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In a private letter ruling (the “Ruling”) dated December 18 and released on Friday, April 17, 2015, the IRS ruled that an authority could have additional time to spend the proceeds of its Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (“QZABs”) when “unforeseen circumstances” such as contractor disputes, permit acquisition delays and development plan changes occurred. Despite being…

McKennon Shelton & Henn LLP is proud to announce that the firm was ranked ninth nationally for competitive issues in The Bond Buyer‘s list of “Top Bond Counsel” for 2014.  Our firm is the only firm of its size to be ranked in that category.  We were also ranked first in Maryland as Bond Counsel for the…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) recently announced the suspension of sales of SLGS nonmarketable Treasury securities, effective 12:00 noon Eastern Time, March 13, 2015, until further notice. The Treasury stated in its announcement that suspension is necessary due to the statutory debt ceiling. The Treasury noted that subscriptions for SLGS received prior…

McKennon Shelton & Henn LLP has announced that two of the firm’s attorneys, David Gregory and Fabian Walters, have been selected for inclusion among Maryland Super Lawyers’ “Rising Stars” for 2015.  Mr. Gregory and Mr. Walters were also named Rising Stars in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more…

McKennon Shelton & Henn LLP has been nationally recognized by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers magazines as one of the 2015 “Best Law Firms,” an accolade founded on “professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers.”  This award is a true testament to the firm’s mission to provide only the…

Effective October 1, 2014, issuers of Build America Bonds and other direct-pay bonds will have their subsidy payments processed in federal fiscal year 2015 reduced by 7.3% due to sequestration. The federal fiscal year 2015 reduction rate replaces the slightly lower 7.2% reduction rate for payments processed in federal fiscal year 2014. Unless further Congressional…

On March 10, 2014, the Division of Enforcement (the “Division”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) launched the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative (the “MCDC Initiative”) to address potential violations of federal securities laws by municipal issuers and underwriters of municipal securities in connection with representations about continuing disclosures in bond offering documents.…

Earlier this year, draft legislation referred to as the Tax Reform Act of 2014 (the “Tax Reform Act”), was released that proposes to amend major portions of the Internal Revenue Code to provide for comprehensive tax reform. We have focused on proposed changes affecting the tax-exempt bond provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, specifically, the…

With the May 15th filing deadline fast approaching for many exempt organizations, the IRS issued a reminder on April 29th that exempt organizations should not include social security numbers on their form filings. By law, both the IRS and most tax-exempt organizations are required to publically disclose most parts of form filings, including Form 990…

Damian J. Mark., Esq., a former partner of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P., and the former Co-Chair of that firm’s public finance practice group, has joined Mckennon, Shelton & Henn LLP as a partner. Damian concentrates his practice in public finance transactions, including the tax-exempt financing of various projects for municipalities, CCRCs, universities, hospitals and public…