SPACs Win Small Respite Under IRS Stock-Buyback Tax Guidance

The IRS is giving sponsors of blank-check companies a small bit of relief: They may be getting bludgeoned by the market and regulators alike, but at least many of them won’t have to pay the new stock-buyback tax.

Promoters of special purpose acquisition companies had feared that SPAC transactions would be subject to the 1% excise tax on stock repurchases that took effect Jan. 1. But guidance the IRS issued in late December indicates that while some SPACs will have to pay the new tax, most will generally be able to avoid it, practitioners said, or at least pay a ...