In August, the President signed into law the Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA) of 2019 (it will become fully effective February 2020), which includes several meaningful changes for both business and consumer bankruptcies. Highlighted below are three of those changes. 1. SMALL BUSINESSES. The SBRA creates a new subchapter to Chapter 11, to help small...
By Eugene G. Bernardo II and David M. DiSegna House Bill 3967, titled the “Municipal Bond Market Support Act of 2019”, was introduced by Alabama Representative Terri Sewell and New York Representative Tom Reed with the purpose of increasing the amount of tax-exempt bonds that may be issued as bank qualified obligations. According to their...
By Eugene G. Bernardo II and David M. DiSegna IRS Notice 2019-39 sets forth certain requirements for preserving the tax-exempt or tax-advantaged status of current refunding bonds that are issued to refinance bonds that were originally issued under targeted bond programs. From time to time, Congress has established these statutory programs to facilitate lower borrowing...
By Eugene G. Bernardo II or David M. DiSegna The IRS has released a Private Letter Ruling that approves a simplified method of calculating the remaining economic life of property financed with exempt facility bonds. Section 142 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) defines exempt facility bonds (which are tax-exempt under the Code) as bonds that...
By Eugene G. Bernardo II or David M. DiSegna On December 31, 2018, the IRS issued new regulations governing public approval requirements for tax-exempt private activity bonds under 26 U.S.C. § 147(f), which were originally enacted as part of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, or TEFRA. The regulations make several significant changes to...
By Eugene G. Bernardo II and David M. DiSegna Section 13532 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “2017 Act”) eliminated the tax exemption for interest on advance refunding bonds (defined as bonds issued more than 90 days before the redemption of the bonds to be refunded). However, after the 2017 Act’s...
PSH Partner Chris Currier, Chair of the Commercial Lending Practice Group, provided comment to Banker & Tradesman on the anticipated gridlock following the 2018 mid-term elections. Chris provided the legal perspective and Jon Skarin, executive vice president at the Massachusetts Bankers Association, shared their concerns that while regulatory relief for the banking industry would likely be...
By Eugene G. Bernardo II and David M. DiSegna Paragraph (b)(5) of Rule 15c2-12 (17 C.F.R. 240.15c2-12) prohibits a participating underwriter from purchasing or selling municipal securities in an offering unless it has reasonably determined that an issuer or obligated person of the municipal securities has undertaken in a continuing disclosure agreement to provide certain...
If your company is raising capital by selling securities in a private offering, you’ll likely need to find an appropriate securities law exemption under which to execute the offering. Regulation D of the Securities Act is where you’ll find yourself looking. In the past, most companies have relied heavily on Rule 506 under Regulation D...
By Eugene G. Bernardo II No one can deny the U.S. Senate’s authority in the judicial nominating process. However, something terribly wrong has happened as that majestic body has aggrandized and distorted its role in excess of our founders’ intent. If the rule of law is to survive in its traditional form, the judicial confirmation...
