AICPA tax policy and advocacy successes: 2024 highlights

As we look back on 2024, the AICPA Tax Division’s Tax Executive Committee, along with its 14 committees and technical resource panels and various task forces, had over 30 tax advocacy successes. Combined, we produced over 46 comments this past year.

Some of our tax advocacy successes include:

• Nineteen items of Treasury and IRS guidance followed AICPA recommendations;
• The IRS National Taxpayer Advocate report included reference to, and agreed with, five AICPA recommendations;
• Government officials recognized helpful AICPA tax advocacy efforts;
• Three legislative successes occurred, with two disaster relief provisions enacted, and an extension of the Sec. 174 research-and-experimentation (R&E) expensing provision until 2026 was included in a bipartisan tax package that passed the House;
• The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) provided an update based on AICPA concerns; and
• Three states enacted AICPA-supported legislation, as advocated by the state CPA societies. 

While 2025 will likely be a busy year in federal tax policy, below is a closer look at some of the AICPA’s 2024 tax advocacy successes.

AICPA advocacy affects federal tax legislation

We endorsed 16 bills in the 118th Congress, one of which, the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2023 (H.R. 5863), was enacted on Dec. 12, 2024, as P.L. 118-148 and contained two AICPA-supported disaster relief provisions — eliminating the requirement that casualty losses must exceed 10% of adjusted gross income to qualify for the deduction and allowing taxpayers to claim the casualty loss deduction “above the line,” i.e., without itemizing their deductions.

The House passed the bipartisan tax package Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Relief Act of 2024 (issued Jan. 16, 2024) in addition to containing the two previously mentioned disaster provisions also included AICPA-supported Sec. 174 R&E costs expensing until 2026.

As the AICPA and all the state CPA societies have been advocating, the first draft of the House continuing resolution (H.R. 10545, dated Dec. 17, 2024) included a one-year delay of beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting for pre-2024 companies to have to report by Jan. 1, 2026. Unfortunately, due to political issues unrelated to this issue, this provision was dropped from the final continuing resolution that was enacted. The AICPA is continuing to advocate for the one-year delay in BOI reporting.

We are hopeful that next year, as Congress considers many provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), P.L. 115-97, expiring at the end of 2025, that many of our endorsed bills are reintroduced in the new Congress and are included in 2025 tax legislation. To assist with educating Congress on the many issues for future consideration, the AICPA provided 61 tax legislative proposals and 14 updated disaster relief tax legislative proposals and provided additional items for the Yale Tax Reform Project to consider for its tax reform proposals to Congress.

AICPA Tax Division submits over 46 comments to the government

The AICPA Tax Division continued to be busy this past year, providing much input and feedback through over 46 comment submissions and many discussions with Treasury and IRS officials on needed and proposed tax guidance and with congressional staffers on tax legislative proposals.

One of the more substantial efforts involved all the Tax Division tax advocacy committees and technical resource panels that developed, updated, and sent to Treasury and the IRS AICPA comments on the 2024–2025 Priority Guidance Plan. This submission contained 189 issues needing IRS guidance that we suggested Treasury and the IRS consider addressing during the new year. We were pleased that in 2024 the IRS issued guidance that the AICPA requested in our prior-period 2023–2024 Priority Guidance Plan comments, including trust item 40 — Sec. 6038D foreign trust reporting regulations — and trust item 46 (with accompanying AICPA letter to the IRS) on changes to Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts, and Form 3520-A, Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust With a U.S. Owner.

In addition to the IRS acting on our written comments, the AICPA often provides helpful discussions with government that are appreciated and impactful as well. For example:

• The IRS reached out to the AICPA for follow-up conversations on an AICPA-submitted comment letter on Rev. Proc. 2023-24 recommending changes to existing accounting methods as well as proposing new ones. Prior to the call, AICPA members provided examples for the government. The call was successful and appreciated by the government personnel.
• At the 2024 Annual Institute on Current Issues in International Taxation, Marjorie Rollinson, IRS Chief Counsel, noted her appreciation for the AICPA’s submitting comments and that they were helpful.

