business interest expense deduction Archives

Weekly IRS Roundup September 14 – September 18, 2020

by McDermott Will & Emery | Sep 22, 2020 | IRS Guidance, Tax Reform

Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of September 14, 2020 – September 18, 2020. Additionally, for continuing updates on the tax impact of COVID-19, please visit our resource page here.

September 14, 2020: The IRS published final regulations providing guidance on the limitation on the deduction for business interest expense after amendment of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The regulations provide guidance to taxpayers on how to calculate the limitation, what constitutes interest for purposes of the limitation, which taxpayers and trades or businesses are subject to the limitation and how the limitation applies in consolidated group, partnership, international and other contexts. The final regulations vary slightly from the document released on IRS.gov on July 28, 2020.

September 14, 2020: The IRS published a criminal tax bulletin concerning recent case law involving the Criminal Tax Division.

September 15, 2020: The IRS published Rev. Rul. 2020-20 that provides various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes for October 2020, including: (1) the applicable federal rates (AFR) under section 1274(d); (2) the adjusted applicable federal rates (adjusted AFR) under section 1288(b); (3) the adjusted federal long-term rate and the long-term tax-exempt rate under section 382(f); (4) the appropriate percentages for determining the low-income housing credit under Section 42(b)(1); and (5) the federal rate for determining the present value of an annuity, an interest for life or for a term of years or a remainder or a reversionary interest under section 7520.

September 15, 2020: The IRS published a practice unit covering Last In-First Out (LIFO) inventories under various LIFO methods.

September 15, 2020: The IRS released for future publication in the Federal Register final regulations concerning the definition of an eligible terminated S corporation and rules relating to distributions of money by such a corporation after the post-termination transition period. The regulation package also amends current regulations to extend the treatment of distributions of money during the post-termination transition period to all shareholders of the corporation and clarifies the allocation of current earnings and profits to distributions of money and other property. The final regulations affect C corporations that were formerly S corporations and the shareholders of such corporations.

September 16, 2020: The IRS published a memorandum providing flexibility for taxpayers who are temporarily unable to meet the payment terms on accepted offers due to the economic impact of COVID-19. The procedures will expire December 31, 2020, unless extended.

September 17, 2020: The IRS published a practice unit providing an overview of the Overall Foreign Loss (OFL), Separate Limitation Loss (SLL) and Overall Domestic Loss (ODL) rules, as well as related examples.

September 17, 2020: The IRS
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Weekly IRS Roundup August 31 – September 4, 2020

by McDermott Will & Emery | Sep 9, 2020 | IRS Guidance, Tax Reform

Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of August 31, 2020 – September 4, 2020. Additionally, for continuing updates on the tax impact of COVID-19, please visit our resource page here.

September 1, 2020: The IRS released for publication in the federal register final regulations providing additional guidance on the base erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT) imposed on certain large corporate taxpayers with respect to certain payments made to foreign related parties. The final regulations affect corporations with substantial gross receipts that make payments to foreign related parties.

September 1, 2020: The IRS announced the launch of the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) Centralized Partnership Audit Regime webpage. The Centralized Partnership Audit Regime replaces the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) and the electing large partnership rules. The centralized partnership audit regime, or BBA, is generally effective for tax years beginning January 2018. Under the BBA, the IRS generally assesses and collects any understatement of tax (called an imputed underpayment) at the partnership level.

September 1, 2020: The IRS published a memorandum providing guidance on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA) until Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) 8.19 is revised. The guidance covers: (1) Appeals TEFRA Team (ATT) and Technical Guidance (TG) referrals; (2) Tax Court rules on BBA partnership proceedings; (3) Tax Computation Specialist (TCS) assistance; (4) Tried Cases and Counsel Settlements; (5) Tax Court Decision Appealed and Final Decision from Appeal; and (6) Department of Justice (DOJ) cases.

September 1, 2020: The IRS announced its intention to issue regulations addressing the application of sections 951 and 951A of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) to certain S corporations (as defined in section 1361(a)(1)) with accumulated earnings and profits, as described in section 316(a)(1) (AE&P). The notice also announces that the US Department of the Treasury and the IRS intend to issue regulations addressing the treatment of qualified improvement property (QIP) under the alternative depreciation system (ADS) of section 168(g) for purposes of calculating qualified business asset investment (QBAI) for purposes of the foreign-derived intangible income (FDII) and global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) provisions. Comments should be submitted by November 2, 2020.

September 1, 2020: The IRS requested comments on Revenue Procedure 2015-40 (that provides guidance for taxpayers who believe that the actions of the United States, a treaty country or both result or will result in taxation that is contrary to the provisions of an applicable tax treaty) to submit the requested information in order to receive assistance from the IRS official acting as the US competent authority. Comments are due on or before November 2, 2020.

September 3, 2020: The IRS released the fourth quarter update to the 2019–2020 Priority Guidance Plan. The fourth quarter update to the 2019-2020 plan reflects 53 additional projects which have been published [...]

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Weekly IRS Roundup July 27 – July 31, 2020

by McDermott Will & Emery | Aug 3, 2020 | IRS Guidance, Tax Reform

Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of July 27, 2020 – July 31, 2020. Additionally, for continuing updates on the tax impact of COVID-19, please visit our resource page here.

July 28, 2020: The IRS issued final regulations providing guidance about the limitation on the deduction for business interest expense after amendment of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The regulations provide guidance to taxpayers on how to calculate the limitation, what constitutes interest for purposes of the limitation, which taxpayers and trades or businesses are subject to the limitation and how the limitation applies in consolidated group, partnership, international and other contexts.

July 28, 2020: The IRS published a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning rules that provide additional guidance on various business interest expense deduction limitation issues not addressed in the final regulations, including more complex issues related to the amendments made by the CARES Act.

July 28, 2020: The IRS added frequently asked questions regarding the aggregation rules under section 448(c)(2) that apply to the section 163(j) small business exemption.

July 29, 2020: The IRS posted a practice unit on issues concerning the receipt of dividends or interest from a related controlled foreign corporation.

July 29, 2020: The IRS posted a practice unit on accuracy-related penalties under section 6662.

July 29, 2020: The IRS published a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning regulations to implement legislative changes to sections 263A, 448, 460 and 471 that simplify the application of those tax accounting provisions for certain businesses having average annual gross receipts that do not exceed $25 million, adjusted for inflation. The notice also contains proposed regulations regarding certain special accounting rules for long-term contracts under section 460 to implement legislative changes applicable to corporate taxpayers. The proposed regulations generally affect taxpayers with average annual gross receipts of not more than $25 million (adjusted for inflation). The IRS also requested comments regarding the application of section 460 (or other special methods of accounting) to a contract with income that is accounted for in part under section 460 (or other special method) and in part under section 451. Comments must be received by September 14, 2020.

July 31, 2020: The IRS published a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning proposed regulations that provide guidance under section 1061. Section 1061 recharacterizes certain net long-term capital gains of a partner that holds one or more applicable partnership interests as short-term capital gains. The regulations also amend existing regulations on holding periods to clarify the holding period of a partner’s interest in a partnership that includes in whole or in part an applicable partnership interest and/or a profits interest. The regulations affect taxpayers who directly or indirectly [...]

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