Congress returned to Washington this week to prepare their lame duck session agenda, which is expected to address a federal government spending bill and possible tax legislation. 

Specific tax policies affecting commercial real estate that may be addressed in the lame duck session include technical corrections to fix errors in last year's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

• On Tuesday, outgoing House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) outlined several tax priorities, including legislation that may address tax deduction extensions and 70 to 80 technical corrections (The Hill, Nov. 13).  "We're prepared and ready if there's an appetite to move some of these things and get them off of Congress's plate this year," said Chairman Brady. (Tax Notes, Nov. 14) 
• Specific tax policies affecting commercial real estate that may be addressed include technical corrections to fix errors in last year's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including:
• the cost recovery period for qualified improvement property (QIP);
• Section 179D reforms to incentivize private sector retrofits for energy efficient building improvements, and
• other expired provisions affecting homeowners, such as a deduction for mortgage insurance premiums.  (Roundtable Weekly, Oct. 19) 
• In October, The Roundtable along with 239 businesses and trade groups, wrote to Secretary Mnuchin urging the Treasury Department to provide administrative relief from a drafting mistake that increased the cost recovery period for qualified improvement property (QIP) to 39 years, instead of 15. (Roundtable Weekly, Oct. 12) 
• On Friday, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) announced he would give up his position leading the Senate Judiciary Committee to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee when Congress reconvenes in January.  Senator Orrin Hatch, the current Finance Chairman, is retiring after 42 years in the U.S. Senate.  This will be the third time that Sen. Grassley has chaired the Finance Committee, having held the panel's top job twice in the 2000s. (Bloomberg, Nov. 16)

Congress will return for the lame duck session to address these issues and many more, the week after Thanksgiving.  Roundtable Weekly will resume publication on Nov. 30.