Tax

The Congressional Research Service released a report earlier this week that examines tax-exempt bonds and state and local government debt.

The IRS and Treasury Dept. are seeking public comment on Form 8038-CP, which is a return for credit payments to issuers of qualified tax credit bonds.

A new report from Senate Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee found that the House Republican tax-reform plan would reduce federal tax collections by $4.5 trillion over the next decade and cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans by establishing a new tax-bracket structure.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit without changing the tax-exempt status of $219.22 million of bonds that were issued by the curators of the University of Missouri in 2006.

CHICAGO — Bond lawyers are beginning to require that underwriters sit down with members of the issuer’s finance team to discuss how they determined the issue price for the bonds, an IRS official said at a seminar held here on Wednesday.

The California State Association of Counties has slammed part of a Democratic budget plan in which the state would use $250 million of “pass-through” payments out of property tax increment that had been allotted to counties from the now closed redevelopment agencies.

Florida’s three largest counties, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, are reporting their first annual increase in taxable property values since 2007.

CHICAGO — North Dakota voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure Tuesday to abolish property taxes, allowing local governments to breathe a sigh of relief, since the measure had posed a challenge to their fiscal and debt management.

The IRS will begin limited-scope examinations of bond anticipation notes in July and then examinations of filed 8038-T forms on arbitrage rebate, an IRS official said.

Sales tax collections in May totaled $2.1 billion, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said last week, up 7.3% from May 2011 revenues.

WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus said Monday that he plans to meet with committee members this week to discuss extending expired and expiring tax provisions “without any games.”

CHICAGO – State and local governments will need to muster attention on the federal threat to tax-exemption and should seize upon the sea change of public support to tackle tough issues like retirement benefit cuts afforded by the fiscal struggles of recent years.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded $1.75 billion of San Jose Redevelopment Agency bonds to junk after the city of San Jose said a default was possible because of a conflict over tax revenue with Santa Clara County.

WASHINGTON — Congress will likely pass a separate bill to extend expired and expiring tax law provisions, some of which are bond-related, before the end of the year, the chairman of a House Ways and Means panel told reporters after a hearing Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Council of Development Finance Agencies will unveil a draft legislative proposal Friday that would ease tax-law restrictions for small industrial development bonds, which are used to finance manufacturing facilities.

WASHINGTON — Overall, state income and sales tax collections for the first quarter increased by 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year, the Rockefeller Institute of Government said in a report Thursday.

A tax-exempt bond advisory group to the IRS found that some of the agency's bond-related forms are overly burdensome for issuers and recommended that some questions be eliminated.

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia's City Council has proposed delaying until Jan. 1, 2013, plans to start taxing non-D.C. bonds purchased by district residents.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has notified Cañon City, Colo., that it has closed an audit without changing the tax-exempt status on $12.73 million of certificates of participation issued in 2008 to provide financing for improvements to its water treatment facility.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback last week signed a measure extending the state’s STAR sales tax revenue bond program through June 2017.