02/15/2018

Treasury Not Counting on Tax Law Fixes

The agency does not expect Congress to pass a corrections bill

Top Treasury officials said this week they are moving quickly to draft regulations for the tax law enacted late last year, and are not counting on Congress to pass a technical corrections bill.

Congress ushered in sweeping changes to the tax system just before the end of the year, including numerous changes that impact the tax-exempt community. ASAE and others were successful in getting some harmful provisions removed from the final bill, though there are still issues that associations would like to see fixed or clarified. While House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) has maintained that Congress will likely need to pass a follow-up bill with technical corrections, Treasury officials are not counting on any large-scale bill to materialize.

“Treasury and IRS have a job to do, and I don’t think people are going to help us,” said Dana Trier, the Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for tax policy. Trier critiqued the tax bill at an American Bar Association (ABA) meeting earlier this week, and confirmed certain provisions raise questions as to Congress’ intent.

“Read the statute,” Trier suggested. “Do you think it’s a model of sophistication?”

While a stand-alone technical corrections bill would require support from Democrats in the Senate, lawmakers could attach some tax fixes to a future government spending bill – likely to come up for a vote in mid-to-late March – or to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) re-authorization, also due in March.

Among other issues, the IRS is in the process of writing guidance for the tax law’s cuts to fringe benefit deductions, such as employee transportation expenses and entertainment expenses.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said this week that Congress has a responsibility to explain any parts of the tax law that are unclear.

“We will keep the pressure on the administration to do things properly and as Congress intended,” Hatch said. “I’m going to keep working to ensure that everyone recognizes and respects Congress’s role in the process.”

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.