WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is seeking comment from the public and federal government agencies on the guidance it issued for provisions in the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008, which provided additional volume cap for tax-exempt housing bonds.
That law provided a temporary $11 billion increase in the annual private-activity bond volume cap for qualified housing issues and allowed the use of qualified mortgage bonds to refinance certain subprime mortgages.
It also provided loans to first-time homebuyers and permanently exempted the housing bonds from the alternative minimum tax.
In addition, it gave the Federal Home Loan Banks temporary authority to guarantee certain tax-exempt bonds.
The IRS’ Notice 2008-79 allocated the additional tax-exempt bond volume cap for qualified housing issues among states and U.S. territories. It also provided guidance on the use of single-family housing bonds to refinance subprime mortgages and other tax-exempt bond provisions.
Written comments are due by May 21 and should be sent to Yvette Lawrence at the IRS.
