IRS intends to withdraw basis shifting transaction rules – here’s what it means for your practiceBy: National Association of Tax Professionals
April 25, 2025

On April 17, 2025, the IRS issued Notice 2025-23, announcing its intent to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) suggesting the removal of a set of rules that previously designated certain partnership-related basis-shifting transactions as transactions of interest (TOIs). It also includes withdrawing Notice 2024-52. This change provides immediate penalty relief for disclosures on Forms 8886 and 8918, but for most NATP members, it’s unlikely to change your day-to-day work.

Potential impacts

The IRS and Treasury intend to remove Reg. §1.6011-18. These regulations identified certain partnership-related party basis adjustment transactions as TOIs and subject to rules for reportable transactions. These identified transactions typically involved transactions within partnerships where one partner’s basis in property increased without a corresponding income recognition, involving related parties. These rules looked especially hard at transactions designed to create mismatches or distort tax attributes. To be subject to the rules, the basis increase must exceed $10 million for 2025 or $25 million for tax years before 2025 and during the six-year lookback period.

Examples include:

  • Property distributed to a related partner that triggers a §734(b) adjustment
  • Property distributed to a related partner whose basis in the property is increased under §732(b)
  • Those electing basis increases under §732(d) within two years
  • A transfer of partnership interest to a related party that triggers a §743(b) adjustment

Examples of these transactions can be found in the regulations the IRS and Treasury intend to remove.

Because of dollar amount thresholds in place that trigger the reporting requirement, most NATP members were not impacted by the original disclosure requirement.

Current impacts

Notice 2025-23 provides relief by waiving penalties under:

  • Section 6707A(a) for participants in these transactions
  • Sections 6707(a) and §6708 for material advisors

IRS Notice 2024-54, which outlined proposed additional regulations on these transactions, has been withdrawn.

What you should do

If your client base includes partnerships with low-valued assets, or none at all, you likely don’t need to take any action.

If you serve partnership clients impacted by, or have been preparing disclosures under the current TOI rules, you can now rely on Notice 2025-23. This means:

  • You may pause those disclosures
  • Penalties related to those transactions are no longer applicable
  • Continue maintaining documentation in case future guidance is issued

NATP perspective

While this change represents a notable policy shift at the IRS level, it does not represent a major development for the vast majority of NATP members. However, we will continue to monitor whether the IRS will reintroduce new guidance in the future and keep you informed.

As always, NATP is here to support you with insight and clarity on regulatory changes, whether widespread or niche.

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Confusing extension date listed in IRS.gov accountsBy: National Association of Tax Professionals
April 11, 2025

Thanks to a tip from writer and tax attorney Kelly Phillips Erb, we confirmed a series of confusing and potentially misleading errors on the IRS website just days before the tax filing deadline.

What’s going on

Tax professionals are reporting, and we’ve verified, that when logging into a taxpayer’s online account on IRS.gov, the system displays April 22, 2025, as the extension payment due date instead of the correct April 15, 2025, deadline.

One possible explanation is that April 22 may refer to the five-business-day window to “perfect” a failed e-file submission. In these situations, while the original filing must still be submitted by April 15, the IRS allows until April 22 to correct errors and resubmit without late filing penalties. However, the site does not explain this situation, and the message lacks context.

Additional problems found include:

  • Mislabeling the amended return as “104X” (instead of Form 1040-X)
  • Some are seeing a message that implies returns already filed and processed returns for 2022 and 2023 are still being processed

Why this matters

This misinformation could easily lead taxpayers and preparers to mistakenly delay extension payments until April 22, risking late payment penalties and interest. With no clear explanation on the page, this error is misleading and problematic for those relying on IRS guidance.

What we’re doing

We’ve raised these concerns with our IRS contact and requested immediate clarification and corrections to avoid further confusion during this critical time. We’ll monitor the situation and update you with any developments.

Please remind your clients that April 15 remains the official deadline for filing and extension payments.

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The IRS makes major changes to transcriptsBy: Jim Buttonow, CPA, CITP
March 5, 2025

IRS transcripts are your client’s electronic tax records at the IRS. The information and types of IRS transcripts have remained generally unchanged for decades. However, with IRS modernization comes new types of transcripts and new enhancements to existing transcripts, all of which can provide tax professionals with more useful tools to serve their clients.

There has also been one recent, more significant change to an existing IRS transcript that can help taxpayers and tax professionals file accurate returns during tax season and avoid IRS income mismatch compliance notices.

IRS transcripts

Until recently, the IRS had only four major types of transcripts available through the IRS’s “Transcript Delivery System” (TDS). TDS is an electronic IRS application that provides transcripts to taxpayers and tax pros online. Taxpayers can access transcripts through their online account or request them to be mailed through the “Get Transcript” online ordering application. They could also use IRS Form 4506-T.

Tax pros can get clients’ online transcripts using two primary methods: online through IRS e-Services or through the Practitioner Priority Service (PPS) hotline. Tax pros need to be appropriately authorized with Form 2848, Power-of-Attorney, or Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization. With the authorization on file with the IRS’s Centralized Authorization File (CAF) system, tax pros can access the transcripts on-demand through their IRS e-Services account. Tax pros can also contact and request PPS to upload the transcripts (up to 30 per call) into the tax pro’s e-Services mailbox (called the “Secure Object Repository”).

