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Published
December 21, 2022
Re: New Excise Tax on Repurchase of Corporate Stock – Implementation Issues and Priority Guidance Recommendations
Dear Assistant Secretary Batchelder and Mr. Paul:
On behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (“Chamber”), I am pleased to provide the enclosed comments concerning the new 1% excise tax on corporate stock repurchases enacted in Public Law 117-169, colloquially known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”).[1] As the world’s largest business federation, the Chamber represents the interests of millions of businesses of every size, industry sector, and region, and is dedicated to promoting and defending America’s free enterprise system. As such, the Chamber is well positioned to provide consensus-based input on significant issues of federal tax policy and administration from a cross-industry perspective.
The enclosed comments identify a range of threshold implementation issues arising under the new law and provide constructive recommendations for addressing them in regulations or other guidance. Our objective in providing these comments is 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 prepare to apply and comply with the IRA. The enclosed comments are the product of extensive consultations with a wide array of affected Chamber members.
The Chamber appreciates the opportunity to share our initial implementation concerns and priority guidance recommendations with respect to the new excise tax. We strongly urge the Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service to work closely with the business community throughout the IRA implementation process to address these and other issues that are critical to the efficient functioning of U.S. capital markets. To that end, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss our comments with you or your colleagues in further detail and provide whatever additional information or support you may require. Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Watson M. McLeish
Senior Vice President, Tax Policy
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The letter and the detailed table of Chamber comments can be viewed at the above link, and are attached to this page.
Copies: The Honorable Ronald L. Wyden, Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance
The Honorable Michael D. Crapo, Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance
The Honorable Richard E. Neal, Chairman, U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means
The Honorable Kevin P. Brady, Ranking Member, U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means
Thomas A. Barthold, Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation, United States Congress
Robert H. Wellen, Associate Chief Counsel (Corporate), 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, 1828–31 (2022) (to be codified at I.R.C. § 4501).
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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.
