Overview
Ways and Means Approves Three Tax-Related Bills: Today members of the House Ways and Means Committee voted to pass three tax-related bills. One bill (H.R. 3832) would require the IRS to notify victims of identity theft and impose new criminal penalties on thieves; it was unanimously approved after the Committee adopted several amendments offered by Reps. John Lewis (D-GA) and Bill Pascrell (D-NJ). Another bill (H.R. 5053) would limit contributor information reported by a section 501(c) tax-exempt organization on its annual information return by eliminating Schedule B. The third bill (H.R. 3209) would allow the IRS to share taxpayer information with the police to help find missing children.
US Competent Authority Resolves 45 Percent More Double-Tax Cases in 2015: The IRS released a report containing statistics on cases handled by both the Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement Program and the Treaty Assistance and Interpretation Team. The cases discussed in the report are requests for relief from double taxation. The report indicates that the US Competent Authority resolved 193 double-tax cases in 2015, a 45% increase from the 133 cases resolved in 2014. The number of pending cases also increased from 718 in 2014 to 755 in 2015.
Miscellaneous Guidance:
The IRS released Revenue Procedure 2016-28, which provides the 2017 inflation adjusted deduction limitations for annual contributions made to a health savings account under section 223. These deduction limitations are updated annually pursuant to section 223(g) to reflect the cost-of-living adjustments.