Fannie Mae, the mortgage finance giant, said Monday that it was reviewing whether it would have to write off $5.2 billion in low-income housing tax credits after the Treasury Department rejected its request last week to sell the credits to Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg News reports.The Treasury determined that an agreement to sell about half of Fannie Mae's credits would have cost taxpayers more than the company would have gained from the deal. Goldman could have used the tax credits to lower its tax bill.
"We are evaluating whether Treasury's decision changes our prior determination that we continue to have the intent and ability to sell or otherwise transfer" the credits, Fannie Mae said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"While our conservator has directed us to continue to explore options to sell or transfer these investments for value consistent with our mission, we believe this will be difficult given current constraints and market conditions," the company said in its filing.
Fannie Mae said in its third-quarter earnings report on Thursday that it would need to write down the $5.2 billion investment to zero if "we no longer have the intent and ability to sell or otherwise transfer" the low-income housing tax credits, Bloomberg reports.