William Hoffman checks in on the the first round of tax filings under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including the data on refunds and the effect of the government shutdown on the filing season.

For more detailed coverage, read these articles in Tax Notes:

• Refunds Turn Higher, but Treasury Warns of Changes
• Policymakers Debate Causes, Remedy for Tax Refund Lag
• Economic Analysis: Will Disappointing Refunds Derail the TCJA?
• IRS Recovery From Shutdown ‘Amazing,’ Rettig Says
• Don’t Blame Smaller Refunds on Withholding Tables, Says Treasury
• Tax Refunds Turn Into Political Football as Treasury Calls Foul
• Filing Season Stats Down Across the Board in First IRS Numbers
• Neither Bang Nor Whimper, Filing Season Starts With a Grind
  
  
  
  
  
  

Kimberly Clausing, the Thormund Miller and Walter Mintz Professor of Economics at Reed College, discusses tariffs, free trade, and globalization. She is also the author of the new book, Open: The Progressive Case for Free Trade, Immigration, and Global Capital.

Richard Joslin, a consultant to EnTrustPermal, discusses how the new business loss and interest expense limitations work together and affect other code provisions.

For more details, read Joslin's article in Tax Notes.

Carrie Elliot talks about the changes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will bring between now and 2027, including rate increases.

Eric Yauch discusses the final rules on the centralized partnership audit regime.

For additional coverage, read these articles in Tax Notes:

• Audit Regime Raises Need for Appeals Guidance
• Practitioners Suggest Options for Debt Issues in Audit Regime
• Final Audit Regs Put Focus on Debt Mischaracterization
• Final Audit Regs Clarify What’s In, What's Out of New Regime
• New Final Partnership Audit Rules Provide Several Clarifications

Tax Notes contributing editor Benjamin Willis examines the authority of regulators in interpreting statutory tax provisions, especially in the context of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as the role of regulations has become more prominent.

Read Willis’s related Tax Notes article.

Robert Goulder discusses the proposal to eliminate the EU's unanimity requirement for tax directives and what that would mean for tax policy.

For additional coverage, read these articles in Tax Notes:

• Should the EU Scrap the Unanimity Requirement?
• Cost of Unanimity on Tax Rules Will Only Increase, Group Says
• Proposal to End EU Unanimity Requirement Coming by Year-End
• EU's Moscovici Says Commission to Propose Qualified Voting on Tax Measures
• News Analysis: Is the End Near for the Unanimity Rule for EU Tax Issues?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Jonathan Curry takes a fresh look at the tax regulatory review agreement between the Office of Management and Budget and Treasury now that the process has had time to play out.

For further coverage, read these articles in Tax Notes:

• OIRA Review of Tax Regs Presses on Despite Shutdown
• A Look Ahead: Treasury, OIRA to Chart New Territory as Final Regs Flood In
• Treasury, OIRA Still at Odds Over When Tax Regs Merit Review
• Tax Regs Deemed Significant Skyrocket Under New Agenda
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Jeremy Scott, Stephanie Cumings, and Andrew Velarde provide a review of what happened with tax legislation and guidance in 2018 and what's ahead in 2019.

For additional coverage, read these articles in Tax Notes:

• Neal Planning for TCJA Hearing by January’s End
• A Look Ahead: Legislators Queuing Up Multiple Retirement Bills
• A Look Ahead: Healthcare Tax Policy Could Stem From Divided Congress
• House Passes GOP Tax Bill With No Hope for Enactment
• A Look Ahead: Awaiting Clarification of 199A and Audit Regime Rules
• A Look Ahead: Questions Abound on Exec Comp Grandfathering Rule
• A Look Ahead: 2019 Should See Final Bonus and Tax Accounting Regs

In the second volume, reporters highlight the quirkiest tax stories of the year.

For coverage of these stories in Tax Notes, see:

• Meals Deduction Guidance Comes Off the Back Burner
• New Business Meals Guidance Creates Substantiation Concerns
• California Pot Money Takes Long, Strange Trip to Bank
• Historic $5.6 Million Washington State Tax Zapper Case Dismissed 
• Cheesecake Factory Asks for Cherry on Top