Tax experts warned advisors to be aware of the 57 federal tax provisions that expired at year end, which include the deduction for state and local sales tax, the above-the-line deduction for tuition and tax-free distributions from IRAs for charitable purposes.
The "on-again, off-again nature of expiring provisions creates a lot of uncertainty," said Jeff Porter, chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' tax executive committee, on a recent call with reporters.
Edward Karl, vice president of taxation for the AICPA, noted on the call that there was little "impetus in Congress to move a separate extenders bill" by year end, even though AICPA would like to see one.
The extenders—a term that is interchangeable with expiring provisions—"for this year won't impact filing season, but will impact decision making," Karl said.
Melissa Labant, director of AICPA's tax advocacy, said on the call that practitioners should gear up for yet "another difficult filing season" in 2014.
