A broad range of tax and information returns for 2019 and 2020 tax years will receive automatic relief from failure-to-file penalties, under Notice 2022-36 released by the IRS. The estimated 1.6 million taxpayers who have already paid these penalties will automatically receive an estimated $1.2 billion in refunds or credits. Taxpayers do not need to request this relief, and the IRS said it will pay most of the refunds or apply credits by the end of next month. However, any return still unfiled for the two tax years must be filed by Sept. 30, 2022, to be eligible for the relief.

Tax returns eligible for the relief include specified returns in the Form 1040, 1041, and 1120 series. Also eligible are Form 1066, U.S. Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) Income Tax Return; Form 990-PF, Return of Private Foundation or Section 4947(a)(1) Trust Treated as Private Foundation; and Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return (and Proxy Tax Under Section 6033(e). In addition, Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income, and Form 1120-S, U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation, may have penalties forgiven for failure to timely file and for failure to show required information.

The notice also covers certain international information returns, such as Form 5471, Information Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations, and Form 5472, Information Return of a 25% Foreign-Owned U.S. Corporation or a Foreign Corporation Engaged in a U.S. Trade or Business, attached only to Forms 1065 and 1120. However, it does not provide relief for taxpayers filing returns with certain international information returns, e.g., Form 5471, attached to returns other than Forms 1065 and 1120, such as Form 1040 or 1041.

Please see the Notice 2022-36 for further detail.

The US Senate passed a Democrat proposed bill, called the Inflation Reduction Act (the “Act”).   The Act will head to Democratic controlled House for a vote and is expected to be enacted into law.  Contrary to the name of the Act, it includes provision for a massive spending on investments into green energy and Medicare.  There are two notable provisions included in the Act that may have an impact to multinational corporations:

IRS Expansion

The Act allots $80 billion additional funding for the IRS over 10 years and the majority of the fund will be used to hire 87,000 new agents to improve tax enforcement.    The government believes there is an estimated $1 trillion leakage in tax collections every year.  The Democrats projects that enhancing IRS funding would add an extra $127 billion in federal revenue over the next decade by hiring more tax enforcers to limit tax evasions by taxpayers.

Businesses can expect an increased risk of audit selection and enforcement effort by IRS.

Alternative minimum tax on corporate book income

The Act includes the new alternative minimum tax on corporate book income (“AMT”) imposing a 15% minimum tax on “applicable financial statement income” for an “applicable corporation” effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2022.

“Applicable financial statement income” generally is a financial statement income computed based GAAP or IFRS, reported to the SEC, or otherwise used for reporting to shareholders or credit purposes.

An “applicable corporation” is a C-corporation with a three-year average of adjusted financial statement income of $1 billion or more.  A corporation that is a member of an international financial reporting group with a foreign parent must include the financial income of all foreign members of the group in applying the $1 billion test, but is an applicable corporation only if its three-year average financial income of US members and foreign subsidiaries of US members, exceed $100 million.  IRC section 52(a) or (b) applies in determining aggregation rule.

Multinational corporation with a foreign parent should consult with their tax service advisor for the application and the potential impact in advance.

바이든 대통령은 새로운 투자와 세액 공제를 통해 마이크로칩과 다른 반도체 재료와 장치의 국내 생산을 늘리도록 장려하는 법안을 통과시켰다.
'미국의 반도체 생산에 도움이 되는 인센티브 창출법'의 줄임말인 CHIPS 법안은 반도체 제조와 연구를 위한 보조금 540억 달러와 지역 기술 거점을 지원하기 위한 수백억 달러를 2026년까지 반도체 제조 투자에 대해 25%의 세액 공제를 제공한다.
적격 납세자는 해당 공제 금액은 세금에 대한 payment로 취급할 수 있으며, 공제 금액은 특정 규칙을 에 따라 결정된다. 적격 납세자는 "foreign entity of concern "으로 지정되지 않은 자로, foreign entity of concern 이란 일반적으로 이전의 국방법에 따라 특정 외국 안보 위협으로 간주되거나 미국의 국가 안보 또는 외교 정책에 불리한 행정적 판결을 받은 자이다.
적격재산은 (1) 감가상각 또는 상각이 허용되는 유형재산으로 (2) 납세자가 건설, 재건축하거나 원래 재산의 사용을 개시하는 경우 (3) 첨단 제조 시설의 운영에 필수적인 재산 등이다. 또한, 적격 자산은 건물의 구성 요소의 일부를 포함할 수 있다. 첨단 제조 시설은 반도체나 반도체 제조 장비를 제조하는 주요 목적을 가진 시설이다. 더 자세한 내용은 밑의 링크를 통해 Journal of Accountancy 에 실린 기사를 통해 확인하기 바란다.

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2022/jul/senate-passes-chips-act-semiconductor-tax-credit.html

Biden signed into CHIPS Act to encourage greater domestic production of microchips and other semiconductor materials and devices, in part through a new investment tax credit.

The CHIPS bill, short for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act, would provide $54 billion in grants for semiconductor manufacturing and research, tens of billions to support regional technology hubs and a tax credit covering 25% of investments in semiconductor manufacturing through 2026.

Eligible taxpayers could elect to treat the credit as a payment against tax and the credit provision includes various special rules. Eligible taxpayers are those not designated a "foreign entity of concern" broadly, certain deemed foreign security threats under a previous defense authorization act or whose conduct is administratively ruled detrimental to U.S. national security or foreign policy.

Qualified property is tangible property with respect to which (1) depreciation or amortization is allowable; which is (2) constructed, reconstructed, or erected by the taxpayer or acquired by the taxpayer if the original use of the property commences by the taxpayer; and (3) is integral to the operation of the advanced manufacturing facility. Qualified property can also include a building or portion of one or certain structural components of it. An advanced manufacturing facility is one with a primary purpose of manufacturing semiconductors or semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Please see the article published by Journal of Accountancy for further detail (a link provided below).

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2022/jul/senate-passes-chips-act-semiconductor-tax-credit.html