The pieces of tax legislation garnering the most attention these days are the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) signed into law last December and the possible “Tax Reform 2.0” that Congress might pass this fall. But for certain individual taxpayers, what happens with “extenders” legislation is also important. Recent History Back in December of 2015, Congress passed the PATH Act, which made a multitude of tax breaks permanent. However, there were a few valuable breaks for individuals that it extended only through 2016. The TCJA didn’t address these breaks, but they were retroactively extended through 12/31/17, by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA), which was signed into law on 2/9/18. Now the question is whether Congress will extend them for 2018 and, if so, when. In...

As posted by Thomson Reuters on 2/12/18 On 2/9/18, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, H.R. 1892, the "Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018" (the Budget Act). In addition to providing a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through 3/23/18, this 2-year budget contains a host of tax law changes. The Budget Act retroactively extends through 2017 over 30 so-called "extender" provisions, provides a number of miscellaneous tax-related provisions, and includes tax relief to victims of the California wildfires and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. The following general topics are outside the scope of this Tax Planning Letter: Non-extender tax-related provisions Disaster relief provisions INDIVIDUAL EXTENDER PROVISIONS The Budget Act extended the following individual provisions for one year: Exclusion for discharge of indebtedness on a principal residence...