AICPA advocacy affects tax regulatory guidance

As mentioned above, the AICPA provides significant input and comments to the IRS and FinCEN on needed guidance. We were pleased that in 2024, Treasury, FinCEN, and IRS guidance continued to consider and include AICPA recommendations. For example:

IRS reports mentioned AICPA recommendations:

• The 2023 IRS National Taxpayer Advocate Annual Report to Congress (issued Jan. 10, 2024) included five of the AICPA’s recommendations and four footnotes to AICPA letters, including on international information returns and taxpayer service, tax preparer regulation, the mailbox rule, and the lookback period for disasters.

FinCEN guidance addressed AICPA concerns:

• As the AICPA noted concerns with complying with the 30-day filing deadline for international-related employer identification numbers (EINs), FinCEN updated FAQ G.3 to state that a reporting company can wait until it receives its EIN to file the BOI report.

IRS relief (penalty, e-filing, and disaster reporting requirements) as AICPA requested:

• As the AICPA requested, the IRS issued penalty relief for partnership Form 8308, Report of a Sale or Exchange of Certain Partnership Interests.
• As the AICPA and others requested repeatedly, the IRS announced that it will no longer automatically assess Form 3520 penalties and will consider reasonable-cause statements.
• Within a month of the AICPA’s alerting the IRS to issues with e-filing, the IRS provided a temporary exclusion from e-filing Form 5330, Return of Excise Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans, which had become mandatory for 2024.
• As the AICPA requested to the IRS, and requested to FinCEN for reports of foreign bank and financial accounts (FBARs) and BOI reporting, the IRS and FinCEN both provided filing relief for taxpayers affected by hurricanes. The IRS filing extension is until May 1, 2025, for taxpayers affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. FinCEN filing extensions are six months from the original filing date for BOI reporting (Hurricanes Helene, Milton, Debby, and Beryl) and for FBAR reporting — Feb. 3 (Hurricanes Debby and Beryl) and May 1, 2025 (Hurricanes Helene and Milton).
• As the AICPA originally requested, the IRS postponed filings for taxpayers affected by the Israeli conflict, pursuant to Sec. 7508A.
• As the AICPA requested, the IRS postponed until final regulations are issued the reporting requirement for certain digital asset transactions that was enacted in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, P.L. 117-58, for Sec. 6050I (requiring Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, to be filed for transactions involving digital assets valued at over $10,000).
• As the AICPA supported legislation regarding Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions, reporting thresholds, the IRS announced on Nov. 26, 2024, that it would again delay the $600 threshold for Form 1099-K reporting until 2026, providing transition relief thresholds of $5,000 for 2024 and $2,500 for 2025.

IRS clarifications, updated forms, guidance, and regulations adopted AICPA recommendations:

• Based on two AICPA Sec. 174 working group calls with and recommendations to the IRS, the IRS issued Notice 2024-12, which clarified contract research and addressed some concerns raised during calls related to Notice 2023-63.
• As the AICPA noted concerns, the updated draft IRS Form 6765, Credit for Increasing Research Activities, modified the previous section F, now section G, providing the requirement to complete the option if the taxpayer met the “either/or” threshold. The draft form also reduced the number of business components that need to be reported and limited the amount of information required.
• As the AICPA recommended, the IRS updated Form 1099-DA, Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions. Regarding masking of the transaction ID/digital asset address, the IRS removed the requirements, but brokers are required to retain information in their records. Regarding aggregate reporting, the IRS clarified that aggregate reporting is allowed for qualifying stablecoins and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
• As the AICPA requested, the IRS updated Form 5329, Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts, and its instructions to include mention of Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts.
• As the AICPA recommended, the proposed regulations on excise tax on stock repurchases (published on April 12, 2024 (REG-115710-22)) modify the general-funding rule, eliminating the per se rule, and clarify the funding rule so that not all transactions and repurchases would be subject to the excise tax.
• As the AICPA recommended, IRS final regulations on generation-skipping transfer (GST) elections adopted the AICPA recommendation (with a change from the prior proposed regulations) to now allow many elections to be revoked, with just a few limited exceptions.
• As the AICPA recommended, the proposed and final regulations on the SECURE Act, Division O of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, P.L. 116-94, required minimum distributions include a definition of the “age of majority” as 21 years old.
• As the AICPA recommended, the IRS included in the final regulations on Sec. 6045 digital assets basis broker reporting penalty relief and delay in the reporting requirement and four AICPA recommendations:
  • The IRS extended the multiple-broker rule for certain digital asset transactions;
  • The IRS postponed basis reporting to Jan. 1, 2026, and provided one-year transitional penalty relief for brokers demonstrating a good-faith effort to file;
  • The IRS provided a de minimis rule for certain transactions involving certain types of stablecoins ($10,000) and NFTs ($600), as well as a $600 threshold for processors of digital assets payments; and
  • The IRS allowed for basis tracking transitional relief for taxpayers that previously used such an approach pursuant to IRS FAQ 39.

