The House and Senate have each passed the Republicans’ tax reform bill. Because the Senate bill differs substantially from the House version on key provisions, leaders of both chambers have assigned conferees to a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile the differences and develop a final version of the bill. A comparison of the two bills can be found here.
AIA National is focused on impacting two specific provisions of the tax reform bill: the Historic Preservation Tax Credit (HTC) and tax rates for small businesses that operate as pass-through entities. The House legislation completely abolishes the HTC and the Senate version retains the provision, but significantly dilutes its effectiveness and usefulness. Additionally, both bills continue to exclude architecture firms organized as “pass-through” companies from benefiting from reduced tax rates. You can read about these issues in more detail in the latest analysis from AIA National.
The AIA is calling on Congress to fully restore the Historic Preservation Tax Credit and ensure that architects are treated fairly by allowing small architecture firms to take advantage of the lower tax rates available to other small businesses.
The House has announced the legislators who will represent their chamber on the conference committee, but the Senate has not revealed its list. All members of Congress will have at least one more opportunity to vote on the final bill. Should you wish, you can continue to engage your members of Congress through the alerts on AIA’s Advocacy Action Center.