I’m here to help alleviate fears. In August 2015, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued GASB Statement No. 77, Tax Abatement Disclosures. The guidance, which if it were applicable to North Carolina governments, would be effective for fiscal year end June 30, 2017. The requirements are relatively simple – if a government has any tax abatement agreements, as defined in the standard, there are certain note disclosure requirements that must be made regarding the agreement(s). A tax abatement in is defined in the standard as follows: …a reduction in tax revenues that results from an agreement between one or more governments and an individual or entity in which (a) one or more governments promise to forego tax revenues to which they are otherwise entitled and (b) the individual or entity promises to take specific action after the agreement has been entered into that contributes to economic development or otherwise benefits the governments or citizens of those governments. Whew! That is a lot of words for something that does not apply to local governments in North Carolina! So why am I dredging this up again (more on that in a second)? I actually wrote a blog for the School of
Faculty Coordinators
