The American Bar Association (ABA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the Tax Executives Institute (TEI), along with the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS, held a two-part series of webinars to discuss the proposed redesigned partnership form for tax year 2021 (filing season 2022). Robert Russell participated in part two, on August 18, 2020.

The proposed form was designed to provide greater clarity for partners on how to compute their U.S. income tax liability with respect to items of international tax relevance, including claiming deductions and credits. Leaders from ABA, AICPA, TEI and the government facilitated an hour-long panel discussion which included an overview of the new forms, what the government was trying to accomplish in designing the forms, and a question and answer period.

The inbound (generally) components of the new forms:
• Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax
• Income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business
• Fixed, determinable, annual, periodical income
• Gain or loss of foreign persons from sale or exchange of certain partnership interests
• Treatment of dividend equivalent payments

Panelists included:
Lori Hellkamp, Jones Day, Washington, DC
Robert Russell, Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP, Washington, DC (Moderator)
Blake Udall, GoDaddy Inc., Scottsdale, AZ
Shiukay Hung, Tishman Speyer, New York, NY
John Hinding – Director, Cross Border Activities, IRS Large Business and International
Margaret (Peg) O’Connor – Director, Treaties (Former Deputy Associate Chief Counsel – International), IRS Large Business and International
Cindy Kim – Program Manager, Cross Border Activities, IRS Large Business and International
Karen Cate – Senior Advisor –Office of Associate Chief Counsel International
Peter Merkel – Branch Chief– Office of Associate Chief Counsel International
Erika Nijenhuis – Senior Counsel, US Department of Treasury – Office of Tax Policy
Kamela Nelan – Attorney-Advisor, US Department of Treasury – Office of Tax Policy