As we have over the past few weeks, we will occasionally be linking interesting articles, blog posts, tweets, etc on the recently-signed tax legislation. While many of the provisions do not directly address tax administration, they will have a major impact on taxpayers, advisors and the way IRS administers the law (let alone my soon to start classes at Villanova on Business Tax and Individual Income Tax!)
Professor Brian Galle has a post in Medium on a charitable contribution strategy that states may employ as a workaround to the 10,000 S&L deduction limit
What I’ve called the “charity at home” plan would grant a 100% credit against state income taxes for any charitable contribution to the state government (or perhaps a subdivision of donor’s choice)
Professor Andy Grewal in Notice & Comment on why the charitable contribution strategy may not work
Whether the charitable contribution strategy works will depend on the details of a given state’s plans, but there are unquestionably some serious legal and practical obstacles.
Ed Zollars in Current Federal Tax Developments describes the workings of of the passthrough income deduction regime and especially the ambiguity around the term “specified trade or business.”
Professors Lily Batchelder and David Kamin in an LA Times op-ed on the passthrough loophole, including major problems for taxpayers and IRS that has to administer the boondoggle
It could take the IRS and Treasury Department many years to clarify exactly how the pass-through loophole works. By then, the new deduction will be on the verge of expiring, creating further uncertainty and risks for regular employees.
Professor Francine Lipman over at Surly discussing changes to the CTC and the requirement that families with children who do not have a Social Security number can no longer qualify for any amount of CTC.
On a somewhat unrelated point, above I have linked to the twitter accounts. I am a recent convert to Twitter; in addition to its being a usefuld distraction when I had about 125 exams to grade, it is increasingly a great way to get real time information on a host of tax developments.
Kelly Phillips Erb (Tax Girl) also has a piece at Forbes on the top 100 tax twitter accounts to follow for 2018.
Procedurally Taxing has had a twitter feed for a long time; you can follow that here. I have recently dipped my toes in Twitter as well; I encourage readers to follow me here
Happy reading (now back to my exams, or more likely some time wasting on Twitter).