The Home Furnishings Association is calling on members in eight states to urge their U.S. senators to support an important tax bill.
The legislation, which would fix a drafting error in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, is expected to be introduced in March by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) and Doug Jones (D-Ala.).
“In crafting the law, Congress meant to assign a depreciable life of 15 years, allowing 100 percent bonus depreciation, for qualified improvement property, or QIP,” HFA CEO Sharron Bradley wrote to retail members in key states. “Unfortunately, this provision was mistakenly eliminated in the final version of the bill. Now, QIP is assigned a life of 39 years and is not bonus eligible.
“What is QIP? Under the law as written, it covers non-structural assets installed to the interior of a building after the building is originally placed in service. So, for a retail store renovation, it can include tile floors, lighting systems, sprinklers and other interior improvements. What Congress intended, however, was that the retailer would be able to immediately write off much of the cost of renovating an existing building and to recover other costs over a much shorter time. This could make a difference in the long-run cost of your next renovation or improvements to your store.”
Correcting this error is a priority for HFA’s Government Relations Action Team. HFA is one of more than 200 business groups that have formed the QIP Coalition, which is supporting the Toomey-Jones bill in the Senate and similar legislation in the House of Representatives. The coalition has identified Democratic senators in eight states who might agree to co-sponsor the Toomey-Jones bill, and hearing from businesses in their states could help them decide.
The senators are: Sen. Gary Peters, Michigan; Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Minnesota; Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire; Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, Virginia; Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois; Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada; Sen. Robert Menendez, New Jersey; and Sen. Sherrod Brown, Ohio.
HFA’s Government Relations Action Team monitors legislative and regulatory actions at the state and federal levels, looking out for the interests of furniture retailers. Any HFA member who would like to join the team should contact staff liaison Doug Clark at 916-757-1167 or dclark@myhfa.org.
