For Investors
QSCBs and QZABs represent relatively low-risk intermediate-term obligations paying a taxable yield competitive with similarly rated corporate bonds. They may be particularly attractive to institutional investors seeking to diversify a portion of their portfolios into public tax-supported infrastructure.
As originally enacted by Congress, Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs) and Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCBs) gave the investor an annual tax credit, which is treated like interest. Thus, if the annual tax-credit rate for QSCBs and QZABs is 6.00%, a $1,000,000 bond would yield an annual tax credit of $60,000 for bondholders. (Click here for the current tax-credit rate from TreasuryDirect.)

As a result of legislation passed in March 2010, school districts can now elect to issue their QSCBs and QZABs as direct-payment bonds where the issuer receives direct cash interest payments from the Treasury up to the credit rates that would apply if the bonds had been sold as tax-credit bonds. Thus, QSCBs and QZABs that pay cash interest are now suitable investments for non-taxable investors like Pension Funds and Endowments. Similarly, it is no longer necessary for investors lacking tax liability to "strip" the tax credits, which should enhance bond liquidity.
Eddie Tech™ plans to achieve more efficient pricing on tax-credit bonds, due to better diversification, broader distribution, enhanced liquidity, and easier de-coupling of principal from tax credits, opening up demand for the bonds by new categories of investors.
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