Federal

TEI Roundtable No. 50: Compliance, Preparedness, and Risk After Loper Bright
How are tax departments evolving in its wake?

Following the Loper Bright decision, which effectively reduced the power of federal agencies to interpret ambiguous laws, tax departments are faced with potentially reevaluating compliance, litigation preparedness, and risk management strategies, among other issues. Recently, TEI convened a cadre of experts at its Audits & Appeals Seminar to speak on… Read more »

Preparing Now for 2025 Tax Legislative Activity
Looking ahead to the Trump administration and tax implications

Editor’s note: This article was finalized prior to President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. January marked the beginning of the 119th Congress and President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. With full Republican control of the legislative and executive branches of government, Republicans are… Read more »

Renewable Energy Tax Credits After the Inflation Reduction Act
Successes, challenges, and the impact of the 2024 election

Following the the 2024 US general election, with Donald Trump’s victory, the future of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) enters a pivotal phase. Enacted in 2022, the IRA has been a cornerstone of the United States’ renewable energy strategy, offering tax incentives to drive investments in technologies like wind, solar,… Read more »

The Rise of the Excise Tax
Final and proposed regulations for the excise tax on stock repurchases

In August 2022, Public Law No. 117-169—commonly called the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022—enacted Section 4501 of the Internal Revenue Code.1 The statute generally imposes a nondeductible one percent excise tax (the “excise tax”) on the net value of share repurchases by publicly traded domestic corporations in a given tax… Read more »

Key Challenges and Opportunities for Tax Directors in a Tightening Economy
Maximize tax savings but tread carefully with debt restructurings

Navigating a tightening economic cycle—characterized by prolonged high interest rates and uncertainty about future rate cuts—requires care and foresight. In the current financial climate, companies tend to accrue substantial net operating losses (NOLs), tax credits, and other tax assets and face deteriorating investments in their subsidiaries. Debt modifications and forbearances… Read more »

Pillar Two and IRS Notice 2023-80
Offering clarity on QDMTTs and top-up taxes

Internal Revenue Service Notice 2023-80 (hereinafter “the notice”) provides the US government’s view on the foreign tax credit treatment of Pillar Two top-up taxes and makes a clear distinction between qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT) and the extra-jurisdictional top-up taxes imposed by an income inclusion regime (IIR) and the… Read more »

Tax Valuation Considerations for M&A Transactions
A close look at purchase price allocations, Section 382 limitation calculations, tax receivable agreements, and more

Public corporations, private equity-backed portfolio companies, and privately held companies often look to mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to drive growth and shareholder value. However, pursuing M&A-driven growth may be complicated, since companies must comply with ever-evolving financial and tax reporting requirements, deal with increasing financial audit and tax authority scrutiny,… Read more »

Purchasing Clean Energy Tax Credits
What corporate tax teams need to know about prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) greatly expanded energy-related federal income tax credits and created Internal Revenue Code Section 6418, which allows eligible taxpayers to transfer, or sell, certain clean energy tax credits to unrelated parties for cash. One key area of due diligence when purchasing a tax credit… Read more »

Tax Credit Transferability and Direct Pay Proposed Under the IRA
Potential for interactions with Section 174 complicate a seemingly simple program

The new tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) mean that more taxpayers will have access to more tax credits in the near future. But recent guidance highlights some uncertainties that taxpayers should be aware of before jumping in. The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service recently released… Read more »

The Deference Doctrine—Its History and Possible Future
The Chevron doctrine has weathered changes since 1984, but the biggest one of all may be on the horizon

The doctrine of administrative deference, established in the Chevron case in 1984, requires deference to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute.1 The two-part test for requiring deference first addresses whether “Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue.”2 If so, the court must enforce the “unambiguous… Read more »