Creating Influence

Stay Informed: Congressional Activity Leading Up to Break Including Passage of Tax Overhaul

’Twas the week before Christmas, but Congress was NOT quiet as a mouse – with significant issues stirring such as tax reform and possible government shutdown in both the Senate and the House!

On the tax reform front, the U.S. House and Senate conference committee members unveiled their compromise on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act H.R. 1 on December 13th, which was passed by both the House and Senate on December 19th (and last vote on the 20th). This new version that passed had strong news for credit unions as the credit union income tax status remains untouched. This is a win for the industry and speaks volumes for all the efforts of credit unions, Leagues and CUNA alike to shape the outcome. For CUNA’s analysis of this new version that passed, please click here. Issues of note for credit unions in the new tax law include UBIT (as it would require that tax to include certain employee fringe benefits), mortgage interest/property tax deduction changes, and an added 21 percent excise tax on a specific level of certain executive compensation by tax-exempt organizations.

While tax reform has dominated the landscape in Congress, and second to that the internal Congressional debate on continued funding for the government, credit unions continue to push for regulatory relief in the year ahead. Of note in the Senate: S. 2155, which would enact several positive changes for the industry, is presently waiting to be selected for a vote on the Senate floor. However, with the large issues at play for Congress this month, it was considered by political insiders that this bill (and many others like it with the perceived votes) would need to wait until 2018 for a potential vote. The House passed H.R. 2396 on December 14th to make technical changes to Gramm-Leach-Bliley on privacy notice clarification, and the bill now moves over to the Senate.

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