Overview
Sen. Hatch to Convene Hearing on OECD BEPS Reports, EU State Aid Investigations: Today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) announced that the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on December 1, to examine the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) reports and the European Union’s (EU) State Aid investigations regarding member-countries’ tax rulings. Chairman Hatch stated in a press release that he “expect[s] a robust discussion at this hearing on what the OECD BEPS project means for U.S. taxpayers and our tax system moving forward, as well as how the EU State Aid investigations could potentially affect tax revenues paid to the U.S. Treasury.”
IRS Increases De Minimis Safe Harbor Limit for Taxpayers Without an Applicable Financial Statement: Notice 2015-82 simplifies the paperwork and recordkeeping requirements for small businesses by raising from $500 to $2,500 the de minimis safe harbor threshold (provided in Treas. Reg. § 1.263(a)-1(f)) for a taxpayer without an applicable financial statement. The de minimis safe harbor is intended to serve as an administrative convenience whereby a taxpayer is permitted to deduct small dollar expenditures for the acquisition or production of new property or for the improvement of existing property, which otherwise must be capitalized under section 263(a). The new $2,500 threshold takes effect starting with tax year 2016. According to the notice, the IRS will provide audit protection to eligible businesses by not challenging use of the new $2,500 threshold in tax years prior to 2016.