SECTION 2. BACKGROUND

Section 1303 of the Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109–58, 119 Stat. 594 (2005), added section 54 to the Code. Section 54 originally provided for a total national volume cap of $800 million for CREBs to finance eligible clean renewable energy projects and delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to allocate that volume cap, subject to the constraint that the Secretary could allocate no more than $500 million of that volume cap to qualified borrowers which were governmental bodies (with the balance to be allocated to qualified borrow

ers which were cooperative electric companies). Section 54 originally required that CREBs had to be issued by an expiration date of December 31, 2007.

Section 202 of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109–432, 120 Stat. 2922 (2006) (the “2006 Act”), amended section 54 in three respects. First, the 2006 Act increased the total national volume cap for CREBs from $800 million to $1.2 billion. Second, the 2006 Act extended the expiration date for the issuance of CREBs under the total authorized national volume cap of $1.2 billion from December 31, 2007, to December 31, 2008. Third, the 2006 Act increased the maximum allocations or reallocations to qualified borrowers which are governmental bodies from $500 million to $750 million (with the balance to be allocated to cooperative electric companies).

Section 54(a) provides that a taxpayer that holds a CREB on one or more credit allowance dates of the bond occurring during any taxable year is allowed as a nonrefundable credit against Federal income tax for the taxable year an amount equal to the sum of the credits determined under section 54(b) with respect to such dates.

Section 54(b)(1) provides that the amount of the credit with respect to any credit allowance date is 25 percent of the annual credit. Section 54(b)(2) provides that the annual credit is the product of (1) the credit rate determined by the Secretary, multiplied by (2) the outstanding face amount of the bond.

Section 54(b)(3) provides that the Secretary shall determine daily a credit rate that shall apply to the first day on which there is a binding, written contract for the sale or exchange of a CREB. The credit rate for any day is the credit rate the Secretary estimates will permit the issuance of CREBs with a specified maturity or redemption date without discount and without interest cost to the issuer.

Section 54(b)(4) provides that the term “credit allowance date” means March 15, June 15, September 15, December 15, and the last day on which the bond is outstanding. Section 54(b)(5) generally provides that if a bond is issued or redeemed, or matures, during the 3-month period ending on

a credit allowance date, then the amount of the credit for that credit allowance date is a ratable portion of the credit otherwise determined for that 3-month period.

Section 54(g) provides that gross income includes the amount of the credit allowed to the taxpayer under section 54 (without regard to section 54(c)) and the amount so included is treated as interest income.

Section 54(d) provides that a “clean renewable energy bond” or CREB means any bond issued as part of an issue if: (1) the bond is issued by a qualified issuer pursuant to an allocation by the Secretary to the issuer of a portion of the volume cap under section 54(f)(2); (2) 95 percent or more of the proceeds of the issue are to be used for capital expenditures incurred by qualified borrowers for one or more qualified projects; (3) the qualified issuer designates the bond for purposes of section 54 and the bond is in registered form; and (4) the issue meets certain requirements described in section 54(h) regarding the expenditure of bond proceeds, including a requirement that the issuer reasonably expects, as of the issue date, that at least 95 percent of the net proceeds will be expended within 5 years.

Section 54(j)(4) defines a “qualified issuer” as: (1) a CREB lender; (2) a cooperative electric company; or (3) a governmental body. Section 54(j)(2) provides that a “CREB lender” is a lender that is: (1) a cooperative that is owned by, or has outstanding loans to, 100 or more cooperative electric companies and was in existence on February 1, 2002; or (2) any affiliated entity controlled by such a lender. Section 54(j)(1) defines the term “cooperative electric company” as a mutual or cooperative electric company described in section 501(c)(12) or section 1381(a)(2)(C), or a not-for-profit electric utility that has received a loan or loan guarantee under the Rural Electrification Act. Section 54(j)(3) defines the term “governmental body” as any State, territory, possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, Indian tribal government, or any political subdivision thereof.

Section 54(j)(5) provides that a “qualified borrower” is: (1) a mutual or cooperative electric company described in section

April 2, 2007 870 2007–14 I.R.B.

their discretion. This notice, including Appendix A, may be found on the IRS web site at http://www.irs.gov/taxexemptbond/ index.html or http://www.irs.gov/pub/ irs-drop/ . By submitting an Application, the applicant agrees to comply with the requirements of this notice.

a. Qualified issuer . An Application must be submitted by a qualified issuer within the meaning of section 54(j)(4). A “qualified issuer” is: (1) a CREB lender (as defined in section 54(j)(2)); (2) a cooperative electric company (as defined in section 54(j)(1)); or (3) a governmental body (as defined in section 54(j)(3)). An Application must identify the qualified issuer and must demonstrate that the entity constitutes a qualified issuer within the meaning of section 54(j)(4).

