarily addresses the SAF credit requirements applicable to a qualified mixture

See EY Tax Alert 2022-1912

12/22/22 — Fact Sheet (FS-2022-40) on efficient home, residential credits

lists improvements eligible for credits, credit amounts, information on labor costs

See EY Tax Alert 2022-1935

12/27/22 — Notice 2023-2, stock buyback tax

rules and procedures for the 1% excise tax on the aggregate fair market value of stock repurchased by certain corporations

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0054

12/27/22 — Notice 2023-7, corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT)

clarifies which corporations the CAMT applies to and how the alternative minimum tax is calculated

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0091

12/29/22 — FS-2022-42 on EV credits; Updated FS-2023-04, FS-2023-08

address how the credit applies to, defines qualified manufacturer; situations in which vehicle's classification changed; whether credit can be split among multiple owners

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0660

12/29/22 — Notice 2023-1, EV credits; modified by

Notice 2023-16

definitions for new clean vehicles, critical mineral and battery component requirements

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0251

12/29/22 — White Paper on

critical mineral requirements

percentage must be extracted or processed in the US or a country with free trade agreement with US

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/30DWhite-Paper.pdf

12/31/22 — Notice 2023-9, IRC Section 45W, EVs

Safe harbor regarding the incremental cost of vehicles

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0076

2/13/23 — Notice 2023-17 Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit

applies to owners of solar and wind facilities in low-income communities that are eligible for the IRC Section 48 energy investment credit

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0333

2/13/23 — Notice 2023-18, 48C advanced energy

5/31/23 — Notice 2023-44

$10 billion in tax credits,

information on "energy communities census tracts"

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1012

2/17/23 — Notice 2023-20, interim guidance for insurance companies and others for the CAMT

determination of adjusted financial statement income for variable contracts, reinsurance, "fresh start" basis adjustment

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0384

3/9/23 — Notice 2023-24, nuclear credit (45J)

computing the credit, amount of unutilized NMCL, unutilized NMCL, transfer of credit to an "eligible project partner"

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0504

3/31/23 — Proposed regulations (REG-120080-22), EV credit

domestic sourcing requirements

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0660

 4/4/23 — Notice 2023-29, "energy communities"

6/15/23 — Notice 2023-45

6/15/23 — Notice 2023-47, energy community bonus

for purposes of PTC under IRC Sections 45 and 45Y, ITC under IRC Sections 48 and 48E for electricity facilities;

Updates eligibility based on updated local unemployment rate data

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1083

5/12/23 — Notice 2023-38, domestic content bonus under IRC Sections 45, 45Y, 48, and 48E

how to categorize solar, wind and energy storage components for purposes of the manufactured products requirements

See EY Tax Alert 2023-0908

5/31/23 — Proposed regs (REG-110412-23) on Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit

definitions and requirements that would be applicable for the program allocating the calendar year 2023 capacity limitation

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1018

6/7/23 — Notice 2023-42, CAMT

waives addition to tax for a corporation's failure to make estimated tax payments of its CAMT

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1038

6/14/23 — Proposed regulations (REG-101610-23) on tax credit transferability

allows an eligible taxpayer to transfer all or a portion of an eligible credit to an unrelated transferee taxpayer for cash

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1103

6/14/23 — Proposed regulations (REG-101607-23) on direct pay

allows entities like tax-exempt organizations to treat credits as a payment against tax, rather than as a nonrefundable credit

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1102

6/15/23 — FAQs on energy communities

how areas may qualify as an energy community, whether a project is located in an energy community

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1083

6/29/23 — Announcement 2023-18, stock buybacks

taxpayers not required to report or pay excise tax on any tax return filed before regulations are published

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1166

8/10/23 — Final regulations (TD 9979) and Revenue Procedure 2023-27 on Low-income Communities Bonus Credit

implements bonus energy investment credit program for solar or wind facilities in low-income communities: information an applicant must submit, application review, obtaining an allocation

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-and-treasury-issue-guidance-for-owners-of-solar-and-wind-powered-energy-facilities-in-low-income-communities-for-increased-energy-credit-under-the-inflation-reduction-act

8/29/23 — Proposed regulations (REG-100908-23) on prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements

satisfying requirements, correction payments to workers, penalties to IRS

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1469

9/12/23 — Notice 2023-64, CAMT

describes rules IRS intends on issues like the determination of a taxpayer's applicable financial statement

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1570

9/27/23 — Notice 2023-65, IRC Section 45L New Energy Efficient Home Credit

addresses eligibility, applicable amount of the credit, energy saving requirements, certification requirements, substantiation

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1741

10/6/23 — Proposed regulations (REG-113064-23) on transfer of EV credits, plus Revenue Procedure 2023-33

clarifies how taxpayers can elect to transfer new and previously owned clean vehicle credits to dealers who are eligible to receive advance payments of either credit. The revenue procedure includes procedures for how a dealer would register with the IRS to be eligible to receive the credit transfers from taxpayers and provides details on the registration process.

See EY Tax Alert 2023-1723

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Contact Information
For additional information concerning this Alert, please contact:
 
Washington Council Ernst & Young
Jose Murillo (jose.murillo@ey.com)
Jeff Van Hove (jeffrey.van.hove@ey.com)
Ray Beeman (ray.beeman@ey.com)
Kurt Ritterpusch (kurt.ritterpusch@ey.com)
Bob Carroll (robert.carroll@ey.com)
James Mackie (james.mackie@ey.com)