Treasury Department

On Friday, October 19 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued several critical documents relating to the Opportunity Zone Incentive. This includes:

The final round of submissions were approved for: Florida; Nevada; Pennsylvania; and Utah. All Opportunity Zones can now be viewed on the CDFI Fund website.

The memo points out that much has changed since CRA was enacted over forty years ago. Since that time, the rise of interstate banking, mortgage securitization advancements, and internet/mobile banking along with many other changes, have created a need for modernizing CRA.

Data in the Opportunity Zones Information Resource has been updated from information provided in a February 8, 2018, release to include all census tracts that meet the New Markets Tax Credit Program (NMTC) Low-Income Community definition and additional contiguous census tracts eligible for designation as a QOZ.

Treasury is expected to unveil significant changes to Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements, according to several media reports. CRA, originally put in place to combat redlining practices by home lenders, today accounts for a significant portion of housing credit investment, as banks can fulfill CRA requirements by investing in the LIHTC. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin […]

A recent report commissioned by the CDFI Fund not only found full compliance amongst all Community Development Entities (CDEs) reviewed, but also found that CDEs generally exceeded minimum financing thresholds mandated by the IRS.

Adolfo Marzol has been appointed as a Senior Advisor at HUD, David Kautter has been nominated for the position of assistant secretary for tax policy within the Treasury Department, and Brian Montgomery has surfaced as President Trump’s likely nomination to head the Federal Housing Administration.

Treasury Secretary Nominee Steve Mnuchin was tepid towards both tax credit programs.

President-Elect Trump’s designated Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has proposed capping the Mortgage Interest Rate Deduction as well as reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a recent CNBC interview.

The historic tax credit helped created 78,000 jobs and $3.4 billion income during FY 2014, according to a report from the National Park Service and Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.