Tax News & Views Roundup with a Mutt

IRS

Pa. Joining IRS' Free E-File Program In 2025 – Asha Glover, Law360 ($).

"The IRS will make its Direct File free online tax filing program available to Pennsylvania taxpayers for the 2025 filing season, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday, making it the third state to join the program after a dozen states participated in a pilot version this year."

IRS Issues Final Rules for Substitute Mortality Tables – Jack McLoone, Law360 ($):

The Internal Revenue Service published final regulations Tuesday updating the requirements that a plan sponsor of a single-employer defined benefit plan must meet to obtain agency approval to use mortality tables specific to the plan in calculating present value for minimum funding purposes.

In Treasury Decision 10005, the IRS set the standards that allow a plan sponsor to use the mortality tables specific to the plan as a substitute for the generally applicable mortality tables. Under Internal Revenue Code Section 430(h)(3)(C), plan sponsors may request approval to use the substitute tables that meet requirements specified in Section 430(h)(3)(C)(iii).

Kamala Harris

Tax History: No Surprises in Kamala Harris’s 20 Years of Tax Returns – Joseph J. Thorndike, Tax Notes ($).

"Vice President Kamala Harris has released 20 years of personal tax returns, stretching back to the earliest days of her political career. While running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, she disclosed 15 returns — more than any of her rivals except President Biden, who has been releasing tax returns over the course of his long political career. Since her election as vice president, Harris has released another five returns in tandem with Biden’s annual disclosures."

Tax Policy

Politically Fraught Tax Package Vote Approaches in Senate – Doug Sword and Cady Stanton, Tax Notes ($):

The Senate’s top Republican taxwriter urged a “no” vote as Democrats embraced the appealing notion of Republicans voting against a tax package centered on an expansion of the child tax credit.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the bill would be put up for a vote the day following comments on Fox News by Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican nominee for vice president. Vance called politicians on the left “anti-child and anti-family” and claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris wanted to end the child tax credit, even though the Biden administration got the biggest increase in the credit’s history through Congress in 2021.

Local Leaders Ask Senate to Extend New Markets Credit – Jaqueline McCool, Law360 ($):

Congress should consider making the new markets tax credit permanent and extending opportunity zones as a way to help local governments, local leaders told the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.

In the hearing examining local tax tools for economic development, witnesses supported making the new markets tax credit permanent. Some witnesses also requested the potential extension of opportunity zones created in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Limit Biofuel Tax Credit to US Producers, Lawmakers Tell Yellen – Kim Chipman and Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg:

A surge of Chinese used cooking oil flowing into the US to make biofuels is prompting a call for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to ensure that only domestic ingredients can benefit from a tax credit taking effect next year.

The push by a bipartisan group of senators, including Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Republican Roger Marshall of Kansas, underscores the mounting pressure on the Biden administration to halt the flood of foreign used cooking oil that lawmakers say threatens American farmers and the intention of President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law.

Taxes

Undocumented Immigrants Pay Billions in Taxes – Benjamin Valdez, Tax Notes ($):

Undocumented immigrants in the United States paid nearly $100 billion in taxes in 2022 despite lacking work authorization, with California and Texas receiving the most revenue among the states, according to a new study.

The total tax contributions of those undocumented immigrants amounted to 26.1 percent of their incomes in 2022, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said in a report released July 30.

Conservation Easements

IRS Defeats Fourth Conservation Easement Info Request Challenge – John Woolley, Bloomberg ($).

"The IRS beat another lawsuit in a series of petitions challenging the lawfulness of the agency’s efforts to gather information on a 324-acre conservation easement land conveyance in Southeastern Louisiana."

Challenge To IRS Summons in $90M Easement Suit Tossed – Anna Scott Farrell, Law360 ($).

"A Mississippi federal judge dismissed a company's request to quash IRS summonses related to a $90 million conservation easement deduction, adopting the rulings of three sister jurisdictions that had dismissed the same challenge on grounds the summonses served a legitimate purpose."

Easement Fraud Appeal Highlights Explosive Jury Deliberations – Nathan J. Richman, Tax Notes ($).

"A district court’s decision to remove one juror involved in substantial disagreements with several of the others is enough reason to reverse the convictions of two conservation easement transaction promoters, the promoters argued on appeal."

In the Courts

Military Bribery Convict Owes $10 Million in Taxes, US Argues – John Woolley, Bloomberg ($).

"The owners of a trucking business should be held liable for more than $10 million in unpaid income taxes and penalties after one was sentenced in a defense contracting bribery scheme, the US told a Georgia federal court."

What Day is it?

Its National Mutt Day! If you don’t have one, there’s still time! Head to your local shelter and rescue your best friend today! (If a mutt isn’t in the cards, try celebrating National Avocado Day with some guacamole!)

Tax News & Views Roundup with a Mutt

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Trina Pinneau