AICPA flagging tax form revisions for IRS

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) is helping the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Office of Chief Counsel identify the myriad changes to forms and instructions that will be required as a result of enactment of the tax reform law, commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), before taxpayers can file their 2018 tax returns next year.

The collaborative effort is a result of the productive meeting the AICPA Tax Policy and Advocacy Team staff had in mid-February with officials from various divisions of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel.  That meeting was focused on form changes that will be required because of the TCJA’s numerous changes to taxation of foreign income, as well as the new Internal Revenue Code section 199A that may allow a 20 percent deduction against qualified business income for certain noncorporate taxpayers.  The officials said the AICPA’s list of revisions was very helpful and expanded the discussion to other areas of the new law that will require changes to the current forms and instructions.  Therefore, the AICPA staff, with input from AICPA members, is now compiling a list of the specific forms and line numbers that will need to be modified or eliminated for the 2018 forms.

The IRS Office of Chief Counsel officials also asked the AICPA to request additional suggestions from AICPA members.  Therefore, as CPAs complete 2017 returns, if they notice forms or instructions that will have to be changed, it would be helpful and appreciated if they could pass the suggestions to the AICPA so that they can be forwarded to the IRS.  Suggested revisions can be sent to TCJAforms@aicpa-cima.com.