The American Institute of CPAs sent a lengthy to-do list to Capitol Hill with a wide-ranging set of tax proposals large and small.
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The 61 recommendations in the document include proposals related to employee benefits, individual income tax, international tax and tax administration, among others. Some of the specific proposals deal with important issues affecting businesses, taxpayers and their accounting representatives, such as the tax treatment for health insurance deductions for employees and self-employed individuals (pg. 27); reasonable cause exceptions to the section 6707A and 6662A penalties for all reportable transactions (pg. 41); refunds of any remaining minimum tax credits from the prior corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT) regime (pg. 130); and repeal of the Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) conformity rule (pg. 148).
"The AICPA's Tax Compendium is a useful resource for Congress as it continues tax deliberations," said AICPA vice president for tax policy and advocacy Edward Karl in a statement Wednesday. "Many of these proposals are the types of enhancements lawmakers should consider as they continue to debate and update tax legislation. The compendium is comprehensive but will be supplemented by additional comments the AICPA will continue to provide throughout the legislative session."
The prospects for passing significant tax legislation in a divided Congress with Republicans and Democrats in control of separate chambers are dim, but some of the proposals could receive bipartisan support, such as technical changes in the definitions of terms such as "small business" and "modified adjusted gross income" that vary in different parts of the Tax Code, which could be included in a larger legislative package that requires bipartisan passage.
