The president signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the 2017 Tax Legislation) into law on Dec. 22, 2017. The 2017 Tax Legislation made direct changes to the tax rules for tax-advantaged bonds, including eliminating advance refunding bonds and tax-credit bonds, and made other changes that will indirectly effect tax-advantage bonds, including reducing corporate tax rates and eliminating alternative minimum tax on corporations. This legislation is the most comprehensive tax legislation since 1986. Congress’ expedited passage of this significant legislation set precedent: the legislation went from first introduction of the House bill to enactment in just over seven weeks. As a result, the legislation left significant unanswered questions. There is speculation about tax legislation in 2018, including a technical corrections bill to address some of these open issues and an infrastructure bill that may include additional changes to the tax-advantaged bond rules. Putting this potential legislation aside, this GT Alert addresses certain implications and questions that arise from the enacted 2017 Tax Legislation.
