In a Notice of Allocation Availability (NOAA), the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced on November 3, 2021, an allocation of $5 billion for the calendar-year 2021 round of the New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) program.

Background

Congress established the NMTC Program in 2000 to permit individual and corporate taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments (QEIs) in community development entities (CDEs). The credit totals 39% of the investment and may be claimed by the investor over seven years. The CDE must use substantially all the investment to make qualified investments in low-income communities. Treasury's CDFI Fund, which selects successful applicants, has allocated $66 billion in tax credit allocation authority through the New Markets Tax Credit Program.

Changes to 2021 round

There are several changes to the NMTC program for 2021, including:

• Requiring taxpayers that received allocations in prior rounds to comply with revised QEI requirements by March 21, 2022
• Changing the definition of "controlling entity" for 2021 applicants that did not receive allocations under prior NMTC program rounds 2013 to 2020
• Updating the allocation application and guidance

2021 deadlines:

• CDE certification application: November 18, 2021
• NMTC application registration: December 6, 2021
• NMTC allocation application: January 13, 2022
• QEI issuance and QLICI requirements for prior allocatees: March 21, 2022

Implications

Now that the NOAA has been released, CDEs will be finalizing their pipeline of projects for submission in their NMTC application in hopes of successfully receiving an award. Taxpayers with projects that could benefit from a NMTC allocation through a CDE may want to get them into CDE pipelines now to increase the chance of receiving an award to assist funding projects.

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