Tax Reform

On Friday, December 18, the IRS released final regulations under section 162(m) implementing the statutory changes made in 2017 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  Section 162(m), as amended, generally limits the deduction for compensation (also referred to as applicable employee remuneration) paid to the a publicly held corporation’s principal executive officer (“PEO”), principal financial officer (“PFO”), and its three highest-paid executive officers other than the PEO and PFO.  The final regulations are largely unchanged from the proposed regulations released almost exactly one year earlier.  (See earlier coverage.) The IRS did make a small number of changes in response to taxpayer comments, but declined to make changes in a number of areas.
Continue Reading Final 162(m) Regulations Make Few Changes

Yesterday, December 9, the IRS released final regulations implementing the Section 274(a)(4) and 274(l) deduction disallowances, adopted as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  Section 274(a)(4) disallows employer deductions for the cost of providing qualified transportation fringe (“QTF”) benefits provided to employees.  Section 274(l) provides a broader deduction disallowance for expenses paid for, or to reimburse for, employees’ trips between their residences and their places of employment.  Both deduction disallowances took effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017.

The final regulations largely follow the approach taken in the proposed regulations issued in June, which built on earlier guidance provided in Notice 2018-99.  Treasury Regulation § 1.274-13 addresses the deduction disallowance under section 274(a)(4) for the cost of QTFs provided under section 132(f), such as qualified parking, transit passes, and other tax-free commuting benefits.  Treasury Regulation § 1.274-14 addresses the deduction disallowance under section 274(a).
Continue Reading IRS Issues Final Regulations on Commuting Expenses Deduction Disallowances

As previewed by the recent final Form W-4 regulations published in October (see earlier coverage), the IRS released a draft of Publication 15-T (Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods) on November 17.  The publication provides a new computational method for employers who must continue to rely on pre-2020 Forms W-4 to determine the amount of…

On October 6, the IRS published final regulations addressing changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “TCJA”) to how an employee instructs an employer to withhold income taxes based on the employee’s Form W-4 (Employee’s Withholding Certificate).  These final regulations were issued only 8 months after the proposed regulations were published (see earlier coverage), which is considered warp-speed in IRS time. The Preamble to the final regulations provide a new method for employers who must continue to rely on pre-2020 Forms W-4 to determine the amount of federal income tax to withhold from employee’s wages.
Continue Reading Preamble to Final Regulations on the Mechanics of Income Tax Withholding Provide Transition Method for Pre-2020 Forms W-4

On October 9, the IRS published final Treasury Regulations addressing the deduction disallowance of expenses associated with providing entertainment, business meals, and other food and beverages in the Federal Register.  The final regulations, which track the proposed regulations published on February 26, 2020, preserve, with certain limitations, taxpayers’ ability to deduct 50 percent of the cost of business meals, even though the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) repealed the directly related and business discussion exceptions to the general prohibition on deducting entertainment expenditures.  Treasury Regulation § 1.274-11 addresses the deduction disallowance under Section 274(a)(1) for entertainment costs.  Treasury Regulation § 1.274-12 addresses the limitations on food or beverage expenses under Sections 274(k) and (n), including the application of exceptions in Section 274(e).

The TCJA’s elimination of a taxpayer’s ability to deduct 50 percent of meal and entertainment expenses meeting the directly related and business discussion exceptions took effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017.  In 2018, IRS Notice 2018-76 provided transitional guidance on the deductibility of expenses for certain business meals and other food and beverage expenses under Section 274(a)(1).  The proposed regulations largely adopted the guidance provided in Notice 2018-76, while also providing some significant updates.  The final regulations made only a few substantive changes to the proposed regulations.…

Continue Reading Final Regulations Address TCJA Disallowance for Meal and Entertainment Expenses

On October 2, 2019, Treasury and the IRS issued proposed regulations relating to the repeal of section 958(b)(4) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”).  On September 22, 2020, Treasury and the IRS issued final regulations largely following the proposed regulations, along with additional proposed regulations.
Continue Reading Regulations Addressing Section 958(b)(4) Repeal Provide Relief for U.S. Payors but Hold the Line on the Portfolio Interest Exception

