OBBBA Sends Manufacturers Back to the Spreadsheet
The ink is barely dry on the sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), but tax teams in the factory sector are already sweating the details. The 340-page federal tax-and-budget law rewires everything from bonus depreciation to R&D credits, creating a web of state-level consequences that “make proactive tax planning non-negotiable,” Crowe warns.
Under OBBBA, manufacturers must now track how each state decides to conform,or not,to the new federal rules. Crowe’s analysts note that apportionment factors, net-operating-loss limits, and sales-factor sourcing are all in flux. “Businesses that wait for the dust to settle risk overstating liabilities in some states and understating them in others,” the firm cautions.
Adding to the confusion is the political theater around the so-called “Trump Card.” International tax and immigration advisor David Lesperance told Businessday NG that the high-profile proposal was kept deliberately vague to “keep attention focused, even though nothing concrete was on the table.” With OBBBA now law, Lesperance says some investors still pin hopes on a territorial-taxation executive order,“enjoy the bump until a court declares this ultra vires.”
The reaction was swift: tax pros fear that headline-grabbing but undefined ideas like the Trump Card distract boards from the hard, line-item changes already enacted. As one consultant quipped, “The circus is fun, but the audit is real.”
Around the Tax World
• Malaysia taxes crypto gains. The Ministry of Finance confirmed that income from cryptocurrency activities is taxable, ending months of speculation (BusinessToday Malaysia).
• Tax goes digital, or else. Pavlo Boyko of TMF Group says companies face a sink-or-swim moment as governments roll out real-time reporting and e-invoicing mandates (International Tax Review).
• Global tax “decluttering.” Newly minted BC Law professor Diane Ring previews research on how nations can streamline overlapping corporate-tax rules to boost cooperation (BC Law Magazine).
• From tax tech to TV. Ascoria CRO Jules Herd shares career lessons from coding to cable news, a reminder that soft skills matter in hard-number fields (International Tax Review).
By the Numbers
Prime Number: 1,300, That’s how many illegal weapons Nigeria’s government destroyed in Abuja, a headline that ran in the same Businessday NG report that dissected the Trump Card chatter, proof that not every big number this week was about taxes (Businessday NG).
Looking Ahead
All eyes now turn to state legislatures drafting conformity bills for OBBBA. Expect a patchwork of rules, and plenty of model-spreadsheet marathons, through Q4.
Prepared by MyTax - mytax.com.ng