nmtc-screener

A Python CLI tool for New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) feasibility analysis. Answer a few simple questions about your project and receive a complete NMTC screening report — including qualification likelihood, estimated allocation size, capital stack breakdown, net subsidy, and a plain-English summary.

What is NMTC?

The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program incentivizes private investment in low-income communities by providing investors a 39% federal tax credit on Qualified Equity Investments (QEI) over 7 years. Projects receive below-market financing, often resulting in a net subsidy of 15–25% of total project cost.

Installation

pip install nmtc-calc        # core calculation engine
pip install nmtc-screener    # this tool

Or install from source:

git clone https://github.com/Jaypatel1511/nmtc-screener
cd nmtc-screener
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Usage

Interactive mode

nmtc-screener

The tool will ask you:

1. Project name
2. Location (city, state)
3. Total project cost ($)
4. Project type (manufacturing, healthcare, education, etc.)
5. Annual revenue ($)
6. LIC status — is the project in a Low Income Community census tract?

Non-interactive (all flags)

nmtc-screener \
  --project-name "Detroit Health Clinic" \
  --location "Detroit, MI" \
  --total-cost 12000000 \
  --project-type healthcare \
  --annual-revenue 2000000 \
  --lic-status yes

Available project types

Key	Label
manufacturing	Manufacturing / Industrial
healthcare	Healthcare / Medical
education	Education / Childcare
community	Community Facility / Nonprofit
mixed_use	Mixed-Use Development
retail	Retail / Food Service
office	Office / Professional Services
other	Other

Sample Output

NMTC Screener
New Markets Tax Credit Feasibility Analysis

Project: Detroit Health Clinic  |  Location: Detroit, MI

──────────────────── QUALIFICATION ASSESSMENT ─────────────────────
  Likelihood:  HIGH — STRONG CANDIDATE
  Score:       95/100

  • Project is in a confirmed Low Income Community census tract (+35 pts)
  • Project type 'Healthcare / Medical': Healthcare facilities directly serve underserved LIC residents. (+25 pts)
  • Project cost ≥$10MM — sufficient scale for NMTC transaction economics (+10 pts)
  • Revenue ($2,000,000/yr) covers estimated debt service at 1.25x DSCR (+5 pts)

──────────────────── ESTIMATED NMTC ALLOCATION ─────────────────────
  QEI (NMTC Allocation):  $10.2MM
  Total Tax Credits:       $3.98MM  (39% of QEI over 7 years)

──────────────────────── CAPITAL STACK BREAKDOWN ─────────────────────
 Component                        Amount     % of Project
 Total Project Cost              $12.00MM      100.0%
 NMTC Investment Fund (QEI)      $10.20MM       85.0%
   Investor Equity                $3.31MM       27.6%
   Leverage Loan                  $6.89MM       57.4%
 QLICI to QALICB                  $9.95MM       82.9%
   A Loan (Senior)                $6.89MM       57.4%
   B Loan (Subordinate)           $3.06MM       25.5%
   CDE Fee                        $0.26MM        2.1%

──────────────────────── NET SUBSIDY ANALYSIS ──────────────────────
 Net Subsidy (est. B Loan forgiven)       $3.06MM
 Net Subsidy as % of Project Cost           25.5%
 Effective Cost of Capital (blended)        0.27%
 Est. Interest Savings over 7 Years        $1.15MM

────────────────────── PLAIN-ENGLISH SUMMARY ───────────────────────
  Detroit Health Clinic is a Healthcare / Medical project in Detroit, MI
  with a total cost of $12.0MM. This project has a HIGH likelihood of
  qualifying for NMTC financing (screening score: 95/100)...

How It Works

NMTC analysis uses industry-standard defaults:

Parameter	Default	Notes
Credit price	$0.83 / $1 of credits	Current market
Leverage loan rate	5.50%	Market rate proxy
QLICI A Loan rate	0.50%	Below-market senior
QLICI B Loan rate	0.00%	Subsidized subordinate
CDE fee	2.50% of QEI	Typical range 2–3%
Compliance period	7 years	Fixed per Section 45D

The estimated NMTC allocation (QEI) is set to 85% of total project cost, subject to a $5MM minimum viable deal floor.

Calculations are powered by the nmtc-calc library.

Running Tests

pytest
pytest --cov=nmtc_screener   # with coverage

License

MIT