AICPA Recommends Biggest Priorities for IRS Guidance

The American Institute of CPAs has sent more than 160 recommendations to the Internal Revenue Service regarding on the items to include on the agency’s 2016-2017 Guidance Priority List.

The recommendations in the AICPA's letter cover a wide range of individual, business and exempt organization tax issues, including projects related to international, retirement, estate and trust, health care and employment rules.

The AICPA emphasized the importance of simplification when drafting guidance and urged the IRS to consider the following guidelines as part of the process:

• Use the simplest approach to accomplish a policy goal;
• Provide safe harbor alternatives;
• Offer clear and consistent definitions;
•  Use horizontal drafting (a rule placed in one Internal Revenue Code section should apply in all other Code sections) to the greatest extent possible;
• Build on existing business and industry-standard record-keeping practices;
• Provide a balance between simple general rules and more complex detailed rules; and

• Match a rule’s complexity to the sophistication of the targeted taxpayers.

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