On April 26, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2022-32, inviting the public to make recommendations regarding items to include in the 2022-2023 Priority Guidance Plan (PGP).
 
The IRS PGP sets forth regulatory priorities for the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the IRS. The PGP provides taxpayers and practitioners with insight into issues the Treasury and the IRS have identified as important and intend to pursue during the year. The PGP is used as a workflow document to prioritize the tax issues they should address through regulations, revenue rulings, notices, revenue procedures and other published administrative guidance.
 
Updates to the annual PGP are released on a periodic basis, reflecting actions taken on PGP priorities. These updates also allow the Treasury and the IRS to consider comments received from taxpayers and practitioners relating to additional guidance and to respond to developments that arise during the year.
 
The 2022-2023 PGP will identify guidance projects that the Treasury and the IRS intend to work on during the period of July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. Comments on the PGP are due by Friday, June 3.

The request provides an opportunity for taxpayers to provide feedback on areas of the Internal Revenue Code in need of clarification or additional guidance. As businesses think through major tax issues that require clarification, a recommendation signals to the Treasury and the IRS areas in which taxpayers and practitioners could benefit from additional guidance. Businesses should consider whether regulatory guidance could potentially resolve outstanding issues and use this as an opportunity to engage generally with the Treasury and the IRS. 

Legislative movement generally slows during election years, and may slow further if divided government returns after the mid-term elections. In such an environment, the administration generally uses the regulatory process to further its agenda, and the PGP can be both an opportunity for businesses to seek proactive change as well as a roadmap to the administration’s tax regulatory policy objectives.

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s National Tax Policy Group invites you to submit comments on regulatory priorities for the IRS 2022-2023 PGP. We expect to submit a general recommendation letter on behalf of several clients as well as recommendations on behalf of individual companies based on their interests and priorities.
 
If you are interested in submitting comments, please contact mmarn@bhfs.com by close of business on Friday, May 13.