2 C.F.R. § 200.449 – Interest.

(a) General. Costs incurred for interest on borrowed capital, temporary use of endowment funds, or the use of the recipient's or subrecipient's own funds are unallowable. Financing costs (including interest) to acquire, construct, or replace capital assets are allowable, subject to the requirements of this section.
(b) Capital assets.
1. (1) Capital assets is defined in § 200.1. An asset cost includes (as applicable) acquisition costs, construction costs, and other costs capitalized in accordance with GAAP.
2. (2) For recipient or subrecipient fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, intangible assets include patents and computer software. For software development projects, only interest attributable to the portion of the project costs capitalized in accordance with GAAP is allowable.
(c) Requirements for all recipients and subrecipients.
1. (1) The recipient or subrecipient uses the capital assets in support of Federal awards;
2. (2) The allowable asset costs to acquire facilities and equipment are limited to a fair market value available to the recipient or subrecipient from an unrelated (arm's length) third party.
3. (3) The recipient or subrecipient obtains the financing via an arm's-length transaction (meaning, a transaction with an unrelated third party); or claims reimbursement of actual interest cost at a rate available via such a transaction.
4. (4) The recipient or subrecipient limits claims for Federal reimbursement of interest costs to the least expensive alternative. For example, a lease contract that transfers ownership by the end of the contract may be determined less costly than purchasing through other types of debt financing, in which case reimbursement must be limited to the amount of interest determined if leasing had been used.
5. (5) The recipient or subrecipient expenses or capitalizes allowable interest cost in accordance with GAAP.
6. (6) Earnings generated by the investment of borrowed funds pending their disbursement for the asset costs are used to offset the current period's allowable interest cost, whether that cost is expensed or capitalized. Earnings subject to being reported to the Federal Internal Revenue Service under arbitrage requirements are excludable.
7. (7) The following conditions must apply to debt arrangements over $1 million to purchase or construct facilities unless the recipient or subrecipient makes an initial equity contribution to the purchase of 25 percent or more. For this purpose, “initial equity contribution” means the amount or value of contributions made by the recipient or subrecipient for the acquisition of facilities prior to occupancy.
  1. (i) The recipient or subrecipient must reduce claims for reimbursement of interest cost by an amount equal to imputed interest earnings on excess cash flow attributable to the portion of the facility used for Federal awards.
  2. (ii) The recipient or subrecipient must impute interest on excess cash flow as follows:
    1. (A) Annually, the recipient or subrecipient must prepare a cumulative (from the project's inception) report of monthly cash inflows and outflows, regardless of the funding source. For this purpose, inflows consist of Federal reimbursement for depreciation, amortization of capitalized construction interest, and annual interest cost. Outflows consist of initial equity contributions, debt principal payments (less the pro-rata share attributable to the cost of land), and interest payments.
    2. (B) To compute monthly cash inflows and outflows, the recipient or subrecipient must divide the above-mentioned annual amounts by the months in the year (usually 12) that the building is in service.
    3. (C) For any month in which cumulative cash inflows exceed cumulative outflows, interest must be calculated on the excess inflows for that month and be treated as a reduction to allowable interest cost. The interest rate to be used must be the three-month Treasury bill closing rate as of the last business day of that month.
8. (8) Interest attributable to a fully depreciated asset is unallowable.
(d) Additional requirements for states, local governments and Indian Tribes. For interest costs to be allowable for states, local governments, and Indian Tribes, the recipient or subrecipient must have incurred the interest costs for buildings after October 1, 1980, or after September 1, 1995, for land and equipment.
1. (1) The requirement to offset the interest earned on borrowed funds against allowable interest cost (paragraph (c)(5) of this section) also applies to earnings on debt service reserve funds.
2. (2) The recipient or subrecipient must negotiate the amount of allowable interest cost related to the acquisition of facilities with asset costs of $1 million or more, as described in paragraph (c)(7) of this section. For this purpose, a recipient or subrecipient must consider only cash inflows and outflows attributable to that portion of the real property used for Federal awards.
(e) Additional requirements for IHEs. For interest costs to be allowable, the IHE must have incurred the interest costs after July 1, 1982, in connection with acquisitions of capital assets that occurred after that date.
(f) Additional requirements for nonprofit organizations. For interest costs to be allowable, the nonprofit organization must have incurred the interest costs after September 29, 1995, in connection with acquisitions of capital assets that occurred after that date.
(g) Requirements for nonprofit organizations subject to full coverage under CAS. The interest allowability provisions of this section do not apply to a nonprofit organization subject to “full coverage” under the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), as defined at 48 CFR 9903.201-2(a). The nonprofit organization's Federal awards are instead subject to CAS 414 (48 CFR 9904.414), “Cost of Money as an Element of the Cost of Facilities Capital,” and CAS 417 (48 CFR 9904.417), “Cost of Money as an Element of the Cost of Capital Assets Under Construction.”