LIFO relief for dealers passes Senate; no vote from House

As the 117th Congress winds down, the Senate on Thursday evening passed bipartisan legislation that would provide dealers LIFO tax relief.

"Senate passage of the bill is great progress to provide dealers on LIFO much needed relief due to the pandemic and supply chain issues," Mike Stanton, CEO of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said in a statement Friday morning.

However, the House did not vote on its version of the LIFO relief bill on Friday, instead focusing on a nearly $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that will avert a federal government shutdown. That bill was passed by the House and sent to the White House before Congress adjourned.

A new Republican-majority Congress will convene at the beginning next year.

In April, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., introduced a bill — the Supply Chain Disruptions Relief Act — which would allow dealerships that use the "last in, first out" inventory accounting to wait until 2025 to replace their inventories and determine the income attributable to the sale of such inventory during 2020 or 2021, giving dealers time to restock their inventories as the chip shortage eases and auto production returns to pre-pandemic levels. The bill is supported by more than 170 House lawmakers, including 95 Republicans.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced a companion bill under the same title, which has the support of more than 50 lawmakers.

The lawmakers supported legislative action to provide relief to dealers who are facing significant tax burdens triggered by global supply chain disruptions and subsequent inventory shortages related to COVID-19.