COVID-19 Developments Team

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On Monday, November 15, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Infrastructure Act”), Public Law No: 117-58. The Infrastructure Act is the result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (“Infrastructure Framework”) previously announced on June 24, 2021. See Ropes & Gray alert on Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework.  The $1 trillion Infrastructure…

On Thursday, June 24, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden announced support for a $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (“Infrastructure Framework”), created by a bipartisan coalition of 21 senators, including eleven Republicans, nine Democrats, and one independent. The White House released a fact sheet outlining the Infrastructure Framework. The Infrastructure Framework focuses on traditional infrastructure improvements,…

**These legal developments are still in progress. We will update this Alert as the Plan makes its way through the legislative process.***

On Wednesday April 28, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden announced the American Families Plan, designed to expand access to education, child care, and health care, among other initiatives. The White House released a fact sheet outlining the plan, and Biden detailed the plan in an address to Congress.1 The American Families Plan would be funded by increasing tax enforcement on corporations and high-income taxpayers, enforcement of which would be supported by newly enhanced information reporting from financial institutions. The initiatives would also be funded by raising taxes on high-income taxpayers, including (i) increasing the top income tax rate to 39.6% from 37%, (ii) increasing the capital gains rate to 39.6% from 20% for those earning $1 million or more, (iii) eliminating a step-up in basis for gains in excess of $1 million, (iv) eliminating the carried interest loophole, (v) eliminating the special real estate tax break on gains greater than $500,000, (vi) extending the limitation that restricts excess business losses, (vii) and ensuring those making over $400,000 pay the same consistent 3.8% Medicare tax. These proposals are summarized in this Alert.

President Biden has also recently proposed investing $80 billion in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for enforcement funding and giving IRS the authority to regulate paid tax preparers.2 The plan did not address expansion of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which is currently capped at $10,000. The American Families Plan follows the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and Made in America Tax Plan released at the end of March and is the second part of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. (See Ropes & Gray April 6, 2021 Alert.)
Continue Reading American Family Plan—Summary of Certain Key Tax Components

On Wednesday March 31, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden announced the American Jobs Plan and Made in America Tax Plan, designed to provide dramatic improvements to U.S. infrastructure writ large. The American Jobs Plan will focus on physical infrastructure, climate change, domestic manufacturing, research and development (R&D), and home health care services. The plan proposes…

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), in furtherance of the fifth phase of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. The full text of the bill is published here. The key tax provisions of the Phase 5 Stimulus are summarized in this Alert, and…

On December 21, 2020, a bipartisan agreement was reached on the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (CAA or Phase 4 Stimulus), in furtherance of the fourth phase of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. (The bill was passed on December 21, 2020 by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.) The key tax…

On July 27, 2020, the Senate Republicans proposed the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act (HEALS Act) in response to the House passing the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act). The HEALS Act is a combination of eight individually proposed bills from the Senate. Both the HEALS Act and…

Update: On July 15, the Internal Revenue Service announced in news release IR-2020-158 that taxpayers who have experienced delays with the process of Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due To COVID-19 will receive letters. If the IRS rejected taxpayer’s Form 7200 or made a change to the requested amount of advance payment due to a computation error, the taxpayer will receive letter 6312 explaining the reason for rejection or list the new payment amount if the old amount was due to a computation error. The taxpayer will receive letter 6313 if the IRS needs written verification of the taxpayer’s current mailing address in order for the IRS to process the taxpayer’s Form 7200.

Update: On July 8, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2020-54 as guidance for employers regarding the requirement to report amounts of qualified sick and family leave wages paid to employees under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Under Notice 2020-54, employers will be required to report payment to employees either on Box 14 of Form W-2, or in a separate statement. The notice also provides employers with language to use on Form W-2 or in the statement to employees. This reporting requirement is imposed to assist employees who are self-employed to properly claim their qualified sick and family leave equivalent credits.

On Friday, March 20, 2020, the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Labor issued primary guidance on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the Act) (commonly referred to as Phase 2) in Notice IR-2020-57 (the Notice). Please see alert for discussion of two new important tax details provided in the Notice regarding the Act’s employer tax credits, and for additional discussion of the Act, generally. The two new important tax details are (1) that employers can be “paid” by retaining certain funds otherwise due to the government (including income tax withholding from ALL employees), and (2) that rebate requests will be processed by IRS within two weeks or less.
Continue Reading Published Guidance on Implementation of Families First Coronavirus Response Act

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), commonly referred to as Phase 3 of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, was enacted on March 27, 2020. See Ropes & Gray Alerts on CARES Act, and certain key tax provisions of CARES Act. The CARES Act created opportunities for

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