Overview
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Approves IRS Funding for 2017: The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government today approved $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2017 funding for the Internal Revenue Service. The amount reflects no change from the amount the agency was allocated fiscal year 2016, and is slightly more than the $10.9 billion approved by the House Appropriations Committee last week. The funding is about $1.1 billion below the White House’s request.
The bill also features a number of provisions intended to ensure accountability and transparency, including prohibitions on the use of funds for:
- Bonuses or to rehire former IRS employees unless employee conduct and tax compliance is given consideration
- The target of groups for regulatory scrutiny based on their ideological beliefs
- The target of individuals for exercising their First Amendment rights
- The production of inappropriate videos and conferences
The full Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the measure tomorrow.
House Ways and Means Committee Marks Up Several Tax Bills: Today, the House Ways and Means Committee considered several bills on child welfare health care taxes:
- Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016 (H.R. 5456)
- Small Business Health Care Relief Act (H.R. 5447)
- Veterans TRICARE Choice Act (H.R. 5458)
- H.R. 5452 (amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit individuals eligible for Indian Health Service assistance to qualify for health savings accounts)
- H.R. 5445 (amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve the rules with respect to health savings accounts)
- Tribal Employment and Jobs Protection Act (H.R. 3080)
- Student Worker Exemption Act of 2015 (H.R. 210)
- Halt Tax Increases on the Middle Class and Seniors Act (H.R. 3590)
DTU IN DEPTH
IRS Temporary and Proposed Regulations Impose Corporate-Level Tax on RIC/REIT Conversion Transactions: On June 7, Treasury and the IRS issued temporary (TD 9770) and proposed regulations (REG-126452-15) that impose a corporate-level tax on certain transactions in which property of a C corporation becomes the property of a real estate investment trust (REIT). According to Treasury and the IRS, these regulations are necessary to prevent abuses of sections 355(h) and 856(c)(8) and to further the purposes of the repeal of the doctrine established under General Utilities & Operating Co. v. Helvering, 296 U.S. 200 (1935) by the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Click here for more in depth coverage.