Treasury Issues Regulation Plan Without GOP Tax Bill Roadmap (1)

President Donald Trump’s IRS and Treasury Department released its regulatory agenda Friday, offering a glimpse into the agency’s priorities.

The administration laid out its spring 2025 list of rules, the first comprehensive look into the direction of the agencies as they brace to implement the Republican tax-and-spending bill. Guidance for the massive GOP tax bill enacted on July 4 wasn’t included in this spring agenda.

The agenda was briefly posted on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website, but was under maintenance as of mid-morning Friday. The Office of Management and Budget’s press office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

New additions to the agenda include a preparer tax identification user fee update, updating regulation references to the Department of Justice Tax Division, and a revision of life-nonlife group insurance regulations.

The administration also added a new regulation on digital assets, which would provide more guidance on the electronic submission of written statements related to the Form 1099-DA used by brokers.

Trump earlier this year signed an executive order requiring agencies to eliminate 10 rules for every new rule promulgated. The goal is to have the cost of new regulations be less than zero, the order said. The IRS in April sought comments on which regulations the agency should consider.

International Tax Rules

The Trump administration also detailed its plans to publish regulations on international tax measures included in Republicans’ 2017 tax overhaul, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The Treasury will issue proposed regulations on Section 367, a part of the tax code that pertains to the transfer of property, stocks, and other transactions from the US to a foreign corporation. The regulations will be amended to “reflect the legislative changes” to that section of the code under the 2017 tax law, which removed the “active trade or business exception” in Section 367(a).

The agency will also conduct a review of regulations for the so-called base erosion and anti-abuse tax, or BEAT, created by the 2017 tax law to prevent companies from shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions. The administration will review the regulations that pertain to qualified derivatives payments under BEAT.

The foreign tax credit regulations under Sections 901 and 903 of the tax code are also getting a second look.

The Treasury will make changes to the rules under T.D. 9959, which details the intermingling of the foreign tax credit with another part of the tax code related to the 2017 law known as foreign-derived intangible income, or FDII.

That law provided companies with a deduction for income made from intellectual property created or repatriated back to the US. The rules modifications will be made with taxpayers’ feedback in mind as part of Trump’s order “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative.”

The government will issue final regulations on previously taxed earnings and profits, or PTEP, under the global intangible low-tax income tax, or GILTI. Both the IRS and Treasury Department have been working on these regulations for years, and its inclusion in this agenda comes after the Biden administration in November proposed regulations on the same topic.

Transfer Pricing Changes

Several proposed regulations touch on transfer pricing, with one that would clarify the definition of intangible property and the relationship among the realistic alternatives and aggregation principles and the best method rule of the arm’s length standard.

Another proposed reg would clarify the coordination of transfer pricing rules with other code and regulatory provisions.

The Biden administration IRS and Treasury focused on implementing the provisions from the 2022 tax-and-climate law—including the corporate alternative minimum tax, stock buyback excise tax, and energy tax credits.

The IRS Chief Counsel Office, which is tasked to creating rules, will lose about 13% of its workforce this year as part of the administration’s sweeping cost-cutting measures.