Tax-exempt bonds

The Internal Revenue Service has told bond attorneys that the law doesn’t explicitly say that veterans are a special needs population under the rules for the tax-exemption for multifamily private activity bonds.

The IRS letter ruling publicly released Friday allows floating private equity to be used for a prohibited use for a tax-exempt bond-financed airport terminal renovation.

The change in control of the House does end the threat of Republicans terminating the tax-exemption of private activity bonds to help pay for additional tax cuts, but the cost includes the loss of some industry allies such as Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill.

The IRS announcement of an advisory committee shuffle has some lawyers nervous.

Three areas are new additions to the work plan of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Business Operating Division, IRS officials said.

The memo appears to respond to a March 29 written request by the National Association of Bond Lawyers to Christie Jacobs, director of the IRS Indian Tribal Governments/Tax Exempt Bonds Office to clarify the new law.

Raymond James has hired Guy Yandel to open a public finance office in Denver and to expand the firm’s public finance business in the mid-western, mountain, and western states.

The fallout from a 2017 federal fraud case is continuing to impact bond investors with the latest development involving the loss of tax-exempt status for bonds that were issued for two assisted living facilities in Georgia.

Congress could pass legislation authorizing advance refundings and liberalizing private activity bond restrictions to aid in disaster recovery, NABL said.

The Public Employee Pension Transparency Act (HR 6290) would prohibit states and localities from issuing tax-exempt bonds unless they file annual reports on their public pension systems to the U.S. Treasury Department.