by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com Washington
15 May 2020
On May 1, 2020, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Large Business and International Division (LB&I) announced a new compliance campaign focusing on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the recently enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The TCJA was signed into law on December 17, 2017, and included extensive changes to the corporate tax code. The IRS noted in its announcement that the majority of 2019 tax returns to be reviewed by LB&I in 2020 will be those reflecting changes brought about by the TCJA. Therefore, the TCJA Campaign has been initiated to closely monitor issues on a select pool of returns. Information learned from this campaign will also be shared throughout LB&I and the IRS.
Additionally, LB&I is considering the impact of the CARES Act on these returns as well as any others examined.
According to the IRS, the goal of this campaign is to identify transactions, restructuring, and technical issues to better understand taxpayer behavior under the new law.
The treatment streams for this campaign may include examinations, soft letters, outreach, new and improved practice units, and development of future issue-based campaigns, the IRS said.