Please refer to the following list of recent tax and tax controversy-related COVID-19 alerts in addition to original articles for insight and guidance pertaining to updates from the Biden Administration. For a comprehensive list of related thought leadership, please refer to the COVID-19 landing page.
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,
In Bloomberg Tax, tax associates Isabelle Farrar, Alec Oveis, Phillip Popkin, and Joshua Thomas evaluate new IRS guidance regarding employee retention credits which are included in various legislative pandemic relief packages. The tax attorneys summarize the IRS notices, explaining guidance on how businesses can simultaneously take advantage of both Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans
**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
Connecticut has passed a bill that provides tax relief for 2020 only for employees working remotely who would have potentially had their wages taxed by two states (H.B. 6516) The bill provides particular relief to Connecticut residents who are required to pay income taxes for the 2020 tax year to other states that
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 December 8, 2020, Massachusetts extended its COVID guidance relating to the sourcing of employee income that was set to expire on December 31, 2020, via emergency regulation 830 CMR 62.5A.3 and via technical information release TIR 20-15. (TIR 20-15 supersedes both TIR 20-10 and TIR 20-05.) The only change to the COVID guidance
The Massachusetts Department of Revenue (the “DOR”) finalized a regulation on October 21, 2020 (the “Regulation”) to address income-sourcing concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pursuant to the Regulation, the DOR will continue to treat as Massachusetts-source income any compensation paid to a nonresident who currently performs services out of state due to the pandemic but,