Tax

The Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt bond office has had several key personnel changes in recent weeks.

The Internal Revenue Service has told the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development that it is auditing bonds the authority issued in 2005 for a charter school project in Philadelphia “because of information we received from external sources or developed internally that causes a concern” that there are tax-law violations.

The National Association of Water Companies wants the Treasury Department to clarify tax rules so that state and local governments can ensure the tax-exempt bonds they used to finance their water and wastewater facilities will not become taxable if they enter into public-private partnerships.

A slew of bond-related bills was introduced in the House and Senate in the last few days before members of Congress left town to begin their five-week recess.

A bill introduced in the House last week would allow more issuers to be able to issue bank-qualified bonds.

Using bond proceeds to construct a university athletic facility at a revised location will not cause the bonds to fail to meet public notice and approval requirements, the Internal Revenue Service ruled.

An independent accountant hired by the Long Beach Community College District in California has estimated that the district may have to pay about $1.73 million to settle with the Internal Revenue Service under the agency's voluntary closing agreement program, an issuer official said.

Some issuers are redeeming their Build America Bonds even as there is uncertainty over how the reissuance rules apply to the bonds, bond lawyers said.

Internal Revenue Service agents have been raising concerns during audits about tax-exempt bond proceeds that were unspent or weren't spent in a timely manner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe tax partner Richard Chirls said Wednesday.

Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., earlier this month introduced a disaster tax relief bill in the House that includes several bond provisions and is similar to legislation introduced earlier this year in the Senate.

Issuance of private-activity bonds subject to state volume caps declined in 2013 for the third straight year, as PABs face competition from other financing tools, according to an annual survey and market participants.

Four Senators from both sides of the aisle are warning the Treasury Department that the tax consequences of proposed rules could deter state and local governments and businesses from using institutional money market funds for cash management.

House leaders on Thursday pledged to reinstate Build America Bonds within 100 days in the unlikely event that they win back the majority of the House.

The Long Beach Community College District in California is seeking a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service because of a private-activity bond problem with bonds it issued in 2008.

If there's one thing congressional staff members need to remember about municipal bonds, it’s that they "built America," Columbia, S.C. Mayor Steve Benjamin said Wednesday.

The Internal Revenue Service continued its pattern of granting issuers more time to spend the proceeds of their qualified school construction bonds, ruling that one authority can have an additional three years to spend its QSCB proceeds.

The Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt bond office will hold an audio webcast on basic arbitrage concepts on July 10 at 2 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time.

The IRS recently clarified that "on-behalf-of" issuers, such as authorities and unincorporated enterprises, can issue tribal economic development bonds. The IRS also issued a private letter ruling that determined that an issuer's plan to current refund advance refunding bonds would not cause there to be transferred proceeds and potentially create an arbitrage issue.

The American Hospital Association has provided the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service with recommendations about updating tax-exempt bond rules to accommodate incentives of President Obama's health care reform law.

BABs, Build American Bonds, New CREBS, new clean renewable act bonds, APPA, American Public Power Association, sequestration, direct-pay