Retaining the current deduction for itemizers but adding a floor.

Replacing the current deduction with a 25 percent tax credit would increase donations and also increase the government's forgone revenues.

But the panel offered a trenchant critique of the current deduction.

Grynberg illustrates only one of two tests that courts apply to determine if a current deduction is proper when a business prepays certain expenses.

Unlike other sections in the tax code which lack in allowing current deductions for most start-up expenses, section 195 allows a taxpayer prorate start-up expenditures over a 180-month period.

Its plan would eliminate all current deductions, except the one for local property taxes.

For some taxpayers it is also an opportunity to contribute to retirement plans, both for a current deduction and for long-term financial security.

"But when you can no longer take a current deduction for making loans, it will have some type of financial impact on a bank."

Nonqualified plans, those in which the company does not qualify for a current deduction, are growing in popularity as a means of providing additional retirement compensation for executives.

Those who expect the limits on investment interest to reduce their current deductions should consider selling assets with unrealized capital gains.