The agency had a backlog of 22 ruling requests when it reopened the rulings window last October after a hiatus of about a year and a half. It had worked through 20 of the requests by late January and hoped to finish the last two by February 1. No new ruling requests have come in since October.

In the meantime, at least four projects are under audit. The IRS appears to be probing whether the projects were placed in service in time to qualify for tax credits. The deadline was June 1998. Audits of other projects are expected.