On December 3, 2014, the House passed “The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2014” (TIPRA) by a vote of 378 to 46. This bill includes a temporary one-year extension of many favorable tax provisions and a laundry list of technical corrections, including extension of:

• The education deduction for teachers;

• Exclusion from taxable income of discharge of qualified principal residence indebtedness;

• Mortgage insurance premiums treated as a mortgage interest deduction;

• Allowable itemized deduction for state and local sales tax;

• Research credit;

• 15-year straight-line depreciation for certain leasehold improvements;

• Bonus depreciation;

• Increased § 179 expense limitations;

• Basis adjustment to stock of S corporations making charitable contributions of property;

• Reduction in recognition period for built-in gains taxes of certain S corporations;

As scored by the Joint Committee of Taxation, TIPRA will cost over $41.5 billion from 2015-2024 (with an assumed date of enactment of December 15, 2014). House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp is very motivated to prevent a delay in the upcoming tax season, stating, stating that “[w]ith the end of the year and a new tax filing season rapidly approaching, we need to act. The IRS has been clear that unless Congress acts quickly, it will be forced to delay the start of the tax filing season…” The White House has previously stated that they are open to such a temporary Bill, rather than complete tax reform. I expect this bill to pass the Senate and to be signed into law by the President in an expedited fashion, with minor bumps along the way, despite the current stand still between the White House and the Senate.