Inflation Reduction Act
FY 2021 Sequestration Reduction Rate for Direct Pay Tax Credit Bonds Set at 5.7%
According to the IRS website , the sequester reduction rate applied to payments made to issuers of direct pay tax credit bonds in fiscal year 2021 will be 5.7 percent . This percentage will apply to all subsidy payments scheduled...
SEC Leaders Ask Municipal Issuers for Voluntary COVID-19 Disclosure
On May 4, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton and Rebecca Olsen, Director of the SEC’s Office of Municipal Securities, issued a statement entitled “The Importance of Disclosure for our Municipal Markets” 1 stating that “in light of the...
IRS Relief for Governmental Issuers Seeking to Temporarily Buy Back VRDOs and Commercial Paper
Responding to volatility in the market and liquidity constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in Notice 2020-25 (the “Notice”), the IRS provides temporary relief for governmental issuers seeking to purchase their own tax-exempt variable rate demand obligations that are “qualified...
IRS Allows Telephonic TEFRA Hearings in Light of COVID-19
As a result of the prohibitions on public gatherings resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, issuers of tax-exempt private activity bonds have been facing difficulty complying with the federal tax laws requiring that a public hearing be held to allow interested...
IRS Extends Due Date for First Quarter Form 8038 Filings
Summary As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Notice 2020-23 the IRS extended the due date for issuers of tax-exempt obligations to file Forms 8038 or 8038-G for transactions that closed during the first quarter of 2020. Specifically, the...
Webinar: 86th Legislative Session Recap
Bracewell is pleased to host a webinar about how the bills passed during the 86th Legislative Session affect Texas governmental entities, the debt issuance process and ongoing disclosure and transparency requirements. Please join us on August 14 to hear analysis...
Sophisticated International Hackers Continue to Target the Public Sector
On November 26, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had secured an indictment of two hackers for using ransomware to extort over $6 million from municipalities, hospitals, and other public institutions. The very next day, a federal...
Hurricane Harvey – After the Storm, Disclosure Considerations for Bond Issuers
The Bracewell public finance team understands that all of our clients and their employees have been deeply affected by Hurricane Harvey, which caused billions in damage and destruction to private and public property across Texas. The scope and reach of...
Deadline Near for Passing the Municipal Advisor Qualification Exam
On September 12, 2016, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”) began offering the Municipal Advisor Representative Qualification Examination (the “Series 50 Exam”). Municipal advisor professionals must pass the Series 50 Exam by September 12, 2017. After September 12, 2017, municipal...
The Final Countdown: New Issue Price Regulations Effective June 7th
The June 7 th effective date for the final Treasury Regulations relating to the establishment of “issue price” of tax-exempt obligations (the “New Regulations”) is drawing near. In fact, for obligations that are scheduled to price on or soon after...
IRS to Begin New Procedure for Initiating Tax-Exempt Bond Audits
In late 2016, the IRS Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division (“TE/GE”) released a memorandum to its examiners outlining a new procedure for initiating audits of tax-exempt bonds. The Commissioner of TE/GE recently noted that the change is meant to create...
Public Finance Update – SLGS Window Closing
On March 8, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the suspension of sales of United States Treasury Obligations – State and Local Government Series (i.e., SLGS), effective 12:00 noon Eastern Time, March 15, 2017. New subscriptions for SLGS...
The New Issue Price Regulations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Late last year, the Treasury Department released final Treasury Regulations (the “New Regulations”) relating to the “issue price” of tax-exempt bonds, effective for bonds sold after June 7, 2017. Because the changes imposed by the New Regulations generally are more...
Management Contracts Safe Harbors Revisited – IRS Releases Updated Guidance (Again)
Demonstrating the “user-friendly” side of the IRS, on January 17, 2017, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2017-13 (“Rev. Proc. 2017-13”) (available here ) to address many (but not all) of the comments received on the rather short-lived Revenue Procedure 2016-44...