In response to the IRS's decision not to offer Direct File next year, Senior Fellow Greg Leiserson says: "This decision will deprive taxpayers of a free and easy-to-use tax filing option, making the tax filing process more expensive and unnecessarily burdensome. (1/2) apnews.com/article/irs-...

On Wednesday, SCOTUS will weigh whether the President can use IEEPA to unilaterally impose tariffs. Kelsey Merrick argues Congress intentionally ended tariffs as a major revenue source decades ago and never delegated that choice to the President. www.justsecurity.org/123833/tarif...

The Attorney General is in the process of eliminating the DOJ’s Tax Division, without clear goals for doing so. Senior Fellow David Hubbert outlines the Tax Division’s crucial role in tax enforcement and what to watch to determine the impact of these changes. news.bloomberglaw.com/tax-manageme...

Tomorrow, join us for a panel discussion highlighting how OBBBA missed substantial opportunities to improve the tax system. Register here: nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

The tips deduction Congress enacted is bad tax policy-but it's important that Treasury and the IRS don't make it worse through regulations that go beyond the statute, increase the cost of the provision, and/or undermine the integrity of the tax system.

On 10/28, join us for a panel discussion highlighting how OBBBA missed substantial opportunities to improve the tax system and falls far short of the "tax reform" that many across the political spectrum have long called for. nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

“The IRS and Treasury need to better understand why these 5 million taxpayers opt for paper checks before attempting to move them to alternative payment systems,” Kathleen Bryant, a policy adviser at the Tax Law Center at NYU, wrote. www.fastcompany.com/91409872/irs...

We are launching a new resource tracking high-stakes tax regulatory and guidance decisions by the Administration, with a focus on actions to implement OBBBA and efforts to broadly weaken tax regulations taxlawcenter.org/spotlighting...

Treasury and IRS have not yet announced how they plan to implement the Administration’s executive order ending the use of paper checks for tax refunds. We outline potential issues and recommendations for a sound implementation plan: taxlawcenter.org/blog/rushed-...

Treasury recently released new guidance on beginning of construction for solar and wind tax credits, eliminating key elements that the industry has relied on since 2013. Our explainer covers the key changes and potential legal problems the guidance may face. taxlawcenter.org/blog/treasur...

As Senior Fellow Greg Leiserson notes in this piece, "if the administration undermines the quality of economic statistics, it would make it impossible for our tax laws to work as Congress intended." www.wsj.com/personal-fin...

Eliminating multi-language services would make it harder for taxpayers to comply with their tax obligations, set honest taxpayers up to fail and needlessly put tax revenue at risk. The IRS should not move forward with this harmful idea that has no sound tax administration purpose.

An overlooked example of the harmful impacts of IRS cuts is the suspension of the Joint Statistical Research Program, which allows researchers to work with IRS tax data under strict privacy protocols to answer important economic questions and shape tax policy.

We are excited to launch a project to remake federal tax administration. Effective tax administration is critical to the federal government, but has recently faced drastic challenges over the last six months.

This piece confirms grave risk to all taxpayers from DHS efforts to get its hands on legally protected IRS data, risking targeting of US citizens, mistaken arrests, and rampant violations of privacy rights and civil liberties

Our updated explainer provides an analysis of the energy credit provisions in the recently-enacted reconciliation bill, including phaseouts and the complex and onerous new "prohibited foreign entity" rules. taxlawcenter.org/blog/navigat...

One overlooked part of the reconciliation bill lessens reporting requirements for online marketplaces, payment processing apps, and gig economy platforms, making it difficult for taxpayers to determine their tax liability and avoid audits – at a cost of $13 billion over 10 years.

Related-party basis shifting in partnerships is an important issue that partnership tax rules should address. Senior Attorney Advisor Miles Johnson lays out in @taxnotes.com why legislation proposed by Senator Wyden provides a good starting point for a fix. www.taxnotes.com/tax-notes-fe...

To cut taxes for wealthy filers and large businesses, it will take away health coverage and food assistance from struggling families while adding trillions to long-run deficits. More to come from @taxlawcenter.org, including on changes to the bill released just minutes before the vote.

The Senate-passed bill weakens the tax system and makes it more regressive, complex, and gameable. Many of its tax cuts are complicated and wasteful tax breaks that dole out favors to specific industries and activities with little or no good policy reason.

While it has many similarities to the House-passed reconciliation bill, the Senate Finance bill adds several new tax breaks that are targeted giveaways to specific industries, without policy or economic justification. taxlawcenter.org/blog/senate-...

Our new brief explains the Senate Finance Committee's approach to clean energy credits. While their approach differs from the House, the Senate's draft also includes complex and unworkable rules that would effectively end access to many credits. (1/4) taxlawcenter.org/blog/senate-...

Register for the next @budgetlab.bsky.social webinar on Monday, June 23 at noon ET. A timely discussion of the potential macroeconomic impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. yale.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

After reviewing the SFC draft of the ‘revenge tax,’ Attorney Advisor Duncan Hardell says: "the proposal provides some much-needed clarification on the scope and impact of the tax, but is still fundamentally flawed because it threatens US businesses, consumers and workers...

