Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of August 9, 2021 – August 13, 2021. 

August 10, 2021: The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2021-33 and an accompanying news release, providing a safe harbor pursuant to which employers are permitted to exclude certain amounts from gross receipts for purposes of determining Employee Retention Credit eligibility.

August 10, 2021: The IRS issued Notice 2021-43 and an accompanying news release, providing relief for employers to claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit under Section 51 of the Code with respect to employees who began work after December 31, 2020. This latest update is in response to the extension of the associated Empowerment Zone designations through December 31, 2025, and pursuant to the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020.

August 10, 2021: The IRS issued a news release as part of a Security Summit series in partnership with state tax agencies and the tax industry, advising tax professionals to guard against pandemic-related phishing scams.

August 11, 2021: The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2021-34, updating and modifying procedures for taxpayers to obtain automatic consent for certain income tax accounting method changes made to comply with Section 451 of the Code, as amended by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

August 11, 2021: The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2021-35, modifying procedures for the safe harbor method of accounting for original issue discounts on a pool of credit card receivables in response to changes made to Section 451 by the TCJA.

August 13, 2021: The IRS issued Announcement 2021-13, announcing that the United States and United Kingdom have entered into an arrangement providing that references to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the US-UK income tax treaty are to be interpreted as references to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) upon the USMCA’s entry into force.

August 13, 2021: The IRS issued Announcement 2021-14, announcing that the United States and United Kingdom have entered into an arrangement providing that, notwithstanding the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, UK residents will continue to be treated as “equivalent beneficiaries” for purposes of applying the derivative benefits test to trusts under the Limitation on Benefits provision of the US-UK income tax treaty.

August 13, 2021: The IRS issued a news release announcing the disbursement of the August round of advance payments of the Child Tax Credit, consisting of approximately 36 million payments worth approximately $15 billion.

August 13, 2021: The IRS released its weekly list of written determinations (e.g., Private Letter Rulings, Technical Advice Memorandums and Chief Counsel Advice).