THE LATEST: Some U.S. senators are causing a delay in consideration of the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, which passed the U.S. House on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. Each day of delay increases the disruption for construction firms struggling to file their taxes.
WHAT TO DO: Tell your U.S. senators to pass H.R. 7024 - Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act - without delay.
It takes less than 45 seconds to send the prewritten message telling lawmakers to support this legislation! You can also add your own personal comments about how this legislation would help your company.
WHY IT MATTERS: A number of tax provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 began to expire in recent years.
One expired provision hurts construction firms that invest money and staff resources into research and development, by forcing them to pay taxes on expenses they’ve already incurred, and significantly increasing their tax complexity.
Another expired provision is “full expensing” which allowed construction firms to fully deduct the cost new and used equipment the year it is purchased, rather than depreciated over time.
The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would restore these important provisions, along with other improvements to simplify taxes.
THE DETAILS: On January 31, the House passed the AGC-backed bill by an overwhelming margin, 357-70. H.R. 7024 would address a number of outstanding tax issues that the association has advocated for over the past two years. In particular, it would:
- Roll back a provision that forces construction firms to amortize their research and development expenses over five years, rather than writing them off in the year they are incurred. This can include costs, including staff salaries, for design/build project activities, developing and improving pre-fabrication methods and other ways to increase efficiency, performance, and reliability, and many other construction-related activities.
- Reinstate full expensing for new and used business equipment by allowing construction firms to fully deduct those expenses in the year the equipment is placed in service.
- Simplify tax preparation by increasing the threshold at which businesses have to issue certain informational tax returns (1099’s) to independent contractors, from $600 to $1000.