State housing agencies incur expenses to monitor your site throughout the 15 years of the compliance period. The IRS allows the agencies to pass some of these expenses on to owners as “compliance monitoring fees.” As the manager of a tax credit site, you’re responsible for...
Every tax credit site must meet and maintain a “minimum set-aside” throughout the 15-year compliance period to qualify for the tax credit program. To meet the set-aside, you must rent a certain percentage of the units in your building or site to qualified low-income households.
IRS auditors may flag sites for further review based on state agencies’ noncompliance reports. The owner’s tax returns and IRS Form 8823 noncompliance reports and other information are initially evaluated. If it’s determined that an audit is needed, an IRS auditor will formally...
In the Fall 2016 Special Issue, we discussed how a site owner may comply with first-year certification requirements under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 42(l)(1). Making the certification involves Form 8609, Low-Income Housing Credit Allocation and Certification. The agency executes Part I...
At some tax credit sites, setting up a household file may mean randomly tossing all the paperwork concerning a household into a folder. Or household files may be organized in a way that’s understood by only one or two staffers. But practices like these can cost the owner its tax credits....
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program is the country’s most extensive affordable housing program. The program was added to Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) in 1986 to provide private owners with an incentive to create and maintain affordable housing. The LIHTC...
As the end of the calendar year nears, your site’s annual certification to your state housing agency is approaching. Under Treasury Regulation Section 1.42-5(c)(1), owners are required to certify to the state agency that allocated the credit at least annually that, for the preceding 12-...
In addition to annual certifications, owners are required to complete a “First-Year Certification” under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 42(l)(1). The certification is made to identify specific information needed for the administration of the program and document specific...
An owner may hire you to manage tax credit sites in a different state from the one where your current tax credit sites are located. You may think that because the tax credit program is a federal program, you can simply apply the same rules you’re currently complying with to the site in the...
The owner of a tax credit site you manage may tell you that the site also gets bonds—that is, participates in the tax-exempt bond program. Owners who get approved for these bonds for their site enjoy a tax-exempt status, which means they get lower interest rates on mortgages. They also don...
You probably know that when a low-income household’s income exceeds 140 percent of the income limit (or 170 percent in the case of deep rent-skewed units), you must follow the Next Available Unit (NAU) rule to make sure the owner can continue claiming credits for the over-income unit. But...
Suppose people showed up at your management office with official-looking badges and asked to see a copy of a resident’s file. Chances are you may not have encountered a situation like this before. Many well-meaning managers would probably hand over the file, especially if the agents said...
