US President Joe Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R.3684) (the Act) on 15 November 2021. The Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation, will allow for a new federal investment of USD 550 billion in US infrastructure.
The White House issued a Statement, dated 15 November 2021, to announce the signing of the Act. The White House also issued related Remarks by President Biden.
The Act aims to finance the infrastructure investment by, among other measures, strengthening tax enforcement related to cryptocurrency. Specifically, the Act will require a party facilitating the transfer of cryptocurrency to file an information return as a broker with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Brokers (mainly exchanges) will have to send IRS Form 1099-B (Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions) to both the IRS and their customer to report their sale and basis.
The Act will also require businesses that receive cryptocurrency worth more than USD 10,000 in a single transaction to report the transaction to the IRS. For this purpose, any person engaging in a trade or business that receives more than USD 10,000 in cryptocurrency will be required to file IRS Form 8300 (Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received In a Trade or Business).
The provisions related to cryptocurrency reporting will go into effect after 31 December 2023. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates that the information reporting requirements will raise USD 28 billion over 10 years.
The Act also eliminates the employee retention credit (ERC) for the fourth quarter of 2021.
In addition, the Act renews the excise taxes on 42 chemicals under section 4661(c) of the US Internal Revenue Code, with modified tax amounts, from 1 July 2022 through 31 December 2031.
Further, the Act extends various highway-related excise taxes (under IRC sections 4041, 4051, 4071, 4081 and 4481), together with related exemptions (under IRC sections 4221 and 4483), for 6 years.