Loper Bright and Tax: What’s the IRS and Treasury to Do?

The 2024 landmark case, Loper Bright Enters. v. Raimondo, 144 S. Ct. 2244 (June 28, 2024), officially jettisoned the 40-year-old Chevron two-step standard for statutory interpretation. Will Loper Bright motivate the Treasury Department and IRS to now avoid formal rulemaking and shift to more informal guidance that can be issued quickly without notice and comment? Post Loper Bright, will judges continue to find tax regulations persuasive and adopt the government's interpretation? For reference, one recent U.S. Tax Court Judge indicated a belief that the "Tax Court will continue to lend considerable credence to agencies' rules" due to Treasury and the IRS's "special competence in drafting tax regulations." See CRS, Reliance on Treasury Department and IRS Tax Guidance.

Read now »

Related Content

• What’s Next for the Regulatory Landscape Post-Chevron?
  Reference how the Treasury Department and IRS publish more than 200 regulations and subregulatory guidance every fiscal year. The majority of this guidance is noncontroversial and provides certainty to taxpayers and IRS examiners. However, a subset of the guidance creates controversy, and taxpayers may be willing to challenge the validity of such guidance. Loper will give courts a greater ability to apply their interpretation of a statute, which could push the IRS to litigate to resolve ambiguities.    

• Step-by-Step Approach to Statutory Interpretation
  Review a step-by-step approach to statutory interpretation frequently used by federal and state courts.

• Statutory Interpretation in the Federal and State Courts Checklist
  Apply this checklist in formulating a process to interpret a statute in a linear fashion, considering all the possible arguments.

Practical Guidance Updates 
Featuring the latest updates from your Practical Guidance account.   

• Tax Key Legal Developments Tracker (Federal)—keep up to date with key legal developments!
  • Business Entities. IRS and Treasury issue final regulations to implement the advanced manufacturing investment credit established by the CHIPS Act of 2022 to incentivize the manufacture of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment within the United States. 89 Fed. Reg. 84732 (Oct. 23, 2024).
  • Employment, Health, and Welfare Plans. IRS issues 2025 cost-of-living adjustments for qualified plan and IRA limits. The new salary deferral limit for pre-tax/qualified Roth contributions is $23,500. The catch-up contribution limit for eligible employees aged 50 and over, remains at $7,500. Beginning in 2025, plans can (but are not required to) provide an extra catch-up for employees turning 60-63 in that year. IRS Notice 2024-80.
  • Excise Taxes and Credits. IRS and Treasury issue guidance regarding the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credits under I.R.C. §§ 40B and 6426(k). IRS Notice 2024-74.
  • Practice, Procedure, and Controversy. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed use of the Section 501(c)(4) exemption commonly used by “dark money” groups to influence U.S. politics. Mem'l Hermann Accountable Care Org. v. Commissioner, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 27354 (5th Cir. Oct. 28, 2024).
• Inflation Reduction Act: Tax Provisions Tracker—keep up to date with key legal developments regarding the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
• Document alertsallow you to stay current on legal developments that affect your practice. Find out how to set up your document alerts. 
• For Practical Guidance content on important recent trends, review easy-to-use Resource Kits on a variety of emerging topics:
• Chevron Reversal Impact Resource Kit
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Resource Kit
• Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Resource Kit
• Public Interest, Pro Bono, and Non-Profit Resource Kit
• The Fall 2024 Edition of The Practical Guidance Journal features guidance on the use of AI in employment decisions, AI considerations in acquisition agreements, Chevron deference reversal challenges in FDA rulemaking, 50 years of ERISA pension protection, plus obligations and risks related to the provision of anti-overdose medication in the workplace.
• Browse the Practical Guidance Author Center to see the 2000+ leading attorney authors contributing to our 26 practice areas. Interested in becoming a Practical Guidance author? Click here for details. Practical Guidance is committed to amplifying diverse voices of attorneys across all differences, including gender and race.  
• Legal Developments provide the latest updates and analyses of emerging topics impacting your practice area. Visit the Legal Developments page to see the latest topics, which also include breaking legal news and related Practical Guidance content. 
• Discover New Practical Guidance Content and Resources
  Review this informative guide featuring some of the recent content additions to Practical Guidance, designed to help you find the tools and insights you need to work more efficiently and effectively.

• New and Recently Updated Practical Guidance Content
  • Allocating PTEP in an I.R.C. Section 355 Transaction
  • Stock Repurchase Excise Tax: Foreign Corporations
  • Partnership Taxation: Liquidating Distributions
  • Partnership Taxation: Current (Non-liquidating) Distributions
  • Section 367(b) Proposed Regulations on Triangular Reorganizations and Inbound Nonrecognition Transactions
  • Tax and Estate Planning for Closely Held Business Interests
  • The ABCs of RMDs: A Guide to Required Minimum Distributions
  • IRS Priority Guidance Plan for 2024-2025
  • The IRS Ramps Up Audit Activity for Certain Taxpayers
  • COBRA for the Health FSA
  • CPAs Prepare for Uncertainty as TCJA Expiration Looms Tax Authority

PRACTICAL GUIDANCE CUSTOMER EMAIL EDITION ON THE WEB

Experience results today with practical guidance, legal research, and data-driven insights—all in one place.

Experience Lexis+