Forecast Shows Monumental Tax Policy Changes in 2017

Bloomberg BNA’s Daily Tax Report released its 2017 Outlook that projects significant changes to tax and accounting policies under the new Trump administration and a Republican run Congress.

“We expect seismic shifts in tax policy in the year ahead as a result of the recent elections,” said Cheryl Saenz, News Director, Tax and Accounting at Bloomberg BNA. “While tax reform has been widely speculated during the past few years, it seems likely to be enacted, while President-elect Trump has identified it as a top priority. An overhaul of the tax code — the first since the Tax Reform Act of 1986 —would certainly have ripple effects on how businesses operate in the U.S. and abroad.”

Highlights of the 2017 Outlook include:

Federal Tax: Tax reform is a subject of great debate in Congress. President-elect Trump’s economic goals hinge largely on overhauling current tax law and House Republicans are expected to move legislation shortly after Inauguration Day. Later in the year, the Senate is expected to weigh in and will most likely play a more bipartisan role when it comes to rewriting the tax code.

While House Republicans have a blueprint for tax reform, its details have been kept under wraps. Some top-line particulars have been shared, including a 20 percent corporate tax rate and a 25 percent tax rate for passthrough businesses, full and immediate expensing for companies and a top individual tax rate of 33 percent followed by 25 percent and 12 percent brackets. Since the election, however, the notion that tax reform would be fast-tracked is not prevalent, as more pressing issues such as immigration and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act could be addressed before tax reform is on the agenda.

Spotlight on U.S. Multinational Corporations: There appears to be no end in sight to the ongoing earnings-stripping controversy. U.S. multinational corporations will be closely watching the fate of intense efforts to stop overseas income shifting under the new administration. Substantial pressure will be on President-elect Donald Trump to revoke earnings-stripping rules which crack down on companies that use offshore loans to move income out of the country.

State Tax: State and local governments will continue to grapple with applying tax to emerging technologies in the next year, trying to reach agreements with more digital businesses. Emerging platforms, such as Airbnb Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., will face considerable scrutiny from states that are hunting additional revenue sources. At the same time, taxing administrators, courts and lawmakers will strive to better track and understand how other emerging digital technologies work, including various cloud-based services. How and when to tax sales from remote retailers like Amazon also has diverged widely among states. And no national standard seems likely to emerge in 2017, even as states launch a mounting campaign to undo foundational U.S. Supreme Court rules on remote taxation.

International Tax: Lower corporate tax rates around the world are expected to play an important part in multinational companies’ tax planning in 2017, with a rate as low as 15 percent on the table in the U.S. and countries such as the U.K. planning to maintain or decrease their current rates.

Financial Accounting: Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Russell Golden provides insights into how companies should ready themselves in 2017 for the adoption in the next few years of the most sweeping accounting rule changes in decades—revenue recognition, leases, and recognition of credit losses. Golden also previews FASB’s 2017 plans for finalizing standards on hedge accounting and insurance.

Bloomberg BNA publishes a number of 2017 outlooks across business areas that address the policies likely to shape the year ahead. To view them all, visit https://www.bna.com/2017-outlook.

Not only does the detailed report provide insights on potential federal tax developments that will impact businesses, it also analyzes critical changes in state and international tax as well as financial accounting. The 2017 Outlook is available on Bloomberg BNA Tax & Accounting Center and Bloomberg Law: Tax. For a complimentary copy, visit www.bna.com/2017-tax-outlook/.