As we expected they might (and are glad they did), last night, the Senate passed the tax extender bill that the House passed on December 3rd. Their vote was 76 to 16. The House vote was 378 to 46 on December 3rd. The bill now heads to President Obama for signature which is expected to happen this week. The President has indicated in the past several weeks that he would sign the bill if it were sent to him in the form that the House had passed.
As a reminder, this bill simply extends 55 tax provisions that had expired on December 31, 2013 and makes their expiration date now December 31, 2014. It does not make any of the provisions permanent. So now the IRS can begin the process of completing the 2014 tax forms and preparing for the upcoming tax filing season. The IRS has not yet announced a start date for the filing of 2014 tax returns as of now.
This sets the stage for Congress to address all these same provisions which will now not be available for 2015, along with others that were already set to expire at the end of 2015.
The Senate also passed the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act of 2014 which the House passed on December 3rd which establishes a new type of tax-advantaged savings program for individuals with disabilities designed to help in meeting their financial needs and those of families raising children with disabilities.
