Key insights
- Treasury’s 2026–2027 guidance plan signals potential tax changes affecting business investment, real estate, estate planning, Opportunity Zones, and more.
- Future guidance could change assumptions about eligibility, timing, documentation, and compliance, even when the underlying tax law remains unchanged.
- Tax modeling and scenario planning can help organizations compare outcomes and keep major business and financial decisions flexible.
Use scenario planning to accommodate changing federal tax rules.
Tax conversations over the past year largely focused on what changed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Attention is now turning to implementation: how the provisions will work in practice, where uncertainty remains, and which decisions may be affected by future guidance.
The U.S. Department of Treasury’s 2026–2027 Priority Guidance Plan offers important insights. Its 121 projects show where Treasury and the IRS expect to direct guidance resources during the federal fiscal year from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027. The plan doesn’t establish completion deadlines, but indicates which implementation issues are receiving attention. Listing a project does not commit Treasury or the IRS to issue guidance on a set timetable, and the plan will be updated during the year.
That direction matters as new guidance may affect the timing, structure, documentation, and expected tax results of transactions and long-term plans already under consideration. Explore which projects could influence current decisions, what can be addressed under existing law, and where plans should remain flexible until additional guidance arrives.
Treasury’s guidance priorities: Key areas that may impact your federal taxes
Capital investment decisions require an integrated view
Several priority projects address provisions influencing capital deployment and the after-tax cost of growth. The agenda covers research expenditures under Section 174, the business interest limitation, bonus depreciation, qualified production property, and the qualified business income deduction under Section 199A.
These provisions should be evaluated together. A business considering an expansion, technology investment, product-development program, or acquisition needs to understand how cost recovery, research deductions, and financing limitations affect the same projected return. A provision-by-provision review can miss the broader economics of the decision.
OBBBA restored immediate expensing for domestic research expenditures, renewed 100% bonus depreciation, and returned the business interest limitation calculation to an EBITDA-based measure. Together, these changes can materially affect the timing of deductions, borrowing capacity, and projected cash taxes.
Considerations include:
- How quickly an investment can be recovered
- Which costs qualify
- How financing changes the result
- What records support the position
Businesses can model those outcomes now while preserving flexibility for guidance on eligibility, elections, and implementation.
Real estate planning is shifting to implementation
The agenda includes several projects with direct implications for real estate, including:
- Bonus depreciation
- Business interest deductions
- Residential construction contracts
- Opportunity Zones
- Qualified production property (nonresidential real property used in qualified production activities)
- REIT income qualification tests
The implementation details can affect acquisition models, development budgets, financing structures, and taxable income timing.
Because real estate returns are measured over years, certainty about qualification, elections, and compliance can be as important as the statutory benefit.
Small differences in implementation can change projected cash flow, debt capacity, and investor returns. Owners and investors should incorporate the analysis into underwriting and transaction planning, document key assumptions, and update those assumptions as guidance develops.
Opportunity Zones are entering a new phase
Opportunity Zones are entering a more operational phase. Earlier planning focused on qualifying investments and potential gain benefits. The next phase will place greater emphasis on administration, reporting, transparency, and ongoing compliance.
Treasury identified projects involving the program’s permanent renewal, enhanced reporting, rural provisions, and other implementation questions. Proposed regulations were published on September 11, 2026. Investors, fund sponsors, developers, and operating businesses should confirm their documentation, reporting processes, and compliance controls can support the intended treatment throughout the investment period.
Estate and gift tax planning
The plan includes guidance on the extension and enhancement of estate and gift tax exemptions. Higher exemption amounts have reduced near-term uncertainty, but the more difficult questions for family enterprises involve ownership, governance, liquidity, and execution.
Owners and multigenerational families still need to decide:
- How ownership will transition
- Who will govern the enterprise
- How trusts will support the plan
- Where liquidity will come from
The answers require coordination across tax, legal, investment, and business considerations. An effective plan balances tax efficiency with business continuity, family objectives, and the ability to carry out the transition.
Future guidance may clarify implementation details, but succession planning remains a long-term process. The more stable exemption environment gives families time to test structures, align decision-makers, and resolve execution issues before a transfer becomes urgent.
Qualified Small Business Stock requires early attention
Future regulations under Section 1202, which governs qualified small business stock (QSBS), are among the plan’s more consequential projects for founders, investors, and closely held businesses.
