Nebraska Approves Pass-Through Entity Tax Bill

Abstract

In 2023, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill that allows a partnership or S-Corp to elect to pay its state income taxes. Previously, because the income from the partnership or S-Corp is passed through to the owner, the owners of the entity paid the taxes at their own individual tax level. In 2018, the federal government passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which limited the itemized deduction for state and local taxes in the individual’s return to $10,000. This prompted many states to adopt laws like the new Nebraska law to work around this limitation. Federal tax law allows entities to deduct state income taxes paid as an ordinary business expense, but for most states this has only been allowed for C-corporations since they are the only entity to pay their own taxes. The pass-through entity tax law expands that option.