Both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House have now passed their respective versions of tax reform with the Senate vote in the morning hours of December 2nd in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The House passed its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) on November 16th, and now the issue itself “goes to conference,” which equates to the two chambers deciding what will remain in the tax reform bill that is then moved forward to both chambers for a vote after an agreement is reached. And of particular note, neither of the tax reform bills that passed impacted the credit union income tax exemption.
However, the process is fluid and requires constant engagement; the original Senate bill included provisions that would have imposed new Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) requirements on credit unions, something CUNA worked to successfully have the Senate remove from the final bill. The final tax bill is not on paper yet – and work remains to protect credit unions and the members they serve as both the Senate and House are expected to solidify the final bill in the coming weeks. For CUNA’s analysis of both bills, please click here for House and also Senate to see what the versions mean for credit union operations.
Next steps: Both chambers are expected to conference in the coming weeks to resolve any differences in the two bills (barring any disruptions from other issues).
