Last Minute 2019 Federal Tax Legislation

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Unlike some recent years, Congress chose NOT to take a shovel to the reindeer stalls to fill taxpayer’s Christmas stockings.

On Thursday, December 19, 2019, the Senate voted to approve a spending bill just a day before the absence of such legislation would have led to a government shutdown. The bill is described as The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, and is indexed as H.R. 1865. The House approved the bill on Tuesday, and the White House has indicated that President Trump will sign it. Most taxpayers will find its contents to be favorable.

An overview of the tax-related portions of the legislation is provided in a recent BNN tax alert in three pieces:

  1. The SECURE Act portions, which cover a number of retirement plan changes,
  2. Tax-exempt entity relief (bundled in H.R. 1865 but originating in H.R. 3301), and
  3. General provisions, which describes some other tax-related changes, including “extenders,” which are tax rules that would have expired soon in the absence of this legislation.

Click here to see the full issue.