Treasury and IRS Release Fourth Quarter Update to Priority Guidance Plan

Treasury and IRS Release Fourth Quarter Update to Priority Guidance Plan: Today, Treasury and the IRS released the fourth quarter update to the 2017-2018 priority guidance plan. Treasury and the IRS use the plan to identify and prioritize the tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other published administrative guidance. The update includes twelve additional projects, each of which corresponds to a piece of guidance that has already been published. In addition, the update reflects one project that was closed without publication (guidance under section 401(a)(9) on the use of lump sum payments to replace lifetime income being received by retirees under defined benefit pension plans).

A redline showing changes from the third quarter update may be found here.

Miscellaneous Guidance:
Revenue Ruling 2018-23 provides various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes including the applicable federal interest rates, the adjusted applicable federal interest rates, the adjusted federal long-term rate, the adjusted federal long-term tax-exempt rate.

Revenue Ruling 2018-24 provides guidance on the tax treatment of the exchange of mortgage-backed securities issued by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) pursuant to a Single Security Initiative.