Additional Comments on Corporate AMT Implementation

The Honorable Lily L. Batchelder
Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy)
U.S. Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20220

William M. Paul, Esq.
Acting Chief Counsel
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20224

Re: Notice 2023-64, Additional Interim Guidance Regarding the Application of the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax under Sections 55, 56A, and 59 of the Internal Revenue Code 

Dear Assistant Secretary Batchelder and Mr. Paul:

On behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the “Chamber”), I am pleased to provide the enclosed comments in response to Notice 2023-64 concerning the application of the new corporate alternative minimum tax (“AMT”) enacted in Public Law 117-169, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”).[1]

The enclosed comments reiterate and amplify several outstanding recommendations from our previous submission of March 21.  They also identify additional implementation issues arising under the new law and provide consensus-based recommendations for addressing them in regulations or other guidance.  Our objective in providing these additional comments remains to help you and your colleagues prioritize those implementation issues of greatest mutual concern to American companies—and for which regulatory or other guidance is most urgently needed—as they work to apply and comply with the IRA.

The Chamber appreciates your continued efforts to provide taxpayers additional interim guidance regarding time-sensitive issues arising under the corporate AMT, as reflected in Notices 2023-7, 2023-20, 2023-42, and now 2023-64.  With the timing and scope of the forthcoming proposed regulations still uncertain, however, we felt it incumbent on us to share the enclosed implementation concerns and priority guidance recommendations with respect to the new regime.

We urge the Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service to engage closely with the business community throughout the IRA implementation process to address these and other issues critical to the global competitiveness of U.S. companies.  To that end, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss our comments with you or your colleagues in further detail and provide whatever additional information you may require.  Please contact Sarah Hoyt Corrigan, the Chamber’s Tax Counsel, at (202) 680-8008 or SCorrigan@USChamber.com.  Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Watson M. McLeish
Senior Vice President, Tax Policy
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Enclosure

cc:

The Honorable Ronald L. Wyden, Chairman, Committee on Finance, United States Senate
The Honorable Michael D. Crapo, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, United States Senate
The Honorable Jason T. Smith, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, United States House of Representatives
The Honorable Richard E. Neal, Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, United States House of Representatives
Thomas A. Barthold, Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation, United States Congress
Mark A. Schneider, Associate Chief Counsel (Corporate), Internal Revenue Service
Scott W. Vance, Associate Chief Counsel (Income Tax and Accounting), Internal Revenue Service

[1] An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 14, Pub. L. No. 117-169, § 10201, 136 Stat. 1818, 1818–28 (2022) (codified at I.R.C. §§ 55, 56A, 59).

About the authors

Watson M. McLeish

Watson McLeish is senior vice president for Tax Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he serves as the primary adviser on all tax policy-related matters.

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