Placing a building in service—that is, making it functional within the tax credit program—can be tricky if you’re not sure what’s required and what your options are. And knowing how to place a building in service is important because it affects when your building’s...
If you violate the federal tax credit law and don’t promptly correct the noncompliance, the owner may lose tax credits. Item 11 on IRS Form 8823 (Low-Income Housing Credit Agencies Report of Noncompliance or Building Disposition), which is the form the state housing agency uses to report...
When you place ads to fill vacancies or waiting lists at your tax credit site, what those ads say or how they depict your site can greatly influence who responds. For this reason, fair housing advocacy groups pay close attention to ads for rental housing. If you say or depict the wrong thing,...
On March 23, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (H.R. 1625), a $1.3 trillion spending bill that funds the federal government through Sept. 30, 2018. In addition to preventing a government shutdown, this omnibus spending bill incorporated two key improvements adopted...
In the November 2017 issue of the Insider, we discussed the vacant unit rule and its requirement to make reasonable attempts to rent vacant units (see “Follow Five Dos & Don...
As a tax credit manager, you need to know about certain elections that owners make when they file Form 8609 with the IRS to keep your site in compliance with the tax credit program’s requirements. But because owners complete this form, you may not get to see it. As a result, you may...
When the President declares a major disaster under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, LIHTC sites are afforded temporary relief from certain requirements of the LIHTC program. As a result of Hurricanes Maria, Irma, and Harvey, major disaster declarations have...
To qualify your site for the tax credit program, you must lease up enough units to qualified low-income households. But those units don’t automatically stay low-income for the rest of the compliance period. As a tax credit site’s manager, you must follow rules to make sure units stay...
Good leasing agents can help you fill vacancies quickly with qualified households. But if your agents don’t know enough about the tax credit law, they can also create problems. For instance, there’s no way to know whether prospects are eligible until you’ve calculated and...
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 bans disability-based discrimination in any program or activity that receives federal financial assistance from any federal agency (including HUD) or in any programs conducted by federal agencies. Many tax credit managers haven’t heard of this...
As a tax credit manager, meeting your site’s minimum set-aside is the most important goal. If you meet the set-aside, the owner of your site will be entitled to claim its tax credits. If you don’t meet the set-aside, your site won’t qualify for the tax credit program, which...
A key aspect of your job as a tax credit manager is performing calculations. For instance, you must perform calculations to correctly determine whether a household is eligible to occupy a low-income unit, how much rent you can charge, and how many low-income units you need to set aside at your...
