SECTION 3. GENERAL
Internal Revenue Bulletin 2012-31 · 2026-10-03 edition · updated 2026-10-04 · United States
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Each application for an allocation of volume cap under § 7871(f)(1) submitted pursuant to this notice (Application) must be prepared and submitted in accordance with this section. By submitting an Application, the applicant agrees to comply with the requirements of this notice. For an Application to comply with this section, among other things, the Application must be prepared in substantially the same format as the form attached to this notice as Appendix A. This notice, including Appendix A, may be found electronically under the link “TEB Published Guidance” on the IRS web site at http://www.irs.gov/tax- exemptbond/index.html .
a. Qualified issuer . The Application must be submitted by an Indian tribal government (Applicant). See § 7701(a)(40)(A) of the Code and Revenue Procedure 2008–55, 2008–39 I.R.B. 768. The Application must identify the Applicant, including the Applicant’s Federal tax identification number, and either: (1) state that the entity is included on the most recent list published by the Department of the Interior in the Federal Register pursuant to the Federally Recognized Indian
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for the project have been obtained or, if any approvals have not yet been obtained, the Application must include a certification that the Applicant reasonably expects to receive all required approvals in a timely manner sufficient to permit issuance of the proposed bonds within the 180-day period prior to the expiration of the volume cap allocation (see section 4.g. of this notice). The Application must identify any required approvals that have not been obtained and must describe the Applicant’s plan and expected time frame for obtaining such approvals.
g. Plan of financing . The Application must contain a reasonably detailed description of the plan of financing for the project including (1) the amount of Tribal Economic Development Bonds expected to be issued and the amount of proceeds of such bonds to be allocated to the project, (2) any reasonably expected other sources of financing for the project together with a description of how such financing will be allocated to the project, and (3) documentation from an independent third party who is knowledgeable about the marketability of tax-exempt bonds evidencing that the proposed bonds are reasonably expected to be marketable prior to expiration of the volume cap allocation set forth in section 4.g. of this notice. Documentation that may be used to meet this requirement includes, among other things, the following: a bond purchase commitment letter from an investor; a credit quality assessment evidencing the investment grade credit quality of the proposed bonds from an independent organization that is in the business of assessing credit quality; a credit enhancement commitment letter from a financial institution that will enable the proposed bonds to be investment grade quality; a letter from an underwriter or financial advisor to the effect that the sale of the proposed bonds is likely to be successful in a timely manner before expiration of the volume cap allocation for the bonds described in section 4.g. of this notice; or similar documentation or a combination thereof.
h. Compliance with Federal tax laws . The Application must include a certification that the Applicant reasonably expects that the proposed bonds will meet the applicable requirements of § 7871(f) and that the Applicant has engaged bond counsel to render an opinion to the effect that the proposed bonds will meet those requirements.
Tribe List Act of 1994, Pub. L. 103–454, 108 Stat. 4791, or (2) provide a letter from the Department of the Interior stating that the Indian tribal government has been acknowledged as a Federally recognized Indian tribe. See section 4.e. of this notice for pool bond issuers and issuers of Tribal Economic Development Bonds other than the Indian tribal government that receives an allocation.
b. Signatures . The Application must be signed and dated by an authorized official of the Applicant. For purposes of the Application, the term “authorized official of the Applicant” means an officer, board member, employee, or other official of the Applicant who is duly authorized to execute legal documents on behalf of the Applicant in connection with incurring debt of the Applicant (for example, a tribal chairperson, chief executive officer, or chief financial officer), similar to the kind of duly authorized official of an Indian tribal government who would be authorized to execute documents in connection with an Indian tribal government’s declaration of official intent to reimburse expenditures from the proceeds of a borrowing under § 1.150–2(e) of the Income Tax Regulations.
c. Contact person . The Application must designate one or more persons with knowledge of the project that the Applicant duly authorizes 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 ( Taxpayer Information Authorization ) or Form 2848 ( Power of At- torney and Declaration of Representative ) authorizing the disclosure of taxpayer information specifically relating to the Application.
d. Addresses . The Application must be submitted by hard copy accompanied by a copy of the Application in PDF format on a CD and sent by mail to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), SE:T:GE:TEB:CPM, Attention: Mark Helfer, 1122 Town & Country Commons, St. Louis, MO 63017.
e. Submission date . Applications will be accepted by the IRS on an ongoing basis. See section 4 of this notice for further discussion of the general allocation process.
f. Project description . The Application must contain the information required by this subsection f.
(i) Qualified project . The Application must describe in reasonable detail the project or projects (project) reasonably expected to be financed with the proceeds of the Tribal Economic Development Bonds (proposed bonds), including information regarding the type and use of the project and a certification that the project will qualify for Tribal Economic Development Bond financing under § 7871(f). Applicants receiving an allocation may use proceeds of the proposed bonds only to finance the project or permitted deviations as further provided in section 6 of this notice.
(ii) Project cost . The Application must describe the reasonably expected cost of the project, including the portion to be financed by the proposed bonds and any portion to be financed by other sources, if any.
(iii) Location of project . The Application must include a certification that the project’s location is entirely within the Applicant’s reservation. In the case of a joint project described in section 3.m. of this notice, the Application must include a certification that the joint project will be located entirely within one or more of the reservations of the Indian tribal governments receiving an allocation of volume cap for the joint project.
