Federal
Preparing Now for 2025 Tax Legislative Activity
Looking ahead to the Trump administration and tax implications
Editor’s note: This article was finalized prior to President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. January marked the beginning of the 119th Congress and President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. With full Republican control of the legislative and executive branches of government, Republicans are… Read more »
Renewable Energy Tax Credits After the Inflation Reduction Act
Successes, challenges, and the impact of the 2024 election
Following the the 2024 US general election, with Donald Trump’s victory, the future of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) enters a pivotal phase. Enacted in 2022, the IRA has been a cornerstone of the United States’ renewable energy strategy, offering tax incentives to drive investments in technologies like wind, solar,… Read more »
The Rise of the Excise Tax
Final and proposed regulations for the excise tax on stock repurchases
In August 2022, Public Law No. 117-169—commonly called the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022—enacted Section 4501 of the Internal Revenue Code.1 The statute generally imposes a nondeductible one percent excise tax (the “excise tax”) on the net value of share repurchases by publicly traded domestic corporations in a given tax… Read more »
Key Challenges and Opportunities for Tax Directors in a Tightening Economy
Maximize tax savings but tread carefully with debt restructurings
Navigating a tightening economic cycle—characterized by prolonged high interest rates and uncertainty about future rate cuts—requires care and foresight. In the current financial climate, companies tend to accrue substantial net operating losses (NOLs), tax credits, and other tax assets and face deteriorating investments in their subsidiaries. Debt modifications and forbearances… Read more »
Pillar Two and IRS Notice 2023-80
Offering clarity on QDMTTs and top-up taxes
Internal Revenue Service Notice 2023-80 (hereinafter “the notice”) provides the US government’s view on the foreign tax credit treatment of Pillar Two top-up taxes and makes a clear distinction between qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT) and the extra-jurisdictional top-up taxes imposed by an income inclusion regime (IIR) and the… Read more »
Tax Valuation Considerations for M&A Transactions
A close look at purchase price allocations, Section 382 limitation calculations, tax receivable agreements, and more
Public corporations, private equity-backed portfolio companies, and privately held companies often look to mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to drive growth and shareholder value. However, pursuing M&A-driven growth may be complicated, since companies must comply with ever-evolving financial and tax reporting requirements, deal with increasing financial audit and tax authority scrutiny,… Read more »
Purchasing Clean Energy Tax Credits
What corporate tax teams need to know about prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) greatly expanded energy-related federal income tax credits and created Internal Revenue Code Section 6418, which allows eligible taxpayers to transfer, or sell, certain clean energy tax credits to unrelated parties for cash. One key area of due diligence when purchasing a tax credit… Read more »
Tax Credit Transferability and Direct Pay Proposed Under the IRA
Potential for interactions with Section 174 complicate a seemingly simple program
The new tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) mean that more taxpayers will have access to more tax credits in the near future. But recent guidance highlights some uncertainties that taxpayers should be aware of before jumping in. The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service recently released… Read more »
The Deference Doctrine—Its History and Possible Future
The Chevron doctrine has weathered changes since 1984, but the biggest one of all may be on the horizon
The doctrine of administrative deference, established in the Chevron case in 1984, requires deference to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute.1 The two-part test for requiring deference first addresses whether “Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue.”2 If so, the court must enforce the “unambiguous… Read more »
IRS Formalizes Process for Evaluating Advance Pricing Agreement Requests
Practical effects remain to be seen
The Internal Revenue Service has issued interim guidance on the process the Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement Program (APMA) will follow when determining whether to accept taxpayer requests for an advance pricing agreement (APA).1 Existing guidance already states that APMA has discretion to reject an APA request and identifies some… Read more »
Are Tax Insurance Proceeds Taxable? Tax insurance has emerged as a cornerstone of corporate tax…
OBBBA Modifications to US Taxation of International Income The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which was signed…
How Does Conformity Impact State Revenues After the OBBBA? State conformity with the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) refers to…
Are Research Credit Interviews and Write-Ups Obsolete? Upon joining a Big Four firm in Washington, D.C.—then known…
Janelle Gabbianelli According to Janelle Gabbianelli, her first job was the catalyst…
Overreliance on AI for Tax Advice: A Cautionary Perspective With the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence (AI), many people…