Treasury Department

Over the weekend, President Trump issued three COVID-19 related executive orders (EO) on “Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations,” “Providing Assistance to Renters and Homeowners” and “Other Needs Assistance Program.” The presidential action comes as Congressional and White House negotiations over the next COVID-19 aid package have stalled.

Congratulations to the NH&RA members that received a New Markets Tax Credit award National Trust Community Investment Corporation, PNC Community Partners, Inc., RBC Community Development, LLC, The Rose Urban Green Fund and USBCDE, LLC.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) opened the fiscal year (FY) 2020 funding round for the Capital Magnet Fund. The application process consists of two parts: submitting the SF-424 Mandatory form through Grants.gov and submitting the rest of the application through the CDFI Fund’s Awards Management Information System (AMIS). 

Following President Trump’s emergency declaration pursuant to the Stafford Act, the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued guidance allowing all individual and other non-corporate tax filers to defer up to $1 million of federal income tax (including self-employment tax) payments due on April 15, 2020, until July 15, 2020, without penalties or interest.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have reportedly reached an agreement on nearly $2 trillion emergency relief package in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which contains:

The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the final versions of Form 8996 – Qualified Opportunity Funds, 8996 instructions and Form 8997 – Initial and Annual Statement of Qualified Opportunity Fund Investments.

The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of the Treasury launched an internal investigation on abuse in the Opportunity Zone program. Rich Delmar, the department’s acting inspector general, said in a statement he expects “to complete our work and respond to the congressional requesters in early spring.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final (and proposed) regulations on the Opportunity Zones (OZ) tax incentive. The regulations modify and finalize the two previous proposed regulations that were issued in October 2018 and April 2019. The Treasury notes that “the final rules provide clarity for Opportunity Funds and their eligible subsidiaries in determining qualification and levels of new investment in Opportunity Zones.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) released a Summary Report and data collected on New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investments across the nation through fiscal year (FY) 2017. Nearly 70 percent of NMTC investments made through 2017 have been concentrated in single/mixed-use real estate, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and educational services.

The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a proposed Form 8996 for Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs) for the 2019 tax year. The form is designed to collect information on the amount of investment by opportunity funds in business property by census tract.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), an original sponsor of Opportunity Zone legislation, and Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and Ron Kind (D-WI) sent a letter to the Treasury’s acting inspector general to requesting an investigation into recent reports from The New York Times, The Washington Post and ProPublica that found that White House and Treasury officials might […]

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) released the application data for the fiscal year (FY) 2019 round of its Capital Magnet Fund program. A total of 113 organizations submitted applications requesting more than $522 million in funding. The applicants propose to serve 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  In total, 58 percent of the applicants are certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and the remaining 42 percent of the applicants are nonprofit affordable housing organizations.