Officials questioned fast-growing tax-aware investment products, including tax-loss harvesting-related techniques, and signaled dialogue with the market rather than immediate new guidance.
The U.S. Treasury Department has raised concerns about several Wall Street tax strategies, warning some products may be “too good to be true” and potentially abusive. At an industry gathering in New York, officials said they are evaluating tools to address the strategies but did not announce new guidance, instead signaling “a serious dialogue with the market before positions harden” and investors face greater risk. Products cited by Bloomberg included 351 conversions, box-spread exchange-traded funds, products designed to offset ordinary income, and funds that avoid dividend income by rotating between other ETFs. The scrutiny also reflects broader concern around fast-growing tax-aware techniques such as tax-loss harvesting, a development that weighed on AMG shares in the earlier market reaction.