The four types of transcripts that have been traditionally available include the following:

Type Description Forms Available Years Available
Account transcript (“AT”) Transactions and activity by year All forms and separate assessments All (taxpayers only have limited availability online)
Tax return transcript (“RT”) Electronic copy of return 1040, 1065, 1120 series Current and processed in past three years
Wage/income transcript (“W&I”) W-2s, 1099s, etc., reported to IRS by Taxpayer Identification Number 1040 filers online Business: request by phone until new online release in 2025 Current and past 9 years
Record of account Combo of AT and RT 1040 only Current and past three years

Taxpayers and tax pros rely on these transcripts to help file accurate tax returns and resolve issues and notices. For decades, the IRS has not enhanced or added new transcripts. With the additional modernization efforts accelerated by the Inflation Reduction Act funding in 2022, the IRS has enhanced some of its existing transcripts and added new transcripts for taxpayers and tax professionals.

IRS releases new transcripts

There is now a fifth type of IRS transcript. In June 2024, the IRS created and released a new business transcript: the “Business Entity” transcript. The IRS released two versions of the business entity transcript:

  • The “complete” version is the most helpful to tax pros in understanding the business’s filing requirements and status with the IRS. It includes:
    • Employer identification number (EIN), business name and address on file with the IRS
    • Current filing requirements
    • IRS establishment date and closing date (if applicable)
    • Single or multiple member LLC status
    • North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS)
    • Parent company EIN (if applicable)
    • Elections (like S-corp election)
    • Exempt organization information such as status, ruling date, and type of exempt organization.
  • The “modified” version offers very limited information, including the EIN and name/address on file with the IRS

The complete version provides helpful information to the tax pro regarding filing requirements, elections and determining the company’s start date. However, many tax pros do not know the complete version is available because the IRS requires a “specific use” authorization to request it. As a practical application, specific use authorizations can only access transcripts through a phone call to the IRS’s PPS. To order this transcript, the tax pro must list “business entity transcript” or “ENMOD” (IRS computer command code for the “entity information” on file with the IRS) on the authorization (in the tax matters in Section 3). With the specific use authorization, the tax pro contacts PPS, sends the authorization to the IRS PPS representative while on the call (via fax or upload, if available), and requests the complete business entity transcript to be uploaded to their e-Services mailbox.

Tax pros can request modified versions in a manner similar to that of tax pros currently using TDS to access online transcripts. The tax pro simply files and records their Form 2848 with the IRS CAF and uses IRS e-Services to download the modified version. A specific use authorization is not required.

Most tax pros agree that the current modified version has limited value. The IRS is seeking a future capability for tax professionals to be authorized to access the complete version without requiring a specific use authorization.

New tax return transcripts

In October 2024, the IRS added additional tax return transcripts for the Forms 94X series (i.e., Forms 940, 941, 943, 944, 945). These new 94X return transcripts also include information on amendments to the original return. The 94X return transcripts are only available for payroll forms filed for 2023 and after. Business tax account users can also see the new versions of this transcript.

Sample of Page 1 of new Form 941, Tax Return Transcript

Picture1

The IRS also released new tax return transcripts for Forms 1041, Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts, (released on Jan. 14, 2025) and Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return (released on Jan. 31, 2025).

This year, the IRS also plans to release additional tax-exempt entity tax return transcripts in the Form 990 series, including the 990, 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF. Also, the IRS plans to release more tax return transcripts for the Form 1120 series (1120-PC, 1120-POL and 1120-REIT), Form 1041 series (1041-A and 1041-QFT), Form 706 series (706, 706-NA, 706-GS(D) and 706-GS(T)), excise tax returns (2290, 720 and 709), and the international Form 1042 withholding return.

The big change: new Wage and Income Transcript release dates and changes

The IRS is making two major changes to the wage and income information (i.e., Forms W-2, 1099, etc.) provided to taxpayers and their tax professionals:

  • The individual Wage and Income transcript release date
  • A future release of the new business income transcript

Traditionally, the IRS Wage and Income transcript was only available to taxpayers and tax pros in late May each year (i.e., the 2023 tax year Wage and Income transcript was available on May 26, 2024). With the May release date, tax pros could not use the income information reported to the IRS to assist in filing a client’s return on or before the April 15 deadline. This year, the IRS announced that the Wage and Income transcript for individuals is available to download starting March 30. This represents an opportunity for tax pros that they never had in the past. Tax pros will be able to use the income information as a starting point to complete the tax return. This will lower the burden on their clients and help avoid unreported income notices (IRS CP2000 notices).

Tax pros should use the Wage and Income transcript information cautiously, not as a complete substitute for thoroughly reviewing their client’s tax information and income sources. The March 30 version may not include some information returns such as paper-filed Forms 1099, Forms 5498 for IRA contribution information, Forms 1099-B for stock sales and other late-filed forms.

The IRS also provides more business income information for instant download and use in return preparation. The IRS plans to release “business income transcripts” soon. Income items reported under an EIN will be available through TDS sometime in 2025. In the past, tax pros needed to contact PPS directly to get this information, and the PPS representative would fax it to the tax pro.

Next steps for tax pros

Since 2019, tax pros have significantly increased their use of IRS transcripts. Tax pro transcript downloads are quickly trending to 1 billion annual downloads.

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Transcripts are an excellent source of client IRS information and can cut down on unnecessary calls to the IRS. With the recent downsizing of personnel at the IRS, tax pros should seek to use transcripts more in lieu of calling the IRS for information on their clients. Recent enhancements and new transcripts will provide the tax pro with even more client information. The “within tax season” release of the IRS’s Wage and Income transcripts for individuals will also put the tax pro in a proactive position to better file accurate returns before the April 15 deadline.

If the IRS maintains these modernization efforts, it can provide tax pros with even more information in future releases. Tax pros can gain on-demand access to their clients’ IRS transcripts by filing an annual Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, for each client and using their e-Services TDS capability to obtain transcripts electronically.

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