Treasury Department and the IRS Allow Public REITs to Use up to 90% Stock to Satisfy Their Distribution Requirements Through 2020

On May 4, 2020, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2020-19 that increased the mix of stock and cash for a publicly offered REIT’s and mutual fund’s distribution requirement from the 80%/20% permanently allowed in Revenue Procedure 2017-45 to 90%/10% for distributions on or after April 1, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2020. Nareit requested this temporary increase in a letter dated March 18, 2020 so that REITs would have the election to preserve liquidity during the current pandemic crisis.