Tax credit sites are required to abide by the nondiscrimination provisions of the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) and their state or local fair housing laws. It's imperative that site owners and managers know the rules. The IRS has stated that a finding of discrimination by the Justice...
Deep rent-skewing is an attractive option for sites in cities where market-rate rents are high. If you manage or are about to manage a site in such a city, your site’s owner may have decided that it was more economically feasible to make your site “deep rent-skewed.” The owner...
Every manager’s worst nightmare is a violent crime against a resident at his tax credit site. And compounding the tragedy of the crime is the risk of liability. You could be held liable for the crime if you knew your residents were at risk of that type of crime. In legal terms, the crime...
It’s common to hire new employees who may have some experience in conventional site management, but no experience in tax credit site management. Because the tax credit program is complicated, you can’t expect these new employees to learn all the rules overnight. But until they get...
When your state housing agency tells you the date it plans to inspect low-income units at your tax credit site, it’s a good idea to tell your residents. You can send a letter to residents telling them the date of the inspection and why the agency may be visiting their units. We’ve...
If students want to live in low-income units at your tax credit site, you must make sure you comply with the student rule. This rule says that, generally speaking, households composed entirely of full-time students aren’t eligible to occupy low-income units at any time during the...
Suppose an applicant or a household member at your tax credit site tells you she has been in an automobile accident and will be on disability for a while. She has no idea when it will be possible for her to work again. In the case of the household member, if your site isn’t a 100 percent...
When certifying low-income households at your tax credit site, you may encounter a situation in which you need to calculate income for military personnel. You may find the process difficult because you may have trouble obtaining the right documentation to prove to your state housing agency and...
You’ve placed ads in the newspaper and on the Internet to market your tax credit site. Your efforts prove successful, and before you know it you’re busy handling phone calls and visits from prospects. When this happens, you should be prepared to make the most of your first meeting...
Whether you’re a long-time subscriber or a new one, you can test your knowledge—and that of your staff—on various compliance topics we’ve covered in the past year by taking the quiz in this Special Issue. The questions touch on topics ranging from income calculations and...
As a tax credit manager, your main goal is to make sure that the owner of your site can claim all the credits allocated to the site. To do this, you must keep your site in compliance with the tax credit law throughout the compliance period. But because the tax credit program’s requirements...
