Overview
Treasury, IRS Issue Proposed Regulations Addressing Issue Price of Tax-Exempt Bonds: In 2013, Treasury and the IRS issued proposed regulations updating various rules governing tax-exempt bonds. Today, Treasury and the IRS withdrew the provisions of those proposed regulations under section 148 that defined the issue price of tax-exempt bonds. Treasury and the IRS also re-proposed the regulations with a modified definition of issue price. The new proposed regulations provide that the issue price of bonds issued for money is the first price at which "a substantial amount" of the bonds is sold to the public. The new regulations retain the current rule that 10% is a substantial amount and that the issue prices of bonds with different payment and credit terms are determined separately. To address situations in which a substantial amount is not sold under orders received from the public as of the sale date, the new proposed regulations provide an alternative method under which an issuer may treat the initial offering price to the public as the issue price if certain requirements are met. The new regulations are proposed to apply to bonds that are sold on or after 90 days after the date final regulations are published in the Federal Register. However, issuers may rely on the new proposed regulations for bonds that are sold before that date and after June 23, 2015.
IRS Reminds Taxpayers of June 30 FBAR Deadline: Today, the IRS issued a news release reminding taxpayers that they may need to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FinCEN Report 114, commonly referred to as the FBAR) by June 30. The release states: “[i]n general, the filing requirement applies to anyone who had an interest in, or signature or other authority over foreign financial accounts whose aggregate value exceeded $10,000 at any time during 2014. Because of this threshold, the IRS encourages taxpayers with foreign assets, even relatively small ones, to check if this filing requirement applies to them.”