SECTION 1. PURPOSE

This notice provides guidance on “current refunding issues” (as defined in § 1.150–1(d)(3)) that refund outstanding prior issues of bonds that qualify for tax-exempt bond financing under certain disaster relief bond programs. In particular, this notice applies to current refunding issues that are used (directly or indirectly in a series of current refunding issues) to refund original tax-exempt bonds that met the qualification requirements for one of the following programs: (1) qualified Gulf Opportunity Zone Bonds under § 1400N (“GO Zone Bonds”) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”); (2) qualified Midwestern disaster area bonds under § 702(d)(1) of the Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008 (the “Heartland Disaster Act”), Subtitle A of Title VII of the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008, Division C of Public Law 110–343, 122 Stat. 3765 (2008) (“Midwest Disaster Area Bonds”); and (3) qualified Hurricane Ike disaster area bonds under § 704(a) of the Heartland Disaster Act (“Hurricane Ike Disaster Area Bonds”). These original qualified tax-exempt bonds are referred to collectively in this notice as “Qualified Bonds.”