What the Mid-Term Elections Hold for the Tax Credit Community

By Michael J. Novogradac, CPA

This month lawmakers headed to their home states and districts for a work period that is scheduled to last until September 10. Among other activities, many of them will be campaigning in advance of the November mid-term elections. Voters will cast ballots in November for 37 of 100 Senate seats and all 435 House seats.

 

 

 

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State of the State Credit: Experts Reveal Market Trends

By Jennifer Dockery, Staff Writer, Novogradac & Company LLP

In a time of tight credit markets and high construction costs, state tax credit programs can provide the final piece of a project’s financing puzzle. More than a dozen states have low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) programs and more than 30 have historic tax credit (HTC) programs. Although it is impossible to provide average credit prices for the varied programs, industry experts have seen a few trends nationwide.

 

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Q & A : Using NMTCs to Purchase Existing Buildings

By Owen P. Gray, CPA, Novogradac & Company LLP

Question: Can you use new markets tax credit (NMTC) financing to purchase an existing building?

Answer: Like most tax issues, the answer is: it depends. Section 3.2 and Schedule 1 of the NMTC allocation agreement outline the authorized uses of an NMTC allocation. The authorized uses are based on the responses the allocatee provided in its NMTC allocation application. Section 3.2 and schedule 1 specifically indicate whether a community development entity (CDE) is authorized to make investments in, loans to, non-real estate qualified active low-income community businesses (QALICBs) and/or investments in, loans to, real estate QALICBs.

 

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Multimillion Dollar Renovation Revives State Capital

By Jennifer Dockery, Staff Writer, Novogradac & Company LLP

When HRI Properties, local developer David Watkins and former NFL running back Deuce McAllister began renovating the historic King Edward, Standard Life and Hines Motor Company buildings in downtown Jackson, Miss., the area had been losing residents and businesses for decades. Visitors to the King Edward’s upper floors in 2008 could gaze into the surrounding buildings through the gaping holes in their roofs. The Jackson Redevelopment Authority (JRA), which owned the three iconic buildings, believed that renovating the structures could bring businesses back into downtown. Now, as HRI completes the last phase of development, JRA can celebrate the smaller redevelopment projects that the project has spurred in the state capital.

 

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The Current: Treasury Announces Transition Section 1603 Grant Rules for Projects Not Placed in Service Until After 2010

By Forrest Milder, Esq., Nixon Peabody LLP

Readers of The Current will be well familiar with basics of the transition rule for Treasury grants made pursuant to Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. While Section 1603 applies primarily to energy property placed in service in 2009 or 2010, it also applies to property that “is placed in service after 2010 and before the credit termination date with respect to such property [i.e., the end of 2012 for wind, 2016 for solar, and 2013 for most other renewables] but only if the construction of such property began during 2009 or 2010.”

 

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The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies announced a series of public hearings on modernizing the regulations that implement the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

 

In a June notice, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) detailed the general requirements for the agency's fiscal year 2010 competitively awarded grant programs.

 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released in June its 2010 notice of funding availability (NOFA) policy requirements and general section to its fiscal year (FY) 2010 NOFAs for discretionary programs.

 

The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) adopted rules in July that encourage the development of more state small wind generation systems by simplifying interconnection with electric utilities.

 

National New Markets Fund LLC closed a $7 million new markets tax credit (NMTC) investment with U.S. Bank to complete funding for the Next Generation Health Care telemedicine project in northeastern Ohio

 

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, as part of his state's fiscal year 2011 budget, signed a six-year extension of the state's historic tax credit (HTC) program in June, Preservation Massachusetts reported.

 

The Treasury Department released on its web site in June additional guidance in the form of 25 frequently asked questions and answers on the Section 1603 grant program's "beginning of construction" requirement.