??Bankers and lawyers on Wall Street are hunting for ways to help companies buy back shares next year without having to pay millions of dollars in extra tax, a move that risks blunting one of the main revenue generators in Joe Biden’s climate and health package.

At the centre of their efforts is the use of accelerated share repurchase (ASR) programmes, a commonly used mechanism allowing companies to complete buybacks that can be worth billions of dollars. Although the programmes are recorded as having been executed on a single day, it often takes several months for banks to complete the trades.

The plans hinge on whether forthcoming Treasury guidance will count the day that the company forks over the cash and receives its shares as the date of the buyback, or whether they will have to wait until investment banks actually buy the stock in the open market.