President-elect Donald Trump offered up a long list of promises during his campaign, and next year will bring a major test with the upcoming expiration of many of the provisions from his first administration's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
"No one has a crystal ball on what's going to happen here, but certainly it's a little bit clearer based on a Trump victory than it would have been based on a Harris victory," said Brian Newman, a tax partner at Top 25 Firm CohnReznick in Hartford, Connecticut. "Obviously the big point is going to be either to extend or to make permanent TCJA provisions."
Trump has also called for lowering the corporate tax rate, which was supposed to be made permanent with the TCJA. He has proposed to lower it to 20%, or 15% for companies that manufacture their products in the U.S.
"Going from 21% down to 20% may be a much easier sell than layering on something that would get the corporate rate down to 15%," said Newman.
Trump has also called for bringing back 100% bonus depreciation. "Right now the bonus rate is at 40% and scheduled to go down to 20% next year," Newman continued. "There's been a push to get that back up to 100%. If that occurs, we'll be talking to our clients for year-end tax planning about deciding on whether to delay placing an asset in service a month or two if, in fact, we think that we're going to go back to 100% bonus, versus buying something this year and placing it in service this year. There are always transition rules. That's something that we have to be cautious about. That's something that is going to be closely watched, because it could have a significant impact on clients."
On the other hand, parts of the TCJA could be jettisoned. Trump has also called for eliminating the act's $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions, also known as the "SALT cap," for individuals, or raising it.
"It's an easy discussion to tell clients, if you have property taxes to pay, you're probably better off paying the property taxes January 1 versus December 31 in the hopes that something does get passed," said Newman. "You might get a benefit for it, versus now in 2024 you know you're not going to get a benefit."
The treatment of R&D expenses involves another provision of the TCJA that could be eliminated. "The last couple of years, taxpayers have had to capitalize their R&D costs and then amortize them over a five-year period," said Newman. "That's had a significant impact on compliance and the bottom line of taxable income. Trump has said that he would like to get those expenses currently deductible again, which would be helpful for businesses that have R&D expenses.
The Section 163(j) limitation on business interest could be another area where TCJA provision would be eliminated. "Currently, your adjusted taxable income does not include adding back depreciation and amortization like it did in the first few years of the TCJA. President-elect Trump has said that he would be in favor of going back to an EBITDA calculation so that you can add back your depreciation and amortization, which would make the limitation less painful for clients. That's another area that I think you're going to see some tax law changes."
Some of these business tax changes were passed by the House earlier this year as part of the Wyden-Smith Tax Relief for American Workers and Families Act of 2024 but never got through the Senate because of disagreement over other provisions, such as expansion of the Child Tax Credit.
Trump has also called for not taxing income from tips, Social Security and overtime, as well as eliminating taxes on firefighters, police officers and members of the military.
However, that could encourage people to reclassify their income as the tax-exempt kind.
"It will always be interesting to see exactly how those things work and how they're calculated, because everyone's always looking to maximize what income is not subject to tax or may have lower tax rates," said Newman. "But you have to make sure that you know, things are properly defined, and that ultimately, you know, we have a clear guidance on what the calculation should be."
Trump has also called for eliminating the stock buyback excise tax for public companies that buy back their own shares of over $1 million in a taxable year. "Right now, there's a 1% tax on that," said Newman. "The Biden administration has proposed increasing that to 4%, but President-elect Trump has said that he would be in favor of eliminating that tax."
He believes the qualified business income deduction under the TCJA will also be closely watched, "People would be looking for that to either get extended or made permanent," said Newman. "That's a 20% deduction on certain flow-through income, which has been very beneficial to people who it applies to. Unfortunately, it does not apply, for the most part, to accountants and other professional services organizations."
Trump has also called for doubling the standard deduction as it was in the TCJA. That could cause even fewer people to itemize their deductions. "There's a good amount of people who don't itemize because the SALT cap is limited to $10,000 and then if you don't have large home mortgage interest or other itemized deductions, you're not getting over the standard deduction threshold as it currently stands," said Newman. "If you double the standard deduction, there will be less and less itemizers, and those types of deductions don't become as valuable."
That may prompt donors to reduce their charitable contributions if they can't itemize the deduction.
Trump has also called for other tax breaks, such as tax credits for family caregivers taking care of parents or loved ones, and allowing those who buy an automobile made in the U.S. to write off the interest on their car loans.
All those tax breaks may prove difficult for states that rely on income taxes from their residents and can't afford to let their deficits run wild. "Year after year, the state tax liabilities on transactions and income are becoming more and more a larger component of the total tax burden of both companies and individuals," said Newman. "One of the things that states like to do is decouple from federal provisions. We always want to keep in mind, even if you get new provisions at the federal level, if they're not already decoupled, you may get decoupled on provisions for the state. For instance, if President-elect Trump is successful in exempting, say, overtime pay, you may get a lot of states decouple from that, and the states will still tax that."
Trump's tax policy will also depend on what Congress does and how much control Republicans will be able to exercise, especially in the House.
"Tax was not the focal point of the campaign, and when it did emerge as an issue, former (and future) President Trump presented tax policy ideas largely in broad strokes, though he also had no small number of new ideas for voters to consider," said Jonathan Traub, managing principal and tax policy group leader at Deloitte Tax LLP, in a statement. "Of course, tax legislation generally originates in Congress, not the White House, so any new tax laws enacted will bear the imprint of the legislative branch with its many competing interests and priorities. And, just as importantly, the ability of the Republicans to use budget reconciliation to fast-track major tax and spending bills to the White House depends on the outcome of a handful of uncalled House races around the country."