(iv) Project not used for gaming pur- poses . The Application must include a certification that no portion of the proceeds of the proposed bonds will be used to finance any portion of a building in which class II or class III gaming, as defined in section 4 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Pub. L. 100–497, 102 Stat. 2475, codified at 25 U.S.C. § 2701–2721 (1988), is conducted or housed, or any other property actually used in the conduct of such gaming. For purposes of compliance with the limitation in § 7871(f)(3)(B) on the use of proceeds of Tribal Economic Development Bonds for these purposes, the safe harbor regarding certain determinations with respect to separate buildings under § 10(b) of Notice 2009–51 applies.
(v) Approvals . The Application must state that all required Federal, State, local, and tribal approvals (regulatory and otherwise) for the project, the proposed bonds, and any other required financing
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ume cap equal to the amount requested in the Application on a first-come, firstserved basis by order of submission date (as defined in section 4.b. of this notice).
b. Submission date and incomplete Applications . Each Application will be treated as submitted on the day (submission date) the Application, and any additional information and supporting documents requested by the IRS, are received by the IRS and such Application, additional information, and supporting documents satisfy all of the applicable requirements of this notice, including being submitted as described in section 3 of this notice. The IRS may request additional information to support any of the requirements of this notice, including additional information and certifications to demonstrate that the proposed project will qualify for Tribal Economic Development Bond financing under § 7871(f) and to demonstrate the Applicant’s readiness to issue the proposed bonds. The Application will not satisfy the requirements of this notice until the IRS receives such information.
c. Limit on allocation to any one In- dian tribal government . No Indian tribal government will receive an allocation of volume cap that would cause the aggregate amount of volume cap allocated to that Indian tribal government pursuant to this notice (not including any allocations received in the 2009 First Allocation or the 2010 Second Allocation or amounts forfeited under section 4.g. or 4.i. of this notice) to exceed the Published Volume Cap Limit (as defined in the next sentence) in effect for the period that includes the submission date. The Published Volume Cap Limit for any period is the greater of: (1) 20% of the amount of available volume cap as of the first day of such period (determined by the IRS based on available information, including allocation data and reports of bonds issued); or (2) $100 million. The Published Volume Cap Limit for the initial period beginning on the date of this notice is $360,569,329 (20% of $1,802,846,643). The IRS plans to publish updated Published Volume Cap Limits on the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/tax- exemptbond/index.html or at such other location as the IRS may provide future public notice. Beginning no later than October 1, 2012, the IRS will publish these updates for successive two-month periods on or about the first business day of each pe
i. Dollar amount of allocation re- quested . The Application must specify the dollar amount of the volume cap requested, not to exceed the amount of the proposed bonds.
j. Demonstration of readiness to issue . The Application must include a certification that the Applicant reasonably expects to use the volume cap allocation by issuing the proposed bonds prior to expiration of the volume cap allocation described in section 4.g. of this notice. Based on its overall assessment of an Applicant’s readiness to issue the proposed bonds, the IRS may require the Applicant to provide additional information or supporting documentation to demonstrate the Applicant’s readiness to issue such bonds, and the Application will be treated as incomplete until the IRS receives the additional information or documentation.
k. Certain forfeitures . In determining an Applicant’s readiness to issue the proposed bonds under section 3.j. of this notice, the IRS will not take into account or otherwise consider any prior forfeitures or expirations of volume cap that occurred with respect to the original allocations of volume cap received for Tribal Economic Development Bonds under the 2009 First Allocation or the 2010 Second Allocation. In determining such readiness to issue the proposed bonds, however, the IRS may consider any forfeitures or expirations of volume cap previously received under this notice. The Application must identify any allocation of volume cap (not including any allocations received in the 2009 First Allocation or the 2010 Second Allocation) previously received by the Applicant under this notice that was forfeited or expired and provide an explanation of the reasons for such forfeiture.
l. Multiple projects . Subject to other limitations and requirements described herein, an Applicant may submit a single Application for volume cap that covers multiple projects, provided that such Application includes sufficient information to satisfy the requirements of this notice for each project independently of any other project covered by the Application (for example, for each project covered by the Application, the Application must include a plan of financing, a description of the project including costs and location, and a description of the status of approvals for that project). Alternatively, an Applicant
may submit separate Applications for separate projects.
m. Joint projects . An Applicant may submit an Application for an allocation of volume cap to finance its share of a joint project all of which will be owned by Indian tribal governments or which will, in part, be owned by an entity that is not an Indian tribal government, provided that the joint project will be located entirely on one or more of the reservations of any of the Indian tribal governments receiving an allocation with respect to such project. For this purpose, the type of joint ownership of facilities to be financed with Tribal Economic Development Bonds include only those recognized under the private activity bond restrictions on tax-exempt bonds under § 141.
n. Perjury statement . The Application must include the following declaration signed and dated by an authorized official of the Applicant: “I hereby certify that I am an authorized officer or official of the Applicant, that I am duly authorized to execute legal documents on behalf of the Applicant in connection with incurring debt, and that I am duly authorized to execute legal documents on behalf of the Applicant in making this Application. Under penalties of perjury, I declare that (i) I have knowledge of the relevant facts and circumstances relating to this Application and the project(s), (ii) I have examined this Application and the supporting documents, and (iii) to the best of my knowledge and belief, all of the facts contained in this Application and the supporting documents are true, correct and complete.” If the Applicant subsequently submits any additional information or supporting documents with respect to the Application, such additional information or supporting documents must be accompanied by a declaration, signed and dated by an authorized official of the Applicant, in a form substantially identical to the declaration submitted with the Application pursuant to the preceding sentence.
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