alliantgroup hosted a dynamic panel discussion on the two pieces of legislation that recently passed in Congress, the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, at its Houston headquarters last week. Several members of alliantgroup’s Strategic Advisory Board drove the conversation of how each bill will impact American businesses for years to come and included an interactive question and answer session for the audience of small to medium-sized business owners and CPA firms.
These bills make new incentives available that can further put money back into businesses for future investment. With expertise from alliantgroup’s four former IRS Commissioners, former policy makers, and current business leaders, the panel was able to provide key insights on these legislative updates to their CPA partners and other clients.
The following alliantgroup executives were included on the panel:
Rick Lazio— former U.S. Congressman; Senior Vice President of alliantgroup
Mark Everson—former IRS Commissioner; alliantgroup Vice Chairman
Kathy Petronchak—former IRS Commissioner SB/SE; alliantgroup Director of IRS Practice & Procedure
Eric Hylton—former IRS Commissioner SB/SE, alliantgroup National Director of Compliance
Dean Zerbe—former Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee; alliantgroup National Managing Director
Dr. Robert Ambrose—former NASA Chief of Software, Robotics, & simulation; alliantgroup Chairman of robotics & Artificial Intelligence
Dave Tilstone—Senior Managing Director of FODIS
Chuck Wilson—CEO of National Systems Contractors Association
The panel tackled the CHIPS Act, which will subsidize the semiconductor industry and provide a 25% tax credit for companies that build facilities in the U.S. The bill will also provide funding towards STEM education and NASA.
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“There is significant funding for STEM and Research and Development, which shows its importance for productivity gains, raising the standard and overall economic growth,” said Rick Lazio, Senior Vice President of alliantgroup. “You cannot grow if you don’t have the talent to help you grow. I hear this from businesses nationwide as the number one issue they are facing.”
The panel also addressed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), or the climate, health, and tax package. It offers an array of tax incentives for clean energy, domestic manufacturing, prevailing wages, and more.
The bill also includes enhancements to existing federal incentives, like the 179D Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Deduction.
As Dean Zerbe, alliantgroup National Managing Director, noted, the changes to 179D alone are significant enough that companies should consider it in light of inflation and rising interest rates.
“This deduction is extremely robust now,” said Zerbe. “I think you (CPA’s) should be talking to your for-profit business owners, who are constructing their own buildings or who own their buildings. Take another look to see if this deduction now makes sense for them.”
Another important piece of the IRA is how it is meant to increase revenue. The bill will give the IRS $80 billion to put towards enforcement, clearing the backlog of unprocessed tax returns, improving customer service, overhauling technology, and hiring more workers. However, as former commissioner Mark Everson explains, it will take time before this comes to fruition.
“One of the key components is transformation over the next ten years. The service is going to have to proceed extremely carefully. Anything it does will take years to play out because you’ve got to recruit people and then train them up,” said Everson.
As these new policy efforts move forward, alliantgroup intends to continue these conversations and engage in two-way dialogue that helps small and medium-sized businesses and the CPA firms that support them to understand the legislation and have a voice in our nation’s capital on how businesses will be impacted.
alliantgroup is the nation’s premier consulting and management engineering firm with a mission to strengthen American businesses through reinvestment in innovation and job growth. We educate businesses, the industry groups that serve them and the accounting firms that advise them on federal and state credits and incentives that are legislated by our government to keep the U.S. competitive in the global landscape. alliantgroup is headquartered in Houston, Texas with additional offices located in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, New York, Irvine, Sacramento, Washington, D.C.; and Bristol and London in the U.K.
