The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) received a total of 238 applications under the 2015 round of the New Markets Tax Credit Program.
The CDEs that applied under the 2015 round are headquartered in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. The applicants requested an aggregate total of $17.6 billion in NMTC allocation authority, five times the $3.5 billion in authority available for the 2015 round.
During the 2014 round, the CDFI Fund received 263 applications, requesting $19.9 billion. Seventy-six organizations received allocations of New Markets Tax Credits.
The NMTC Program was established by Congress in December of 2000 and permits individual and corporate taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments in CDEs. The credit provided to the investor totals 39 percent of the cost of the investment and is claimed over a seven-year period. Substantially all of the taxpayer’s investment must in turn be used by the CDE to make qualified investments in low-income communities. Successful applicants are selected only after a competitive application and rigorous review process that is administered by the CDFI Fund.
Through the first twelve rounds of the NMTC Program, the CDFI Fund has made 912 awards totaling $43.5 billion in tax credit allocation authority. This $43.5 billion includes $3 billion in Recovery Act Awards and $1 billion of special allocation authority to be used for the recovery and redevelopment of the Gulf Opportunity Zone.