• As the AICPA recommended in 2016, IRS final regulations on estate basis consistency adopted a large portion of AICPA recommendations on the proposed regulations, including:

• Removed the zero-basis rule;
• Provided guidance on charitable/marital deduction property;
• Clarified that retirement plans are excepted assets;
• Clarified that loan forgiveness to a beneficiary is an excepted asset;
• Provided an ability to defer reporting until actual distribution (which addressed our concern about not knowing which beneficiaries will get particular assets);
• Clarified that the executor is not responsible for determining the allocation of uniform basis when two or more beneficiaries actuarially share an asset; and
• Provided guidance on requirements for supplemental filings due to audit changes.

• As the AICPA requested in comments on the proposed regulations on Sec. 987 foreign currency transactions, the IRS included in the final regulations two of our suggestions: to provide a de minimis rule to reduce the compliance burden on small businesses that own Sec. 987 qualified business units and to modify the consistency requirement for the earnings-only method under Regs. Sec. 1.987-10(e)(4)(iii)(B) to require consistent application for all tax years since the first tax year in which the owner applied an eligible pretransition method.
• As the AICPA discussed with the IRS on calls and at meetings, the IRS issued a revenue procedure for automatic consent to a change in accounting methods for post–tax year 2021 R&E expenses.

AICPA resources support state CPA societies’ state tax advocacy efforts

The AICPA State and Local Tax Technical Resource Panel, along with the AICPA State Legislation and State Societies group, tracks and provides many state tax advocacy resources for the state CPA societies to consider for advocating with their state tax authorities. Three state societies were successful in advocating on important issues in 2024, including:

• On Oct. 29, 2024, Pennsylvania enacted legislation (S.B. 1051) (also see fiscal note discussion and article on the bill’s provisions) that provides that, generally, for a personal income tax assessment, a taxpayer is allowed to file a petition for reassessment with the department within 90 days after the mailing date of the notice of assessment. The AICPA has a position paper as a resource to state CPA societies interested in advocating for providing a protest period of 90 days in all stages of the administrative appeals process.
• On April 18, 2024, Georgia enacted legislation (H.B. 1023), and on Oct. 30, 2024, the North Carolina Rules Review Commission approved the Department of Revenue rule amendment to allow corporations one additional month for state filing after federal filing, as the AICPA recommends. The AICPA supported the Georgia Society of CPAs and North Carolina Association of CPAs with advocacy resources on the issue.

AICPA tax policy and advocacy in 2025

Looking ahead into 2025, the AICPA Tax Policy and Advocacy group, working closely with AICPA Tax Division members, will continue to advocate on important tax regulatory and legislative matters. These include advocacy efforts on the continued implementation of enacted legislation, such as the SECURE 2.0 Act; the corporate alternative minimum tax; energy tax credits; proposed tax legislation, including the expiring provisions of the TCJA; and proposed regulations and guidance. Our efforts will also include tax administrative issues, such as IRS service and modernization. We will continue to keep members informed of issues, developments, and our continuing tax advocacy efforts.

— Eileen Reichenberg Sherr, CPA, CGMA, MT, is director–Tax Policy & Advocacy, with AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Paul Bonner at Paul.Bonner@aicpa-cima.com.