2025 01 16 FINAL USCC Comments on Proposed Corporate AMT Regulations

Watson M. McLeish Watson M. McLeish
Senior Vice President, Tax Policy

Published

January 22, 2025

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January 16, 2025

Dr. Aviva Aron-Dine
Acting Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy)
U.S. Department of Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20220

The Honorable Marjorie A. Rollinson
Chief Counsel
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20224

Re: Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax Applicable After 2022 (REG-112129-23)

Dear Dr. Aviva Aron-Dine and Ms. Rollinson:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (“Chamber”) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations addressing the application of the corporate alternative minimum tax (“AMT”) imposed by section 55 of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”).[1] The corporate AMT is a novel and complex minimum tax imposed on the adjusted financial statement income (or “book income”) of certain corporations with average annual earnings of $1 billion or more over the preceding three taxable years. As experience and the enclosed comments demonstrate, however, using adjusted financial statementincome as the base for a new income tax regime is the antithesis of sound tax policy. Implementation of the corporate AMT has proven neither simple nor administrable, and its continued application poses a competitive disadvantage to U.S.-headquartered companies.

The proposed regulations, which were published more than two years after the IRA’s enactment, span 182 single-spaced pages in the Federal Register and are a testament to the undue complexity of the corporate AMT’s design. Previously characterized by an administration official as a “behemoth” package of guidance, the proposed regulations would address a myriad of administrative, substantive, and reporting issues under the statute. As currently drafted, however, the proposed regulations would provide only limited relief in the form of safe harbors or de minimis rules. The obvious implication of this approach is that many taxpayers who are not subject to the corporate AMT as applicable corporations would still be required to expend substantial amounts of time and resources complying with this unduly complex and burdensome regime. As a threshold matter, therefore, assuming the new Congress does not quickly repeal the corporate AMT, the Chamber respectfully urges the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) to withdraw and drastically simplify the proposed regulations to mitigate such deadweight loss.

The enclosed comments reiterate and amplify several recommendations from the Chamber’s previous submission of October 12, 2023.[2] They also identify numerous other implementation issues arising under the law and provide consensus-based recommendations for addressing them in final regulations or other guidance. Please note, however, that the enclosed comments represent only a subset of the many issues raised by our member companies and are by no means exhaustive.

The Chamber appreciates the opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations and urges Treasury and the IRS to engage closely with the business community while reviewing our and other stakeholders’ comments. As always, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss our comments with you or your colleagues in further detail and provide whatever additional information you may require. Please feel free to contact Sarah Corrigan, the Chamber’s Tax Counsel, at (202) 680-8008 or SCorrigan@USChamber.com. Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
Watson M. McLeish
Senior Vice President, Tax Policy
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Enclosure

cc:

The Honorable Michael D. Crapo, Chairman, Committee on Finance, United States Senate
The Honorable Ronald L. Wyden, Ranking member, Committee on Finance, United States Senate
The Honorable Jason T. Smith, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, United States House of Representative
The Honorable Richard E. Neal, Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, United States House of Representatives


[1] An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res. 14, Pub. L. No. 117-169, § 10201, 136 Stat. 1818, 1818–28 (2022) (codified at I.R.C. §§ 55, 56A, 59).

[2] Chamber of Com. of the U.S., Comment Letter on Notice 2023-64, Additional Interim Guidance Regarding the Application of the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax under Sections 55, 56A, and 59 of the Internal Revenue Code (Oct. 12, 2023), https://www.uschamber.com/assets/documents/2023-10-12_USCC-Comments-on-Notice-2023-64-Corporate-AMT-Implementation_FINAL.pdf.

2025 01 16 FINAL USCC Comments on Proposed Corporate AMT Regulations

About the authors

Watson M. McLeish

Watson M. McLeish

Watson McLeish is senior vice president for Tax Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he serves as the primary adviser on all tax policy-related matters.

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