14 Open Areas on Tax Reform

While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted at the end of 2017, promises on the whole good news for taxpayers for 2018, tax planning to take maximum advantage of those provisions has been difficult due to continuing uncertainties as to how to interpret various provisions of the tax reform legislation. 

The Internal Revenue Service has yet to issue any proposed regulations on the subject, instead issuing a series of notices, information releases and frequently asked questions telegraphing what that guidance is likely to say on certain key points when it is eventually issued. Congress has also not been quick to follow up on the enacted legislation with technical corrections or with its promised Tax Reform II effort. 

Acting IRS Commissioner Dave Kautter has indicated that TCJA guidance may take a couple of years and that, in some cases, the best guidance to taxpayers may come from the instructions to forms for 2018 tax returns.