Corporate Tax Reform: A Big Deal

"President Donald Trump signed a sweeping tax overhaul bill into law in the Oval Office on Friday morning."

As Joe Biden said on an open mic in 2010 vis-a-vis the just-signed Affordable Care Act, “This is a big f—ing deal”. (BTW, Mike Pence said the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was "a pivotal moment in the life of our nation.")

The media probably is making the right call with regard to its audience by devoting most of the ink to the effects on individuals. However, don't confuse minimal attention with unimportance; the changes to business are also sweeping and will result in a lot of overtime in the next few months for finance staffs.

Not only will tax reform trigger major changes to strategic--not just financial--plans, but it will also affect earnings for the current year (the deferred income tax liability is based on future taxable income paid at a 35% rate, and the change to 21% will result in a significant income pickup to accounting earnings in 2017).

In addition to the rate change, the following is a "big [insert-appropriate-adjective] deal" for corporations.

"The act repealed the corporate AMT [alternative minimum tax]."

Capital equipment may now be expensed under loosened "bonus depreciation" rules. Also, the bonus/expensing applies to used, not just new equipment.

Net operating losses may no longer be carried back and the use of NOLs is limited to 80% of current year income (this is a reduction in corporate tax benefits).

Repatriation of overseas earnings. The bad news is that corporations must increase their 2017 income by the amount of post-1986 un-repatriated earnings (for tax purposes, not accounting); the good news is that it will be taxed at 15.5% (cash assets) or 8% (non-cash assets), instead of 35%. After 2017 the U.S.-tax motivation to keep monies overseas will be greatly diminished.

Big money's at stake, decisions have to be made quickly because they affect 2017 earnings, and the rules are complicated. It almost makes me want to get back into the game.