Certification, Compliance, Feature, Income Calculations, Maintenance, Rents, Verification

Certification, Compliance, Feature, Income Calculations, Maintenance, Rents, Verification

Use Correct Forms to Get Additional Information About Household Income

September 30, 2015    

When certifying and recertifying low-income households at your tax credit site, you may encounter situations that require you to use special forms to get more information about household income. Sometimes, you’ll need to get household members to complete and sign these forms. At other...

How to Comply with Fair Housing Law When Dealing with People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

September 30, 2015    

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. The law broadly defines “disability” as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. And fair housing law classifies hearing impairments as...

Follow Recordkeeping, Retention Requirements to Prove Tax Credit Compliance

August 31, 2015    

You might think that as long as you’re complying with the tax credit program’s requirements, you’re protecting the owner’s credits. But the owner’s credits aren’t safe unless you can prove your compliance to the IRS and your state housing agency. If you don...

How to Handle Assets Disposed of for Less than Fair Market Value

August 31, 2015    

During the certification or recertification process, residents are required to report all income from all sources to the owner or manager during certification or recertification. One component of annual income is any income the household’s assets generate. And sometimes, households may...

Seven Tips for a Successful Food Waste Collection & Composting Program

July 30, 2015    

By Carolyn E. Zezima, Esq.

Managing Sites Financed by Both Tax-Exempt Bonds and Tax Credits

July 22, 2015    

The owner of a tax credit site you manage may tell you that the site also participates in the tax-exempt bond program. But you might not be entirely sure as to what this means and what compliance issues to be mindful of when management participates in the bond program.

Three Compliance Issues Surrounding Form 8609’s Multiple Building Project Election

June 26, 2015    

You might not realize that whether the tax credit site you manage is a single- or multi-building project site has a significant effect on what you and your staff must do to keep the site in compliance. Yet many tax credit rules and requirements apply differently to sites in which the owner...

How to Document Outside Guidance for Consistent Management Decisions

June 26, 2015    

If you’re like most tax credit managers, you probably contact an outside party such as your state housing agency or a tax credit consultant to get guidance when you’re not sure how to handle certain day-to-day management issues. When you get this guidance, it’s a good idea to...

How to Determine Household Size for Income Eligibility

May 29, 2015    

Correctly determining the size of each low-income household at your site is essential because the income limits you must use to check household eligibility are organized by household size. If you use the wrong limits to certify a household, you’ll make mistakes that will put the owner...

Don't Assume 'Adaptable' Units Satisfy Accessibility Requirements

May 29, 2015    

Federal law imposes numerous accessibility requirements that tax credit sites must follow. If your site was designed and constructed after March 13, 1991, you must make your site readily accessible to and usable by people with disabilities. Federal requirements say that all ground-floor and...

IRS Issues Memo on Tenant Income Increases, Conflicts with Other Housing Programs

May 29, 2015    

The IRS recently released a memo, entitled “Low-Income Housing Credit—Noncompliance Resulting from Conflicting Program,” directed to examiners auditing LIHTC issues. The memo addressed whether a building could continue to qualify as low income under Section 42 of the Internal...

How to Meet Your Site's First-Year Occupancy Requirements

April 30, 2015    

When you start managing a tax credit site, you must meet certain occupancy requirements in the first year of the site’s compliance period. If you don’t meet these requirements, you’ll run into big problems. For example, the site owner may have to forfeit some or even all of the...