Remember earlier this year when the novelty of working from home hadn’t worn off, when every day wasn’t Groundhog Day, when we hadn’t run out of Netflix to watch, and when we were all concerned about how to satisfy the in-person TEFRA hearing requirement for tax-exempt private activity bonds in the midst of a pandemic and all sorts of Stay-at-Home orders?  I know, that seems like decades ago!

As a refresher, on Star Wars Day,^[1] the IRS responded to NABL’s request for relief from the in-person TEFRA hearing requirement in the form of Rev. Proc. 2020-21.  Rev. Proc. 2020-21 permits telephonic TEFRA hearings during the period between May 4, 2020 and December 31, 2020.  Specifically, during this period, a governmental unit can meet the TEFRA requirement that the public hearing be held in a convenient location by affording the general public access to the hearing by toll-free telephone call.^[2]  It’s clear that the IRS was also hoping that the COVID-19 pandemic would be all but a distant memory by the end of 2020.

Unfortunately, it looks like the COVID-19 pandemic is probably going to be with us beyond December 31, 2020.  So, yesterday, the IRS issued Rev. Proc. 2020-49, which extends until September 30, 2021 the period during which telephonic TEFRA hearings can be held in lieu of in-person TEFRA hearings.  Hopefully, we won’t be in quarantine until then.

Now back to your regularly scheduled stalking of election coverage.

^[1] Or May 4, 2020 – you can choose how you want to recognize days in 2020.

^[2] Never have the authors of this blog explained to so many people what a toll-free number is.