Post-Election Legislative Outlook: Real Estate Taxation

This session will identify, review, and consider key real estate tax issues likely to arise in the new Congress and administration. What are the major tax policy challenges and opportunities for U.S. real estate and the real estate industry? How will the recent election influence tax legislation going forward? More specifically, what changes in tax policy could occur over the next two years, and how will those reforms affect U.S. real estate? Topics we will discuss include capital gains and gains-related proposals, such as increasing the capital gains rate, taxing unrealized gains, ending the deferral of gain through like-kind exchanges, ending step-up in basis and taxing gains at death, changing the capital gains treatment of carried interest, and reforming the treatment of foreign investors’ real estate gains. Other topics include potential reforms of partnership and pass-through tax rules, the future of sections 199A, the net investment income tax, and bonus depreciation. The session will also consider the outlook for important housing, such as low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), community development (Opportunity Zones), and clean energy incentives, in addition to new and novel proposals such as a federal tax credit for commercial-to-residential property conversions.