On July 31, MFA submitted a comment letter in response to Treasury’s request for information on its Review of Regulations pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order 13777, Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda. In the letter, MFA encouraged Treasury and the IRS to modify the scope of the final 871(m) rules, which impose withholding taxes on dividend equivalent payments from U.S. sources. We noted that the final rules create significant uncertainty and undue burdens on investors, inconsistent with the policy goals set out by the Administration. In particular, we discussed concerns several aspects of the final rules, including: (1) imposing withholding taxes on phantom income; (2) uncertainty and complexity in implementing the “in connection with” standard in the final rules; and (3) uncertainty regarding which indices meet the qualified index standard set out in the final rules.