Of the Senate Finance Committee bill, Senior Fellow Greg Leiserson says "the EITC pre-certification requirement would lead to an unprecedented number of audits, overwhelmingly focused on low- and moderate-income workers."

The House-passed reconciliation bill's Trump Accounts double down on a failed approach. Tax-preferred accounts primarily benefit families that have spare time and money, and the $1000 public contribution would not reach some children who need it most. taxlawcenter.org/blog/trump-a...

Our new analysis explains how the proposed EITC pre-certification process would sharply increase audits of individual taxpayers (in 2020, these rates would have been 35x higher had the requirement been in place then) taxlawcenter.org/blog/propose...

Having trouble following how the 2025 tax bill will affect SALT workarounds? You're not alone. We break it down here, and explain why policymakers should end the workarounds once and for all. taxlawcenter.org/blog/whiplas...

Full recording of our discussion on risks to taxpayer privacy from DOGE & related efforts featuring Daniel Werfel, Lily Batchelder, Brandon DeBot, Elizabeth Laird, and David Padrino nyu.zoom.us/rec/share/IF...

Thread: New from @taxlawcenter.org: we get in the weeds (footnotes) and also big picture on the section 899 "revenge"/retaliation tax in the House bill that's under active consideration in the Senate. taxlawcenter.org/work/revenge...

Tomorrow, join the Tax Law Center for a conversation featuring former IRS and Treasury leadership on the risks of unprecedented efforts to use and share sensitive taxpayer data across government. Register here: nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

On June 3, join us for a webinar on the risks to taxpayer privacy as taxpayer data is accessed and shared across government in unprecedented ways. The event will be moderated by @lilybatch.bsky.social and feature an opening discussion with Daniel Werfel. Register here: nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Clickbait! Find 16 more delightful diagrams like this (and plenty of text) by my @taxlawcenter.org colleagues Duncan Hardell, Mike Kaercher, Thalia Spinrad on Section 304 tactics beyond "Granite Trust" in @taxnotes.com (paywall). www.taxnotes.com/tax-notes-to...

Here's our deputy director Mike Kaercher's statement on SALT workarounds: "One of the 2017 tax law’s base broadening provisions was a cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, but that cap was significantly undermined by complex and legally dubious 'workarounds.' (1/4)

The reconciliation bill currently being considered by the House benefits some groups and harms others more aggressively than anticipated, picking winners and losers without convincing policy rationale. taxlawcenter.org/blog/house-r...

In a new @taxlawcenter.org brief, we break down how the House tax bill kneecaps clean energy tax credits with totally unworkable "foreign entity" rules. As we note, these rules wouldn't apply to any other tax breaks, including the new ones the bill creates. taxlawcenter.org/blog/house-b...

New at Can We Still Govern? Greg Leiserson is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis at the U.S. Treasury. He explains how the GOP tax bill will add new administrative burdens - "precertification" - to EITC recipients so to limit access. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-gop-pl...

We highlight the onerous new burdens that taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit would face under the House Ways and Means bill. Many eligible taxpayers would be discouraged from claiming the credit, especially in light of cuts to IRS resources. taxlawcenter.org/blog/ways-an...

The House Ways and Means bill takes a troublingly haphazard approach to tax breaks that would create new opportunities for tax avoidance and evasion, add complexity to the tax system, and increase filing burdens for low- and middle-income people. taxlawcenter.org/blog/the-hou...

As @taxlawcenter.org's Mike Kaercher notes in this piece, "The fact that there's even a question of whether the administration is violating these laws that prevent weaponization of the IRS is deeply troubling"

As the Tax Law Center's Chye-Ching Huang and Miles Johnson explain, the modifications to 199A make the deduction "more generous and more available to higher-income taxpayers (particularly white-collar service providers) than it is under current law." tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/policy-...

Wealthy taxpayers working to game complex provisions will benefit from an underfunded IRS while low and moderate-income taxpayers, especially those dealing with onerous new requirements for claiming the EITC, will struggle.

This all comes as Congress has slashed IRS funding and the Administration is trying to gut its workforce, weakening the IRS’s capacity to explain, administer, and enforce the law, or to provide adequate service. See @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...

At the same time, the bill eliminates the Direct File option for free tax filing.

The bill creates onerous new procedures for working families claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit. Many eligible filers will simply not be able to jump through these new hoops.

And while there's new tax sheltering and evasion opportunities for the well-advised and unscrupulous, many workers and families will face new filing burdens.

Together, all of the "no tax on" provisions (e.g. car loans) will make tax filing more complex. Many filers who don't itemize will have to try to figure out whether to even bother trying to claim them. Undermines much touted simplification benefit of higher standard deduction.

The bill expands a "tax shelter masquerading as health policy": bsky.app/profile/gidl...

The bill invites tax evasion & other non-compliance by weakening third-party information reporting at a cost of $13 billion. 3rd-party reporting can prevent unscrupulous filers from hiding income from the IRS, & help honest filers track their income and comply with their tax obligations.

The W&M bill also takes the 2017 TCJA's (already inadequate) provisions meant to reduce profit-shifting - and weakens them further. E.g. it turns off a modest increase in the rate that multinationals would pay on much of their profits booked offshore.