The Treasury and IRS have published final regulations governing federal income tax withholding from periodic payments of deferred income made after December 31, 2020. The new regulations follow changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) to the default withholding rate rules. Payors and plan administrators who hoped that the IRS would set out predictable and uniform standards will be disappointed: while the regulations remove the pre-TCJA default withholding rate, they do not replace it with a new default rate. Instead, the Commissioner of the IRS will be responsible for providing sub-regulatory guidance to determine the default rate. At least for calendar year 2021 distributions, however, there appears to be no need for payors and plan administrators to worry about the transition to a new default-rate-determination method.
Continue Reading IRS Final Regulations on Default Withholding Rates for Periodic Deferred Income Distributions: No Changes for 2021, but Future Rates Not Clarified

On June 23, Proposed Treasury Regulations §§ 1.274-13 and 1.274-14 were published in the Federal Register addressing the disallowance of employer deductions for the cost of providing commuting and parking benefits to employees.  The proposed regulations are a mixed bag with some clarifications being helpful and others less so.  Proposed Treasury Regulation § 1.274-13 addresses the deduction disallowance under section 274(a)(4) for the cost of qualified transportation fringe benefits (QTFs) provided under section 132(f), i.e., qualified parking, transit passes, and other tax-free commuting benefits.  Proposed Treasury Regulation § 1.274-14 addresses the deduction disallowance for employee transportation costs under section 274(l).  Both deduction disallowance provisions were adopted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”), and took effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. …
Continue Reading Proposed Regulations Regarding TCJA Disallowance for Employee Commuting and Parking Costs a Mixed Bag

For decades, employers and employees have been effectively precluded from using two of the handiest special valuation rules—the fleet-average and vehicle cents-per-mile valuation rules—to value employees’ personal use of employer-provided vehicles.  The 1989 fringe benefit regulations imposed modest maximum vehicle values ($16,500 and $12,800, respectively, as adjusted for inflation) to limit the use of the rules, which have not kept pace with rising vehicle costs.

When the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) increased the dollar limitations on the depreciation deductions for luxury automobiles under section 280F(a), the permitted maximum value of a vehicle, when using either special valuation rule, increased to $50,000, which is adjusted for inflation beginning with calendar year 2019.  On February 5, 2020, Treasury published final regulations amending Treasury Regulation § 1.61-21 to align the increased limitations on the maximum vehicle fair market values with the TCJA changes.  Consistent with earlier guidance in proposed regulations, Notice 2019-08, and Notice 2019-34, the final regulations also provide transition rules for employers who desire to retroactively use either special value rule for 2018 or 2019, if the vehicle would have met the increased maximum value requirement in the year the vehicle was first made available to any employee of the employer.
Continue Reading New Treasury Regulations Ease Payroll Administration Related to Employer-Provided Vehicles

Today, the IRS published proposed regulations addressing changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “TCJA”) to how an employee instructs an employer to withhold income taxes on his or her Form W-4 (Employee’s Withholding Certificate). The Form W-4 was redesigned for 2020 to reflect the TCJA changes to how income tax withholding from wages must be calculated.

The proposed regulations update existing regulations under section 3402 to reflect TCJA’s shift from relying on “withholding exemptions” to determine an employee’s income tax withholdings to the more complicated “withholding allowance” methodology that is putatively designed to neutralize the impact of other changes, such as the elimination of certain Schedule A adjustments to gross income for employees. Before settling on a final Form W-4 implementing these changes, the IRS received feedback on multiple draft form revisions that criticized the form as being complex and confusing. In addition, concerns were raised about the amount of personal information regarding an employee’s other jobs and earnings required to complete early drafts of the form. The 2020 Form W-4 addressed some of these criticisms, but still remains more complicated than the earlier form. Time will tell whether employees are able to easily adapt to the new form, or if errors in completing the form could result in employee underwithholding.

Select portions of the proposed regulations are discussed below. We will continue to update our readers on significant developments as the regulations are finalized. We discuss other effects of the TCJA elsewhere on our blog.
Continue Reading IRS Releases Proposed Regulations on the Mechanics of Income Tax Withholding