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The 2022 archive

Everything Fortress published in 2022, newest first — the developments and planning windows that defined the year.

20 pieces in this view

AnalysisDecember 20227 min read

"Digital Assets," Not "Virtual Currency": The Reworded 1040 Question and the FTX Loss Problem

The 2022 Form 1040 replaces "virtual currency" with "digital assets" and broadens the question's scope to include NFTs and assets received as gifts. Every 2022 filer must answer the question correctly. Separately, FTX's bankruptcy has left thousands of investors holding worthless or frozen positions without a clean deduction available in 2022 — the theft-versus-worthlessness distinction matters more than it did a year ago.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisDecember 20225 min read

After Green Valley, IRS "Listing" Notices Are on Shaky Ground: The APA Catches Up to Tax Guidance

The Tax Court's November 2022 decision in *Green Valley Investors, LLC v. Commissioner* set aside IRS Notice 2017-10 — which had designated certain conservation easements as listed transactions — on the ground that the Notice was a legislative rule that required notice-and-comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act. The decision accelerates a broader challenge to IRS sub-regulatory guidance across multiple areas, and its implications extend well beyond conservation easements.

ReadControversy & Compliance

AnalysisDecember 20221 min read

Prevailing Wage and Apprenticeship Requirements: Why Enhanced IRA Credit Rates Are Not Automatic

The Inflation Reduction Act created enhanced credit opportunities, but it also tied many of those opportunities to labor-related compliance requirements. That means the larger credit result is often operational, not automatic.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisDecember 20225 min read

The 2022 Domestic Filing Exception for K-2/K-3: A Narrow Door With a Partner-Notification Trap

For the 2022 tax year, the IRS formalized a domestic filing exception to the Schedules K-2 and K-3 requirements in revised instructions issued in October and December 2022. The exception is real and applies to a meaningful subset of domestic-only partnerships and S corporations. But the conditions that must be satisfied — including a partner-notification process — are more demanding than the exception's description suggests, and the penalty for inadvertently failing a condition is an obligation to file the schedules after the fact.

ReadControversy & Compliance

Tax AlertDecember 20221 min read

SECURE 2.0 Is Signed: The Retirement Provisions That Require Immediate Employer Attention

SECURE 2.0 is now law, and employers should not treat it as a distant retirement-policy update. Several provisions affect plan operations, communications, and amendment timing sooner than many teams expect.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisDecember 20221 min read

The 1% Stock Buyback Excise Tax: Questions Public Company Finance Teams Should Ask Before 2023

The new stock buyback excise tax may look modest at first glance, but it creates planning and timing questions for public companies and groups using repurchase activity as part of capital strategy.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisNovember 20225 min read

The 2023 Exemption Jumps to $12.92M: A Late-2022 Gifting Window Before the 2026 Sunset

Revenue Procedure 2022-38 announced the 2023 inflation adjustments in October, including the largest single-year increase in the basic exclusion amount since the TCJA nearly doubled it in 2018. The 2023 exemption of $12.92 million per individual — up from $12.06 million in 2022 — creates a meaningful expansion in the current gifting window. But the more consequential planning context is the scheduled 2026 sunset that remains on the books.

ReadTrusts & Estates

AnalysisNovember 20224 min read

2023 Retirement Limits Jump on Record Inflation: $22,500 Deferrals and a $7,500 Catch-Up

IRS Notice 2022-55 announced 2023 retirement plan contribution limits that reflect the highest year-over-year cost-of-living adjustments in decades. For plan sponsors, the implications are operational — payroll systems, plan documents, and participant communication materials must reflect the new limits before the first payroll of 2023.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisNovember 20225 min read

The 163(j) Cliff Nobody Budgeted For: Why 2022 Interest Deductions Shrink as the Add-Back Disappears

Beginning in 2022, the calculation of adjusted taxable income for purposes of the IRC § 163(j) business interest deduction limitation no longer includes depreciation and amortization as add-backs. The shift — from an EBITDA base to an EBIT base — produces a meaningfully smaller ATI ceiling for capital-intensive and leveraged businesses, reducing how much interest they can deduct in the current year. This is a 2022 tax-year event, and many businesses have not built it into their estimates.

ReadBusiness & Planning

ReferenceOctober 20225 min read

2022 Is the Last Year of 100% Bonus Depreciation — and 100% Business Meals: A Year-End Acceleration Checklist

Two 100% deduction benefits expire at midnight on December 31, 2022. Bonus depreciation steps down to 80% in 2023 and continues declining. The temporary 100% business meals deduction — a COVID-era benefit — expires with the year. For businesses positioned to act before year-end, the difference between what is placed in service or purchased in 2022 and what slips into 2023 is real money.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisOctober 20221 min read

The Corporate Transparency Act's Beneficial Ownership Rules: Preparing Your Business for the 2024 Effective Date

FinCEN's 2022 final rule made it clear that beneficial ownership reporting was moving from concept to operational requirement. The businesses that benefit most from early preparation are usually the ones least likely to have centralized compliance systems.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisOctober 20224 min read

The IRS Just Named ERC Mills a Problem: Why Your Refund May Become a Liability

The IRS issued a direct public warning in October 2022 about aggressive Employee Retention Credit promoters — firms that are marketing the credit without performing eligibility analysis. For businesses that have claimed or are considering claiming the ERC based on a promoter's assurances, the warning signals that the burden of eligibility proof rests entirely with the taxpayer, not the promoter who helped file.

