Federal / Agency News

The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department recently announced that it will soon issue a safe harbor revenue procedure for historic rehabilitation tax credit (HTC) transactions.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) yesterday released Notice 2012-39 to provide guidelines and a safe harbor to determine when construction has begun on a facility eligible to receive the renewable electricity production tax credit (PTC) or the energy investment tax credit (ITC).

The US Senate recently confirmed Sally Jewell, the former CEO of Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), a sporting goods store, as Secretary of the Department of Interior (DOI) by a vote of 87-11.

Conference materials are now available for the 2013 NCHMA Multifamily Housing Exchange and NH&RA’s New Markets Tax Credit Symposium, which took place in Washington, DC April 2-4.

The Urban Land Institute will hold a seminar entitled “Understanding and Utilizing New Markets Tax Credits in Your Development Deal” on Wednesday, April 17 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm in Washington, DC. NH&RA is a sponsor of the event.

NH&RA was thrilled to welcome over 250 participants to the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in South Beach for our 2013 Annual Meeting. All conference materials, Power Point presentations, relevant articles, reports, memos, etc. are available below under the relevant session titles.

HUD recently released the FY 2013 NOFA for Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants. Individual grant awards may be for up to a maximum of $500,000. HUD notes that because FY 2013 full-year spending, the availability of funding for the program and the total amount available for Planning Grants has not yet been determined.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan recently sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations Chari Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) about the effects sequestration could have on the families, individuals and communities that rely on HUD programs.

The Appeals Court for the Federal Court of Claims recently reversed a lower-court opinion on the Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. vs. United States case. The court concluded that Consolidated Edison’s Lease-In Lease-Out (LILO) transaction did not have economic substance and the purported lease was not a “true lease”.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report to Congress entitled “Tax Expenditures: Background and Evaluation Criteria and Questions.” The report examines the costs and benefits of tax expenditures and the effectiveness of specific tax expenditures in meeting their intended goals.

The New Markets Tax Credit Coalition recently released the New Markets Tax Credit Economic Report for 2003 to 2012 entitled “Measuring the Direct and Catalytic Impact of New Markets Tax Credit Investments in Low Income Communities”.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently revolved a previous Private Letter Ruling (PLR) 201214007 which indicated that power purchase agreements (PPAs) are excluded from the purchase price allocation on wind transactions.