Tax reform

The House tax-writing committee began four days of work Monday to hammer out the details of the Republican tax cut plan. Here are the latest developments, updated throughout the day.

Outgoing Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen foresees problems with tax reform if major provisions apply to the current tax year and predicted the agency would need more funding from Congress to implement the legislation if it passes.

House Republicans should slow down their consideration of a tax-overhaul bill after investigative reports Sunday alleged offshore tax-avoidance by U.S. multinational companies including Apple Inc. and Nike Inc., congressional Democrats and tax-advocacy groups said.

The House tax-writing committee begins debate Monday on the GOP’s proposed overhaul, kicking off four frantic days for lobbyists and lawmakers to revise a bill that represents President Donald Trump’s final hope for a signature legislative achievement this year.

The tax reform bill introduced by House Republicans doesn’t give the low 25 percent income tax rate for pass-through businesses to accounting firms and other professional service firms, and the rules for getting around it are complicated.

House Republicans say they’re determined to simplify the U.S. tax code. A long-awaited provision in the massive tax bill they unveiled Thursday, a special rate for “pass-through” businesses, could do exactly the opposite.

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans billed their tax overhaul for months as a benefit primarily for the middle class, but what they delivered Thursday was designed more to favor large corporations and some closely held businesses.

The complexities proposed in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act gives practitioners plenty to talk to their clients about.

A quick look inside the proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

As the end of the year approaches, it is a good time to think of planning moves that will help lower your tax bill for this year and possibly the next. Until Congress passes tax reform legislation, these tips should help many tax clients.