New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)

The United States Senate voted, 70-28, today (Wednesday, 2/24)to pass Senator Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) Jobs Bill. The $85 billion bipartisan jobs proposal was negotiated by the Finance Committee chairman, Max Baucus, D-Mont., and the committee’s top Republican, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa.

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund recently announced that it is soliciting comments from the public concerning the CDFI Fund’s Quarterly New Markets Report (QNMR) for New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocatees under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report in late January on the New Markets Tax Credit Program entitled, “Credit Helps Fund a Variety of Projects in Low-Income Communities, but Could Be Simplified.” In the report, GAO describes where and how community development entities (CDE) are using NMTCs to finance development in low-income communities and describes options for simplifying the NMTC program.

You can now purchase individual audio recordings of select panel sessions offered throughout 2009. Mix and match sessions from any 2009 event on one convenient CD-ROM!

Proposed in 2009, the state of Ohio has created the Ohio New Markets Tax Credit (ONMTC) program.

Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner recently announced a new initiative under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that would effectively offer better terms to regulated CDFIs than are available to commercial banks and facilitate investment of low-cost capital in CDFIs that lend to small businesses in distressed communities.

The U.S. Treasury Department and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund are seeking public responses by April 5 to questions relating to a planned new information collection project for the federal new markets tax credit program.

Snowed in? Washington, DC got over two feet of snow last weekend and we are looking at as much as another 10 inches of snow tomorrow – so much for living in the South! But just because we can’t dig our cars out doesn’t mean you can’t plan your trip for an upcoming NH&RA event in a much WARMER climate!

In a recent alert, the accounting firm Novogradac & Company has summarized two important IRS Private Letter Rulings impacting the New Markets Tax Credit Ruling.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Director Donna Gambrell will deliver the keynote address at the NH&RA New Markets Tax Credit Symposium on March 10, 2010 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in South Beach, Miami.

NH&RA’s New Markets Tax Credit Council recently identified priorities and formulated its agenda of activities for 2010. Principal among them, the Council will continue to push for a multi-year extension of the NMTC Program.

On February 1, the White House unveiled a proposed federal budget for Fiscal Year 2011 that calls for overall funding cuts at numerous federal agencies, including at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Fiscal Year 2011 begins October 1st.