Governor uses item veto on SF 512; ties Iowa law to federal tax law for 2010

April 12th, 2011 by Joe Kristan

Governor Branstad has used his item veto authority on SF 512, the bill containing the “code conformity” provisions for the Iowa income tax. The item veto removes budget transfer authority included in the bill; the item veto therefore enacts the federal code coupling language.
As a result, we finally have a 2010 Iowa tax law. Key points:
- Iowa conforms to the $500,000 Section 179 deduction limit for 2010 and 2011.
- Iowa adopts federal tax computation rules in effect as of 1/1/2011, including things like the educator expense deduction that have been a problem in other years.
- Iowa DOES NOT adopt federal bonus depreciation for 2010 or 2011.
I don’t think the legislature can now undo the parts approved by the Governor in his item veto, but I’ll let you know if I hear otherwise. I will update this post as events may warrant.
UPDATE, 5:46 pm: A reader asks in the comments:

So we can deduct front page tuition deduction and educator costs now on 2010 Iowa tax returns? Was it retroactive back to tax year 2008 by any chance?

The SF 512 provisions adopting the Internal Revenue Code changes through 1/1/11 “apply retroactively to January 1, 2010, for tax years beginning on or after that date” (Sec. 6 of the bill). So it goes back to 2010, but not further, if I understand it correctly, and the tuition deduction, the IRA donation exclusion, and the like are good now for Iowa 2010 1040s.
UPDATE, 4/13/2011: Iowa Department of Revenue issues release on new Iowa rules enacted yesterday
Links:
SF 512
Veto message
More coverage:
Radio Iowa
Des Moines Register

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