Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Could Cost Professional Firms $73 Billion, Lawyers And Accountants Join Forces To Resist

U.S. professional services firms run by lawyers and accountants are joining forces to resist a tax provision included in President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

What Happened: A provision embedded in the bill entails a proposed rollback of a tax workaround used by partnerships such as law and accounting firms, according to a Financial Times report.

Introduced by states after Trump's 2017 tax law capped state and local tax (SALT) deductions at $10,000, the workaround allowed firms to pay state taxes at the entity level, thus lowering partners’ federal tax liabilities.

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While the House version of the bill increases the SALT cap to $40,000, it also blocks professional services partnerships, including those in law, accounting, consulting, medicine and dentistry from using the workaround. Other businesses would remain eligible under the proposed measure.

"It's targeted and it's ugly," said Melanie Lauridsen of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), which is mobilizing accountants throughout the country. "It's complicated and it's buried in there. We were aware of it first and faster."

Meanwhile, the American Bar Association labelled the measure "fundamentally unfair," arguing it punishes small law firms and solo practitioners, who comprise more than 75% of the legal workforce.

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Why It Matters: If passed as is, professional firms would be stripped of a key tax relief mechanism, costing the sector an estimated $73 billion over the next ten years. The restriction applies only to "specified service trades or businesses," widening the divide between professions like law and accounting and other partnership-based industries.

ABA president Bill Bay said the provision would "further widen the tax parity gap," despite the significant economic role professional services firms play.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is also facing heat for section 899, which targets countries imposing taxes the Trump administration views as discriminatory toward American companies. Experts warn that this could lead to a loss of foreign investment and erode confidence.

According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the bill depletes the household resources of America's poorest by about $1,600 while the wealthiest households gain approximately $12,000.

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