As the Senate returns this week to begin consideration of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) with an updated revenue estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), we're focusing on something not in the bill: the a traditional tax extenders package.

The tax extenders package is a collection of popular temporary tax relief provisions that, similar to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provisions contained in H.R. 1, are set to expire at the end of 2025. These include the work opportunity tax credit, the new markets tax credit, and the "look-through" rule for controlled foreign corporations (CFCs). The JCT has a complete list of provisions expiring at the end of this year here. 

To the surprise of many, several tax extensions were not included in the House-passed version of H.R. 1, despite their imminent expirations. It may be that the House, working under the more fiscally constrained current-law baseline, intends to rescue these orphaned expirations on a bipartisan basis later this year. "I would love to work with Sen. [Ron] Wyden, Chairman [Mike] Crapo, Ranking Member [Richard] Neal in trying to craft a bipartisan bill before the end of the year, because there's a lot of tax provisions that I really care about that are expiring, or have expired, that are truly, truly bipartisan," House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said recently. Other items that might be considered in a year-end bill include retirement savings incentives and technical corrections. Whether Republicans and Democrats can come together on bipartisan legislation after the current partisan reconciliation bill exercise remains to be seen. 

Another lifeline could come from the Senate, which may consider adding more tax extenders to its version of H.R. 1. Operating under a current-policy baseline, the Senate can include the tax extenders package without a resulting deficit impact (i.e., it would not need revenue increases or spending reductions to offset the cost). The Senate would likely modify each of the individual provisions in the tax extenders package slightly to avoid any conflicts with the Byrd Rule.

Our best guess is that Congress will wrap up work on its reconciliation sometime in late July or early August, leaving autumn open for additional discussions on any year-end expirations. Whether Congress will have the time and appetite for another bite at the tax apple is undecided. #TaxTake

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Marc will present a legal and regulatory outlook at the CalCPA 2025 Entertainment Industry Conference on June 26.  

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