b. Signatures . An Application must be signed and dated by, and must include the printed name and title of, an authorized official of the qualified issuer. For purposes of this notice, the term “authorized official of the qualified issuer” means an officer, board member, employee, or other official of the qualified issuer who is duly authorized to execute legal documents on behalf of the qualified issuer in connection with incurring debt of the qualified issuer ( e.g., a mayor, chairperson of a city council, chairperson of a board of directors, county or city administrator or manager, or chief financial officer), similar to the kind of duly authorized official of an issuer who would be authorized to execute documents in connection with an issuer’s declaration of official intent to reimburse expenditures from the proceeds of a borrowing under § 1.150–2(e).

c. Contact person . An Application must designate one or more persons with knowledge regarding the project, whom the qualified issuer duly authorized to discuss with the IRS any information relating to the Application. The designation must include the designee’s name, title, telephone number, fax number, and mailing address. If a designee is not an official or officer of the issuer, the Application must include an executed Form 8821 ( Tax Information Authorization ), authorizing the disclosure of taxpayer information specifically relating to the Application to the designee.

d. Addresses . An Application must be submitted in one of the following ways: (1) by hard copy in duplicate accompa

501(c)(12) or 1381(a)(2)(C); or (2) a governmental body.

Section 54(d)(2) defines the term “qualified project” as any of the following qualified facilities (as determined under section 45(d) without regard to any placed in service date) owned by a qualified borrower: (1) a wind facility under section 45(d)(1); (2) a closed-loop biomass facility under section 45(d)(2); (3) an open-loop biomass facility under section 45(d)(3); (4) a geothermal or solar energy facility under section 45(d)(4); (5) a small irrigation power facility under section 45(d)(5); (6) a landfill gas facility under section 45(d)(6); (7) a trash combustion facility under section 45(d)(7); (8) a refined coal production facility under section 45(d)(8); and (9) a qualified hydropower facility under section 45(d)(9).

Section 54(f)(1), as amended by section 202(a)(1) of the 2006 Act, provides that the national volume cap is $1.2 billion. Section 54(f)(2), as amended by section 202(a)(2) of the 2006 Act, provides that the Secretary shall allocate the volume cap among qualified projects in such manner as the Secretary determines appropriate, except that the Secretary may not allocate more than $750 million of the national volume cap to finance qualified projects of qualified borrowers that are governmental bodies. The amendments to section 54 of the Code made by section 202 of the 2006 Act apply to bonds issued, and allocations or reallocations of volume cap made, after December 31, 2006.

Section 54(d)(2)(D) provides that, for purposes of section 54(d)(1)(B), which requires qualified borrowers to use at least 95 percent of the proceeds of an issue for capital expenditures for qualified projects, any action that a qualified borrower or qualified issuer takes that is within its control and that causes such proceeds to fail to be used for a qualified project is treated as failing to satisfy that requirement. Section 54(d)(2)(D) further provides that the Secretary shall prescribe regulations specifying remedial actions that may be taken (including conditions to taking such remedial actions) to prevent an action described in the preceding sentence from causing a bond to fail to be a CREB.

Section 54(k) generally requires that, for a CREB that is a pooled financing bond under section 149(f)(4)(A), borrow

ers must enter into written loan commitments before the issue date of the CREB.

Section 54(l)(5) requires that the qualified issuer pay and amortize an equal amount of the principal of an issue of CREBs during each calendar year that the issue is outstanding.

Section 54(e)(1) limits the term of a CREB to the maximum term determined by the Secretary under section 54(e)(2). Section 54(e)(2) provides that, during each calendar month, the Secretary shall determine the maximum term for CREBs issued in the following calendar month. The maximum term is the term the Secretary estimates will result in the present value of the obligation to repay the principal on the bond being equal to 50 percent of the face amount of the bond. Section 54(e)(2) further provides that such present value shall be determined (1) without regard to the requirement of section 54(l)(5) to amortize the principal of CREBs amortized ratably each year and (2) using a discount rate equal to the average annual interest rate of tax-exempt obligations having a term of 10 years or more that are issued during the month. If the term as so determined is not a multiple of a whole year, such term shall be rounded to the next highest whole year.

Section 54(i) generally provides that the arbitrage requirements of section 148 applicable to tax-exempt State or local bonds apply to CREBs.

Section 54(l)(6) requires issuers of CREBs to submit information reporting returns to the IRS similar to those required to be submitted under section 149(e) for tax-exempt State or local governmental bonds.

Notice 2006–7, 2006–10 I.R.B. 559 (March 6, 2006), provides guidance regarding certain definitions used for CREB purposes.