A lot has been said and written about the tax reform legislation that went into effect in 2017. Termed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the new law made some big changes to the tax code aimed at helping business. But despite the press attention, the law’s bottom line for business isn’t always easy to predict.

To help clear up that murky forecast, the Internal Revenue Service has built a series of pages on its IRS.gov website to help businesses—large and small—figure out just what the new legislation means for their balance sheets.

The various sections are listed by their function.

Tax Reform Provisions Affecting Business

This is where the process of discovery starts—the main page for businesses. Follow the links from here to more resources, more information, more topics. All the sections explain topics in plain language while linking to technical guidance for those who need more.

Some of the tax topics in this section include:

• Income: taxation of foreign income, carried interest, and like-kind exchanges
• Deductions and depreciation: fringe benefits, moving expenses, standard mileage rates, deduction for pass-through businesses, and business interest expenses
• Credits: employer credit for paid family and medical leave, and the rehabilitation tax credit
• Taxes: blended federal income tax and withholding
• Accounting method changes
• Opportunity zones

This section also has information for specific industries, such as farming, insurance companies, and aircraft management services.

Tax Reform and Small Business

Small businesses have it rough; many times they just don’t have the resources the “big guys” have, so results of changes to tax codes or other regulations can be unclear at best.

This one-stop shop highlights tax reform topics for small businesses, with lots of links to additional resources. Some of the topics include:

• State and local income tax
• New deduction for qualified businesses
• Withholding
• Like-kind exchanges
• Changes in accounting periods and methods of accounting
• Blended federal income tax
• Employer credit for paid family and medical leave
• And a side-by-side comparison showing what’s different after passage of the new law.

Tax Reform Resources

This is a shopping-basket of sorts, full of helpful news releases, tax-reform tax tips, Frequently Asked Questions and articles. All the information is posted with the intention it can be shared with employees, customers and volunteers to help them better understand tax reform.

TCJA Comparison for Business

This section uses a side-by-side comparison to help business owners understand the changes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made to the previous tax law. Covering changes to deductions, depreciation, expensing tax credits, and other tax items, the comparison should help businesses make decisions and improve planning.

What’s New in Tax Reform for Business

This electronic publication goes over many of the provisions in the new tax law that are important for small- and medium-sized businesses, their owners—and the tax professionals who do their returns. This publication includes sections on:

• Qualified business income deduction
• Depreciation: Section 168 and 179 modifications
• Business-related losses, exclusions and deductions
• Business credits
• Corporate tax provisions
• S corporations
• Farm provisions

Be sure to check the main page from time to time; the IRS says the resources will be updated as new information is available on each topic.