How to File IRS Form 8038-G for Tax-Exempt Bonds

To file IRS Form 8038-G, a state or local government issuer completes the paper form for a tax-exempt governmental bond issue of $100,000 or more, then mails it to the IRS Service Center in Ogden, Utah by the 15th day of the second calendar month after the quarter in which the bonds were issued.¹ The filing is what keeps the interest on the bonds tax-exempt under Section 149(e) of the Internal Revenue Code, so timing and accuracy are not optional.²

Confirm Form 8038-G Is the Right Form

Form 8038-G is for tax-exempt governmental bonds — bonds issued by states, counties, cities, school districts, and other political subdivisions to finance traditional public purposes like roads, schools, utilities, and government buildings — where the issue price is $100,000 or more.³

If the issue price is under $100,000, you file Form 8038-GC, a simplified consolidated return.⁴ If the bonds are tax-exempt private activity bonds rather than governmental bonds, you file Form 8038 instead.⁵ The line between the two turns on the private business use rules under IRC Section 141(b), which is worth confirming with bond counsel before you assume 8038-G is the correct return.⁶

Information to Gather Before You File

The form asks for baseline identifying information plus a detailed accounting of the bond issue and its compliance posture. Section 149(e) sets the statutory minimums: issuer name and address, issue date, net proceeds, stated interest rate, term and face amount of each bond, issuance costs, and reserves.² The form itself expands on those.

Issuer and Bond Identification

You will need the issuer’s legal name, address, and Employer Identification Number, contact information for the person responsible for the issue, the CUSIP number for each obligation, the issue date, and the total issue price (accounting for any original issue discount or premium). You also calculate the weighted average maturity: take the issue price of each maturity, multiply by the number of years to that maturity, and divide by the total issue price of the entire issue.⁷

Use of Proceeds

You break out how the proceeds will be spent: issuance costs, credit enhancement, debt service reserve funds, and the capital projects being financed. You also indicate the interest rate structure — fixed, variable, or another calculation method. Leases and installment sales follow different rules for several of these fields.

Compliance Certifications

The closing sections address federal tax compliance. You certify whether the issue meets private business use limits, report arbitrage-related information, and describe the governmental purpose the proceeds will fund. These certifications are evaluated as of the issue date, based on facts and reasonable expectations at that time, not what happens later.⁷

When to File

The filing is due on the 15th day of the second calendar month after the close of the quarter in which the bonds were issued.² By quarter:

Bonds issued January through March: due May 15
Bonds issued April through June: due August 15
Bonds issued July through September: due November 15
Bonds issued October through December: due February 15 of the following year

The form cannot be filed before the issue date, and the information it contains must reflect the facts as of that date.¹

Where to Send the Form

Filing is by paper. Mail the completed form to the Internal Revenue Service Center in Ogden, UT 84201.¹ You can also use an IRS-designated private delivery service, which satisfies the timely-mailing-as-timely-filing rule and gives you tracked proof of submission when the deadline is tight. Private delivery services cannot deliver to PO boxes, so use the street address the IRS publishes for that purpose.

If You File Late

A late filing puts the bond issue’s tax exemption at risk, because Section 149(e) conditions that exemption on timely information reporting. The statute allows the Secretary to grant extensions, but only when the delay was not caused by willful neglect.²

To request relief, the IRS instructions direct you to follow Revenue Procedure 2002-48. Type or print “Request for Relief under section 3 of Rev. Proc. 2002-48” at the top of the form, attach a letter explaining why the filing was late, and indicate whether the bond issue is currently under IRS examination.¹ The explanation carries weight. A generic “we forgot” is unlikely to succeed; issuers pointing to staff turnover, a vendor error, or a genuine misunderstanding about which form was required tend to fare better.

Late filers may also face financial penalties under IRC Section 6652 for failure to file required information returns, and those penalties accumulate per day until the form is submitted. Filing as quickly as possible after discovering the miss limits both the penalty exposure and the period during which the bonds’ status is in question.

What Form 8038-G Does Not Cover

Form 8038-G is a one-time filing at issuance. It captures initial arbitrage information but does not handle the ongoing rebate obligation under IRC Section 148. If bond proceeds are invested at a yield higher than the bonds pay, the excess must be rebated to the U.S. Treasury; failure to do so turns the bonds into arbitrage bonds and strips the exemption.⁸ Rebate installments are due at least once every five years the bonds are outstanding, with a final payment no later than 60 days after the last bond is redeemed, and they are paid using Form 8038-T, not 8038-G.⁹

If you later discover a violation of the federal tax rules governing the bonds — a missed filing, excess private business use, or an arbitrage problem — the IRS Tax Exempt Bonds Voluntary Closing Agreement Program (TEB VCAP) allows issuers to self-correct through a formal closing agreement rather than waiting for an audit.¹⁰

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8038-G (Rev. October 2021)
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 149 – Bonds Must Be Registered To Be Tax Exempt; Other Requirements
3
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8038-G, Information Return for Tax-Exempt Governmental Obligations
4
Internal Revenue Service. Form 8038-GC – Information Return for Small Tax-Exempt Governmental Bond Issues, Leases, and Installment Sales
5
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8038, Information Return for Tax-Exempt Private Activity Bond Issues
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 141 – Private Activity Bond; Qualified Bond
7
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8038-G (10/2021)
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 148 – Arbitrage
9
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8038-T, Arbitrage Rebate, Yield Reduction and Penalty in Lieu of Arbitrage Rebate
10
Internal Revenue Service. TEB Voluntary Closing Agreement Program