As of today, the tax extenders bill has passed the House and Senate and is awaiting President Obama’s signature. The word is that the President will sign the bill and it will become law. The bill extends almost all the provisions that had expired at the end of 2013 but only through the end of 2014. Assuming the President signs the bill this week, the American taxpayer will only have roughly two weeks to pull any triggers related to these newly extended tax provisions. Otherwise, taxpayers would have had to transact business earlier in 2014 in hopes that Congress would extend these provisions.
Unfortunately, since they only extended these laws through the end of 2014, the American taxpayer will be back in the uncertain position for 2015 that they were in for 2014, not knowing whether these provisions will be extended for tax year 2015. This uncertainty year after year is not a positive influence on the economy since business owners and taxpayers in general can’t make decisions with confidence and many opportunities are lost because the tax ramifications of those decisions can’t be determined. Hopefully, the new Congress can pass an extender bill early in 2015 that the President will sign and avoid the uncertainty going forward.
Assuming the President signs the tax extenders bill into law this week, it is anticipated that the IRS may be able to start the 2014 tax filing season on time and avoid any delays such as those that occurred in recent years due to late passage of tax extender legislation by Congress. Since most all of the tax provisions are on track to be extended without any changes to those provisions, logic would indicate that the IRS task should be somewhat simplified this year. The IRS generally begins accepting tax returns by the 3rd or 4th week in January unless a Congressional delay causes that date to be postponed.
In other news, the 2015 mileage rates for business, medical/moving and charity have been disclosed. The standard business mileage rate is 57.5 cents per mile, up from 56 cents in 2014. The 2015 medical/moving mileage rate is 23 cents per mile, down from 23.5 cents in 2014. The charitable mileage rate remains at 14 cents as it is set by statute and does not adjust from year to year automatically.
Please contact us if you have any questions as the year draws to a close. We look forward to the tax filing season just around the corner. Happy holidays!