OBBBA expanded the potential benefits of QSBS, for stock issued after July 4, 2025, making the rules more relevant to founders, investors, and closely held businesses. The potential exclusion can be substantial, but eligibility often turns on decisions made years before a sale.
Entity choice, capital raising, ownership changes, redemptions, various share transfers (e.g., gifts, etc.) and the company’s use of assets can influence the result. These issues should be reviewed when the business is formed and revisited as its capital or ownership structure changes, rather than waiting until a transaction is near.
Companies anticipating outside investment, an ownership change, or a future sale should assess whether their current structure supports the intended treatment and whether the records needed to establish eligibility are being maintained.
International guidance may affect more than tax compliance
The number of international projects reflects the continuing complexity of cross-border taxation. The agenda addresses:
- Net CFC tested income (formerly, GILTI), foreign-derived deduction eligible income (formerly FDII), and Subpart F income
- Foreign tax credits
- Expense allocation and apportionment
- Controlled foreign corporations
- Sourcing of inventory sales through foreign branches
- Transfer pricing (simplified approach for certain marketing and distribution activities)
- Related reporting
For multinational organizations, these rules can affect effective tax rates, cash flow, entity structures, and investment decisions. The consequences may be significant even when cross-border activity represents a limited part of the business.
Proposed regulations have already been published on several of these projects, including the foreign-derived deduction eligible income, net CFC tested income, expense allocation, and Subpart F items, so final rules may differ from what is proposed. Organizations should test their current structures under OBBBA and identify positions that might depend on future guidance. The review should connect tax attributes and reporting obligations with the operating purpose of each entity and transaction.
Tax-exempt organizations should review governance and controls
The plan includes projects affecting:
- Donor-advised funds
- Fiscal sponsorships
- Information reporting
- Executive compensation
- Political activity restrictions
Although the rules are technical, their application often depends on governance, documentation, and operational oversight.
Health care systems, universities, private foundations, and other exempt entities should assess whether their policies, board oversight, compensation processes, and reporting systems support their tax positions. Reviewing those foundations now provides time to address process or documentation gaps before final guidance takes effect.
Treasury’s agenda reinforces the connection between tax compliance, governance, and accountability. Organizations should monitor new guidance while confirming their controls reflect how they operate in practice.
Retirement plan guidance has immediate operational effects
Retirement plan guidance may receive less attention than business deductions or estate planning, but it can quickly affect employers, payroll teams, and plan administrators.
The plan includes projects on
- SECURE 2.0 implementation,
- Student loan matching contributions
- Emergency savings arrangements
- Automatic enrollment
- Correction programs
The guidance can affect plan design, payroll coordination, participant communications, and how errors are identified and corrected.
Benefits strategy is also part of workforce planning. Employers are considering how retirement programs support recruitment and retention while their teams work through new administrative requirements.
Employers can prepare by mapping plan provisions to payroll and recordkeeping processes, assigning responsibility for implementation, and documenting decisions as guidance is released.
Turn Treasury priorities into planning actions
The 2026–2027 Priority Guidance Plan shows enactment is only the first step. Treasury and the IRS will shape how many OBBBA provisions and other tax rules work in practice.
Stay on top of new federal rules if considering major decisions
For those making significant business, investment, governance, or ownership decisions, some of next year’s most important tax developments may come through regulations, notices, and other administrative guidance. Those releases can change assumptions about timing, qualification, documentation, and compliance even when the underlying law remains unchanged.
Remain flexible in your tax planning
Planning should continue under current law, with clear identification of the assumptions most likely to be affected by future guidance. Models, transaction documents, governance processes, and compliance systems should remain flexible where the rules are unsettled.
Connect your tax strategy with investment, succession goals
The most useful planning connects tax treatment with operating objectives, investment returns, succession goals, and the ability to execute. The guidance agenda provides an early indication of where those plans may need closer review.
How CLA can help with federal tax scenario planning
CLA can help you evaluate how proposed and emerging guidance could affect your tax position, cash flow, investment returns, and long-term plans.
Tax modeling and scenario planning can compare potential outcomes under different assumptions, helping you understand trade-offs, identify risks, and make more informed decisions before final guidance is issued. Contact us to get started on planning your next year’s business and financial decisions.