ReadControversy & Compliance

AnalysisSeptember 20224 min read

The Excess Business Loss Limit Isn't Going Away: The IRA Extends Section 461(l) Through 2028

The Inflation Reduction Act extended the excess business loss limitation under IRC § 461(l) through 2028. For pass-through owners and investors who anticipated the limitation's expiration, this is a structural change to loss-planning assumptions that needs to be addressed in 2022 and in every year through the extension period.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisSeptember 20224 min read

$80 Billion and a Mandate: What the IRA's IRS Funding Means for Audit Risk

The Inflation Reduction Act's approximately $80 billion in new IRS appropriations represents a decade-scale investment in examination capacity. For businesses and high-income individuals, the question is not whether the IRS will examine more returns — it will — but whether their current documentation standard is built for a better-resourced examiner.

ReadControversy & Compliance

AnalysisSeptember 20224 min read

Six More States Turned On the PTE Election in 2022: A Multistate Map of the SALT-Cap Workaround

By mid-2022, more than 30 states had enacted elective pass-through entity taxes as a workaround to the federal $10,000 SALT deduction cap. For multistate businesses, the question has shifted from whether to elect to which states to elect in, when the deadlines fall, and how resident credits interact across state lines.

ReadState & Local

AnalysisAugust 20221 min read

The Clean Vehicle Credit Redesign: Why Income Limits and Sourcing Rules Changed the Answer

The Inflation Reduction Act did more than extend vehicle-related incentives. It changed the structure of the credit in ways that made income, MSRP, and sourcing questions central to eligibility.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisAugust 20221 min read

The Inflation Reduction Act's Corporate AMT: Who Is In Scope and What the 15% Floor Means for Tax Planning

The Inflation Reduction Act introduces a new 15% corporate alternative minimum tax based on adjusted financial statement income. For large corporations, the practical question is no longer whether the regular tax system applies alone, but whether book income now creates a parallel tax floor.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisMarch 20224 min read

Schedules K-2 and K-3 Blow Up Filing Season: What the February Transition Relief Actually Covers

The new Schedules K-2 and K-3 requirements for pass-through entities arrived with mid-season instruction revisions and a narrow transition relief announcement that did not solve the problem most domestic partnerships actually face. Understanding the exact boundaries of that relief matters before deciding how to proceed.

ReadControversy & Compliance

Tax AlertFebruary 20221 min read

Section 174 Amortization Begins in 2022: The R&E Deduction You Can No Longer Take in Full

Beginning in 2022, businesses can no longer assume domestic research and experimental costs will be fully deductible in the current year. The Section 174 capitalization requirement changes cash tax planning in a very real way.

ReadBusiness & Planning

AnalysisFebruary 20224 min read

Software Development Is Now a Capitalized Cost: How Section 174 Reaches Beyond the Lab

The Section 174 change that took effect January 1, 2022, is not only an R&D-tax-credit problem. It is a software development problem, a product engineering problem, and for many companies, a cash-flow problem that was invisible in last year's budget.

ReadBusiness & Planning

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A development from this year still in play?

Several positions opened in earlier years remain live. If one maps to a decision you are weighing, the conversation worth having is a focused one.

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"Digital Assets," Not "Virtual Currency": The Reworded 1040 Question and the FTX Loss Problem

After *Green Valley*, IRS "Listing" Notices Are on Shaky Ground: The APA Catches Up to Tax Guidance

Prevailing Wage and Apprenticeship Requirements: Why Enhanced IRA Credit Rates Are Not Automatic

The 2022 Domestic Filing Exception for K-2/K-3: A Narrow Door With a Partner-Notification Trap

SECURE 2.0 Is Signed: The Retirement Provisions That Require Immediate Employer Attention

The 1% Stock Buyback Excise Tax: Questions Public Company Finance Teams Should Ask Before 2023

The 2023 Exemption Jumps to $12.92M: A Late-2022 Gifting Window Before the 2026 Sunset

2023 Retirement Limits Jump on Record Inflation: $22,500 Deferrals and a $7,500 Catch-Up

The 163(j) Cliff Nobody Budgeted For: Why 2022 Interest Deductions Shrink as the Add-Back Disappears

2022 Is the Last Year of 100% Bonus Depreciation — and 100% Business Meals: A Year-End Acceleration Checklist

The Corporate Transparency Act's Beneficial Ownership Rules: Preparing Your Business for the 2024 Effective Date

The IRS Just Named ERC Mills a Problem: Why Your Refund May Become a Liability

The Excess Business Loss Limit Isn't Going Away: The IRA Extends Section 461(l) Through 2028

$80 Billion and a Mandate: What the IRA's IRS Funding Means for Audit Risk

Six More States Turned On the PTE Election in 2022: A Multistate Map of the SALT-Cap Workaround

The Clean Vehicle Credit Redesign: Why Income Limits and Sourcing Rules Changed the Answer

The Inflation Reduction Act's Corporate AMT: Who Is In Scope and What the 15% Floor Means for Tax Planning

Schedules K-2 and K-3 Blow Up Filing Season: What the February Transition Relief Actually Covers

Section 174 Amortization Begins in 2022: The R&E Deduction You Can No Longer Take in Full

Software Development Is Now a Capitalized Cost: How Section 174 Reaches Beyond the Lab

A development from this year still in play?

After Green Valley, IRS "Listing" Notices Are on Shaky Ground: The APA Catches Up to Tax Guidance