Seen in the New York Times:
Congress on Wednesday gave final approval to a plan that will spare millions of middle-class taxpayers higher tax bills for 2007. The White House welcomed the development and said President Bush would sign the bill.
The tax reprieve postpones for one year only an expansion of the alternative minimum tax[....]
The vote on the alternative tax plan came on the final day of the first session of the 110th Congress, which ended with a burst of last-minute legislation including final adoption by the House of a $555 billion budget package.[...]
The Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., while thanking the House for approving the bill, warned that there would probably be some delays “including delays of some refunds.”
Changes in the tax code require substantial work, especially in reprogramming I.R.S. computers.
Officials said Wednesday that they could not project how many taxpayers might be affected by delays. Previously the I.R.S. had said that a delay in Congressional action until Christmas could stall as many as 38 million tax returns corresponding to $87 billion in refunds.
The I.R.S. said Wednesday that within 72 hours it would post on its Web site revisions to a dozen forms affected by the change.
Well, better late than never I guess. And hey, Congress gets to face this again next year, since it’s only a temporary restriction.