The Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is collaborating with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to evaluate applications for Tax Credits under Section 1307 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, per instruction in the Treasury and IRS Announcement 2010-56, which can be found at:

• http://www.irs.gov/irb/2010-39_IRB/ar09.html or http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/a-10-56.pdf

Specifically, NETL will be evaluating and providing certifications of feasibility for advanced coal and gasification projects consistent with energy policy goals (“DOE certification”). To facilitate the review process, NETL has established this website to receive and respond to questions from prospective applicants regarding the Notices. NETL will post responses to questions or groups of similar questions.

Guidelines for Questions to DOE

• Questions relating to DOE certification requirements or instructions as provided in the Announcement must be submitted to the DOE electronically through the link certification.questions@netl.doe.gov. The DOE will not respond to any questions regarding the specific qualifications of individual projects, and the DOE will not respond to questions deemed inappropriate. The DOE will attempt to respond to questions within 10 business days of receipt.
• Questions and responses will be posted by the DOE on this web page. Applicants should not submit questions including proprietary or confidential information that cannot be published or shared on this public website.
• Questions relating to tax or treasury issues must be directed to Jaime Park or Chuck Ramsey  of the IRS at 202-622-3110 (not a toll free number).
• Any question received by the DOE related to tax or treasury issues will not be answered, and the questioner will be instructed to contact the IRS directly to obtain a response.
• All questions must be submitted to the DOE no later than September 30, 2010. Questions submitted after September 30, 2010 will not be answered.

Background – On June 7, 2007, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued guidance for round two tax credits created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 – the advanced coal project credit and the gasification project credit. Each credit will be allocated by the IRS among applicants certified by the Department of Energy (DOE).

The available credit amount for 2010-11 allocation round under the Phase II advanced coal program (48A) is $240,564,000, out of which $103,564,000 is available for advanced coal projects that use sub-bituminous coal as a primary feedstock, and $138,000,000 is available for advanced coal projects that use lignite as a primary feedstock. No credit amount is available for advanced coal projects that use bituminous coal as a primary feedstock.

Because the total credit amount of $250 million was allocated, the Service will not conduct an allocation round in 2010-11 under the Phase II gasification program (48B).

DOE Responses to Tax Credit Questions

• Responses for Notice 2007-52 October 2, 2007 [PDF-14KB]
• Responses for Notice 2007-52, 53 September 21, 2007 [PDF-25KB]