Dear Clients and Friends:

With a new administration taking shape in our nation’s capital after the elections, you can expect that significant tax reforms will be debated, and perhaps enacted, in the near future. But the greatest impact on year-end tax planning in 2016 will likely derive from what happened late last year, not what will happen next year.

In the waning days of 2015, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, which was promptly signed into law. This new federal legislation reinstated dozens of favorable tax provisions that had expired, many of them retroactive to the beginning of 2015. In some cases, the new law made often-extended tax breaks permanent, with certain modifications. The changes included in the PATH Act provide both individual and business taxpayers with a clearer picture about the optimal tax moves to make before the end of this year.