SECTION 3. SECTION 48A PHASE III

PROGRAM

.01 Except as otherwise specifically provided in this notice, Round 3 of the § 48A Phase III Program will be conducted in the same manner and under the same procedures as provided under Notice 2012-51. This notice restates or references certain provisions in Notice 2012-51 as a convenience to taxpayers. The restatement or referencing of these provisions does not diminish the effect of provisions in Notice 2012-51 that are not restated or referenced.

.02 For Round 3 of the § 48A Phase III Program, § 48A Phase III credits in the amount of $2,041,500,000 are available for reallocation. The credits will not be separated into pools based on the type of projects or the type of primary feedstock.

.03 The § 48A Phase III credit for a taxable year is an amount equal to 30 percent of the qualified investment (as defined in § 48A(b)) for that taxable year in a Qualifying Advanced Coal Project (as defined in § 48A(c)(1) and § 48A(e)). This rule applies to both facilities that use an IGCC (as defined in § 48A(c)(7)) and facilities that use other advanced coal-based generation technologies (as defined in § 48A(f)).

.04 For Round 3 of the § 48A Phase III Program, the period to submit an Application for § 48A Certification begins on December 28, 2020, and ends on March 28, 2021. See section 3.07 of this notice for the date by which the Application for DOE Certification must be submitted to DOE. For purposes of determining the timeliness of submission of an Application for § 48A Certification by the Service, the rules of § 7502 apply.

Bulletin No. 2020–53 1795 December 28, 2020

.05 The Service will consider a project under Round 3 of the § 48A Phase III Program only if the Application for § 48A Certification for the project is submitted during the application period and DOE provides the DOE certification and ranking (if any) for the project on or before April 27, 2021.

.06 If an Application for DOE Certification does not include all of the information required by section 5.02 of Notice 2012-51, DOE may decline to accept the application. If an Application for § 48A Certification does not include all of the information listed in section 5.03 of Notice 2012-51, the application will not be accepted by the Service.

.07 For Round 3 of the § 48A Phase III Program, DOE will consider an Application for DOE Certification only if the application is postmarked on or before March 28, 2021. See section 5.02 of Notice 2012-51 and Appendix B to this notice for the information to be submitted to DOE in an Application for DOE Certification. Appendix B to this notice also provides the instructions and address for filing the Application for DOE Certification. DOE will determine the technical and economic feasibility of the project and, if the project is determined to be feasible, will provide a DOE certification for the project to the Service. If DOE certifies two or more projects, DOE also will rank each of the projects it certifies (for example, first, second, third, etc.) relative to other certified projects and credits will be allocated to projects based on DOE ranking. DOE will provide DOE certification for projects determined to be feasible and DOE ranking (if any) to the Service by April 27, 2021.

.08 By May 27, 2021, the Service will accept or reject the taxpayer’s Application for § 48A Certification and will notify the taxpayer, by letter, of its decision.

.09 If the taxpayer’s Application for § 48A Certification is accepted, the acceptance letter will state the amount of the

credit allocated to the project. If a credit is allocated to a taxpayer’s project, the taxpayer will be required to execute an agreement in the form set forth in Appendix A to this notice. By June 26, 2021, the taxpayer must return the executed agreement to the Service at the appropriate address listed in section 3.11 of this notice.

.10 By August 25, 2021, the Service will execute and return the agreement to the taxpayer. The executed agreement applies only to the accepted taxpayer.

.11 Instructions and Address for Filing § 48A Application . There is no fee for filing an Application for § 48A Certification. It should be marked: “SECTION 48A APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION.” A taxpayer may submit the Application for § 48A Certification to the Service by U.S. mail or private delivery service to:

Internal Revenue Service LB&I: Enterprise Activities Practice Area N14W24200 Tower Place Suite 202 Waukesha, Wisconsin 53188