On Monday, November 15, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“Infrastructure Act”), Public Law No: 117-58. The Infrastructure Act is the result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (“Infrastructure Framework”) previously announced on June 24, 2021. See Ropes & Gray alert on Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework. The $1 trillion Infrastructure Act covers many of the Infrastructure Framework’s priorities for improvements to traditional infrastructure, including improvements to roads and bridges, rail, broadband internet, and some climate-related projects. The Infrastructure Act does not contain any of the tax increases previously proposed by the American Jobs Plan, Made in America Tax Plan, or American Families Plan (see Ropes & Gray American Jobs Plan alert and American Family Plan alert). To fund the Infrastructure Act there are, however, two tax-related changes: (i) increased required reporting of transactions involving the sale of digital assets, and (ii) an early end to the employee retention credits for certain eligible employers. The cryptocurrency reporting is designed to encourage taxpayers to report cryptocurrency transactions and to support IRS enforcement against taxpayers who do not report those transactions. Many have criticized the digital asset reporting as overbroad, and amendments were considered—but not passed—to narrow the reporting requirement.
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