| | This week's tax news from the Americas - United States | IRS announces forthcoming proposed IRC Section 987 regulations with significant simplifying elections
In Notice 2026-17, the Treasury Department and the IRS announced that forthcoming proposed regulations would simplify the operation of the IRC Section 987 regulations, reduce compliance burdens, and refine the scope of certain rules to limit their effect on ordinary-course-of-business transactions. Among other modifications, Notice 2026-17 allows taxpayers to elect to determine IRC Section 987 taxable income or loss and IRC Section 987 gain or loss for IRC Section 987 qualified business units using an equity-and-basis-pool method that is substantially similar to the proposed regulations published in 1991. Taxpayers generally may rely on the rules described in Sections 3 and 4 of Notice 2026-17 (including the equity-and-basis-pool-method election) for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024 (e.g., a 2025 tax year).
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection outlines potential refund mechanics following court order on IEEPA duties
Following a 4 March 2026 order from the U.S. Court of International Trade in Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States (Ct. No. 26-01259), the Executive Director of Trade Programs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) outlined the operational challenges of identifying all past imports on which duties were assessed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), determining which importers paid those duties, and calculating the refund owed to each affected importer. To address these challenges, CBP proposed updating its existing computer system (i.e., the Automated Commercial Environment) to add new functionality and workflow processes needed to handle the process of refunding IEEPA duties.
- U.S. Trade Representative initiates Section 301 investigations into large-scale production of low-priced exports
The U.S. Trade Representative announced on 11 March 2026 that it has initiated investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into whether the acts, policies, and practices of 16 economies (Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Chinese mainland, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam) encourage the large-scale production of low-priced exports that disadvantage foreign competitors (i.e., create structural excess capacity in manufacturing sectors). Depending on the investigations’ outcome, the United States may impose tariff or nontariff measures on products from those economies to address any identified burdens on U.S. commerce.
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| | About Americas Tax Roundup Published by NTD's Tax Technical Knowledge Services Group, Washington, D.C.
Jennifer Mannetta, writer and editor Distributed weekly to all Americas Tax personnel. | |
