Angel Tax Credit Update

Just as I was working on my latest entreVIEW post trying to avoid any “legal topic,” I felt compelled to provide an additional update on the Minnesota Angel Tax Credit. I know that, in his cold weather musings only earlier this week, fellow entreVIEW author, Max Bremer, mentioned that the total $12.2 million allocated for the credit in 2014 would likely run out before the end of March. His prediction of only a couple of days ago seems prophetic. In the last week, the dollars remaining for allocation have decreased from $5.4 million to $4.1 million. 

In addition, the folks who administer the program (who, fortunately, often don’t act like regulators and really try to be helpful to people trying to access the program) have begun sending out correspondence to recent applicants to the program telling them that there’s a decent chance that, by the time they’re qualified, there may not be any remaining funds to allocate.  The correspondence states, “Because certification fees are non-refundable, we want to give you this opportunity to tell us that you do not want your application processed and to return your application fee check.”

Avid non-lawyer entreVIEW readers may be glad about this development because we’ll be left with one less legal topic about which to write and we’ll be forced to contemplate current events, musical theatre, books, and pop culture (or even, occasionally, a comic strip)!  

While I can assure you that such topics will undoubtedly be addressed on these pages in the coming weeks and months, the Angel Tax Credit conversation for 2014 is far from over. The same correspondence from the administrators to applicants also says: “Although we may run out of our current supply of credits shortly, the 2014 Minnesota legislature will be considering whether to extend the Angel Tax Credit program and whether to provide it with additional funding for this program year.  However, we will likely not know the outcome of this until mid-May.”

We learned at a meeting with key legislators and supporters of the program in early December that communication with elected officials is an important part of ensuring ongoing (and increased) support for the program. Please consider contacting your representatives (if you don’t know who they are you can find out here). You should deliver personalized correspondence but, for your convenience, a draft letter that was put together on the subject is available for download here.

My apologies if you only read this post because you were hoping for an entrepreneurial spin on something unrelated to the law. As your reward for reading all the way to the bitter end maybe this will tide you over until my next post.