There have been so many questions around the recent smart grid and broadband stimulus programs that only recently did interested parties stop to ponder whether these monies will be taxable. However, this question recently came to the fore related to smart grid grant money. And now some folks understandably wanted to get a clarification on taxes as they relate to the broadband stimulus program.

 

Getting clarification on the tax question “is a critically important issue with significant implications for jobs, economic recovery, and the rollout of broadband infrastructures,” wrote Rob Thormeyer, director of communications for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, in a March 4 letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner.

 

Grant applicants are concerned about this issue, he writes, but: “Unfortunately, even tax experts are unsure of the tax consequences of stimulus grants.”

 

However, Thormeyer adds that nothing in ARRA indicates that the RUS/NTIA broadband or smart grid grants are taxable.