The National Venture Capital Association has been feuding with the Trump Administration over a variety of issues, from carried interest to R&D and stock rules affecting startups. But the NVCA likes much of what it has seen in the proposed tax bill released in the House by GOP leaders.
“We view tax reform as a unique opportunity to encourage new company formation by modernizing the tax code to better reflect the realities of the entrepreneurial business model,” said Bobby Franklin, President and CEO of NVCA, in a statement on Thursday.
“We are pleased the House Ways and Means Committee heard our message and is preserving several issues important to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including Qualified Small Business Stock Rules and the R&D credit payroll offset.
“We are also pleased to see the inclusion of an NVCA-backed proposal to allow startup employees to defer taxes on their exercised stock options without a liquid market to sell them.”
Carried interest remains on the President’s list of things he wants to do away with, however.
Here’s how carried interest is described by TechCrunch:
“Carried interest is the percentage of a [venture] fund’s profit — usually a 20 percent share but sometimes up to 30 percent for top firms — that’s paid to firms’ institutional investors. It’s currently treated as long-term capital gains, making it eligible for a tax rate as low as 23.8 percent. Ordinary income, in contrast, can be taxed as much as 39.6 percent for single individuals earning more than $415,050 or more than $466,950 for those who are married and filing jointly.”
The legislation is a long way from passage, and much debate as well as changes are expected.
“As the process unfolds, we look forward to engaging with lawmakers on other ways tax reform can encourage new company formation, as well as reinforce for them the importance of long-term patient investment when considering changes to the taxation of carried interest capital gains,” Franklin said.
