Tax

Six state and local groups are urging the Senate to pass an extension to the Build America Bonds program, which they say is critical to governments during this time of unprecedented budgetary strain.

The lasting legacy of the taxable bond option program known as Build America Bonds, or BABs, is likely to be measured by the success of the securities in opening up new global credit markets to investment in American infrastructure, a feat that is long overdue.

WASHINGTON — New York City Comptroller John Liu is calling on the state’s congressional delegation to press the Internal Revenue Service to provide consistent and specific guidance on controversial issues surrounding the Build America Bond program.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of $52.5 million of bonds issued by the Ave Maria Stewardship Community District in southwest Florida with no change to the tax-exempt status of the debt, the district disclosed this week.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Fitch Ratings on Wednesday downgraded the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida to below investment grade because of spending irregularities cited in a recent notice of violation by the National Indian Gaming Commission.

TO THE EDITOR

Congress’ failure to pass a six-month extension of enhanced federal matching funds under the Federal Medicaid ­Assistance Program will deprive states of billions of dollars in expected revenue, lead to drastic cuts in programs and result in the loss of thousands of jobs, 13 governors warned Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — About 30 states must revisit their fiscal 2011 budgets to compensate for the loss of expected enhanced federal matching Medicaid funds that were in a jobs bill Congress failed to approve last week.

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators would spend months, if not years, implementing the sweeping changes to the municipal market that were outlined in the financial regulatory reform legislation finalized by House and Senate negotiators late last week.

A wastewater plant built by a pharmaceutical company with exempt facility bonds does not violate tax laws or rules because the waste’s acidity level has to be neutralized before it can be sent to a public treatment facility, the Internal Revenue Service ruled.

Efforts to extend the Build America Bonds program and other temporary bond provisions enacted as part of last year's stimulus act took a major step backwards last week when Senate Democrats tabled the tax package including the extensions after yet another failed procedural vote.

WASHINGTON — Officials at two nonprofit hospitals have warned the Internal Revenue Service that new requirements imposed on bond-financed and 501(c)(3) hospitals by this year’s health care insurance overhaul would be burdensome and costly.

WASHINGTON — Proposed extensions to major bond provisions have survived several revisions of pending tax legislation, but municipal market participants are wondering if more controversial, non-bond provisions could scuttle the entire package.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of $119.2 million of student loan bonds issued by the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority with no change to the tax-exempt status of the debt.

WASHINGTON — A two-year extension to the Build America Bonds program, as well as extensions to a handful of other bond provisions set to expire at the end of the year, remain in legislative limbo as Senate Democratic leaders this week continue attempts to produce a tax bill that they can pass.

WASHINGTON — A Republican proposal that would have allowed the Build America Bond program to expire at the end of the year was defeated yesterday, as Senate lawmakers continued working toward passing legislation to extend several expiring tax breaks, including for BABs.

The Internal Revenue Service temporarily withheld Build America Bond subsidies from New York City, Comptroller John Liu’s office said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — The federal government should make tribal economic development bonds a permanent tool for Indian tribes and should consider raising or removing the current $2 billion ceiling on the program given the clear demand that exists for the bonds, an advisory committee said in a report sent to the Internal Revenue Service this week.

Several Democratic governors are lobbying to extend through June 2011 the increased federal Medicaid match they have been receiving since the passage of the stimulus last year.

ATLANTA — The head of the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt bond office said yesterday that it’s premature for issuers to focus on the number of Build America Bond audits the IRS will conduct because the office is still gathering as much information about BABs as possible and ultimately wants to devote its energies to finding true abuses in the muni market.