On February 12, 2009, House and Senate conferees published the agreement reconciling their respective versions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Major provisions remaining include a new Making Work Pay credit, enhancements to the child tax credit and first-time homebuyer credit, a 2009 alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch, taxpayer-friendly additions to many energy incentives, extensions of 2008 bonus depreciation and increased Code Section 179 expensing along with a limited five-year net operating loss (NOL) carryback for small businesses, state and local government relief and more. Some House and Senate provisions were either pared back or eliminated in conference. Conference committee changes include a reduction in the Making Work Pay credit, limits on the new five-year NOL carryback for small businesses, cutbacks on proposals to raise and extend the first-time homebuyers credit, as well as proposals to create a higher new car buyers deduction. In all, the new law makes over 300 changes to the Internal Revenue Code.

Stay tuned as we expect to this to be signed by President Obama on Monday.