Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of December 27, 2021 – December 31, 2021. Additionally, for continuing updates on the tax impact of COVID-19, please visit our resource page here.

December 27, 2021: The IRS published a news release reminding employers and self-employed individuals who chose to defer paying part of their 2020 social security tax obligation that a payment is due on January 3, 2022.

December 27, 2021: The IRS published a news release announcing that Illinois victims of severe storms, straight-line winds and tornadoes beginning December 10, 2021, now have until May 16, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

December 28, 2021: The IRS and the US Department of the Treasury published final regulations relating to the foreign tax credit, including the disallowance of a credit or deduction for foreign income taxes with respect to dividends eligible for a dividends-received deduction; the allocation and apportionment of interest expense, foreign income tax expense and certain deductions of life insurance companies; the definition of a foreign income tax and a tax in lieu of an income tax; the definition of foreign branch category income and the time at which foreign taxes accrue and can be claimed as a credit. The regulations also contain clarifying rules relating to foreign-derived intangible income (FDII). The final regulations affect taxpayers who claim credits or deductions for foreign income taxes or claim a deduction for FDII.

December 28, 2021: The IRS published a news release announcing that Alabama victims of severe storms and flooding beginning October 6, 2021, now have until February 28, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

December 28, 2021: The IRS published a news release announcing that Arkansas victims of severe storms and tornadoes beginning December 10, 2021, now have until May 16, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

December 29, 2021: The IRS released instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, Miscellaneous Information and Nonemployee Compensation. The changes reflect, among other things, the addition of a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) filing requirement checkbox.

December 30, 2021: The IRS published a notice and request for comments concerning Notice 2021-57, funding relief for multiemployer defined benefit pension plans under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Certain provisions of ARPA permitted plan sponsors to: (1) elect to delay designating a plan as being in endangered, critical or critical and declining status under Section 432(b)(3), as applicable, or to delay updating the plan’s funding improvement plan or rehabilitation plan, as applicable; (2) elect to extend the plan’s funding improvement period under Section 432(c)(4) or the rehabilitation period under Section 432(e)(4), as applicable and (3) spread certain investment losses and other experience losses related to [...]

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