Washington, D.C. (March 17, 2015) – The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) today sent top tax lawmakers on Capitol Hill a package of 34 legislative proposals that the AICPA believes promote simplicity and fairness in the tax code, are generally noncontroversial and perhaps can be readily addressed.
Troy Lewis, CPA, CGMA, chair of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee, urged that the proposals be incorporated into future tax legislation.
“This Compendium includes items focused on improving tax administration, making the tax code fairer, and effectively promoting important policy objectives,” Lewis wrote. “It is not a comprehensive list of all provisions that we believe should be added back or removed from the reformed Code. We intend to continue our efforts in this area and make further recommendations in the future.”
The proposals relate to individuals, employee benefits, corporations, S corporations, partnerships, trusts, estates, gifts, and exempt organizations, as well as to penalties for tax preparers.
In addition to recommending that Congress harmonize and simplify education-related tax provisions and standardize the allowable mileage rate for business, medical and moving expenses and charitable contribution purposes, three new proposals are included
Standardize the medical lodging deduction limitation with the allowable business per diem rate
Amend section 6694 of the Internal Revenue Code to increase penalties on tax return preparers in certain cases of a fraudulent understatement of a taxpayer’s liability or deterrence
Require Form 1099 reporting of interest and dividends paid to charitable remainder trusts
Lewis noted that the AICPA intends to submit further comments and proposals on major tax issues and reform efforts.
About the AICPA
The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) is the world’s largest member association representing the accounting profession, with more than 400,000 members in 128 countries, and a history of serving the public interest since 1887. AICPA members represent many areas of practice, including business and industry, public practice, government, education and consulting.
The AICPA sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for private companies, nonprofit organizations, federal, state and local governments. It develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination, and offers specialty credentials for CPAs who concentrate on personal financial planning; forensic accounting; business valuation; and information management and technology assurance. Through a joint venture with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), it has established the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation which sets a new standard for global recognition of management accounting.
The AICPA maintains offices in New York, Washington, DC, Durham, NC, and Ewing, NJ.
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