Tax-exempt bonds

Calculating the remaining useful life of a port or airport facility can be problematic, but the IRS ruling released May 3 supports a simplified method of making this determination using the date of the new agreement as a starting point.

While groups were encouraged to see a bipartisan meeting with Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, some fear munis could be hurt in the compromise.

In the coming months bond lawyers expect numerous municipal governments to issue new bonds to support investments in Opportunity Zones.

The clarification allows dozens of otherwise stalled housing projects around the nation to move ahead with financing that includes a combination of tax exempt multifamily PABs and the 4% federal housing tax credit.

The Public Buildings Renewal Act would authorize $5 billion in private activity bonds for the construction or rehabilitation government-owned buildings.

If the IRS fails to provide a regulatory fix, two members of Congress may address the issue legislatively in bicameral affordable housing legislation that had wide bipartisan support in the last Congress.

Midwest Fertilizer Co. announced Monday it has settled with the IRS Office of Appeals an audit that originally disqualified the tax-exempt status of $1.259 billion of refunding bonds that will be used to help finance a fertilizer plant in Posey County, Indiana.

Reps. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio and Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., are also drumming up support for the muni market's role in infrastructure finance.

The $11 million in tax exempt bonds that financed the construction of the K through 6 school are being paid off by the owner of the apartment building developed on part of the 1.67-acre site.

All four industry groups that submitted comments on the proposed rule requested a continuation of the practice that allows remarketing reissuances at a premium.

An easier procedure for declaring when a reissuance occurs is among NABL's recommendations.

The household sector owned 42.2% of the nation’s $3.83 trillion in municipal securities in the second and third quarters of 2018, according to Federal Reserve data.

“Major banking organizations have now used this abusive tax shelter scheme to illegally shelter well over $1 billion in taxable income,” said the letter by W. Mark Scott.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers's letter to lawmakers emphasized the infrastructure benefit of protecting the muni market.

Richard Neal, D-Mass., raised optimism among state treasurers that advance refunding of municipal bonds may be part of "a combination of funding sources."

None of the 12 recommendations require congressional action and all are within the scope of the administrative powers of the IRS, according to NABL.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered a district judge to review four documents totaling 16 pages in an IRS Office of Professional Responsibility case file for possible release under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The municipal bond industry received no indication from Trump on whether his administration might support expanded use of tax-exempt bonds as part of infrastructure legislation this year.

The National Association of State Treasurers wants Congress to know its top priority is preserving the muni tax exemption.

GFOA’s goal is to get a majority of House members to sign a letter pledging not to touch the tax exemption as they debate new infrastructure funding proposals.