In the News
June 30, 2017
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) recently delivered a speech on his vision for tax reform at the 2017 National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Summit. He indicated his hopes to see a comprehensive tax reform bill passed by the end of 2017. “Our goal is to get it done by the end of the year,...
In the News
June 30, 2017
The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JCHS) recently released “The State of the Nation’s Housing” report for 2017. The report shows that 37 percent of American households now rent. This marks a 50-year high. The report also finds that the supply of rental...
In the News
June 30, 2017
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) recently released a letter inviting feedback on tax reform. Hatch invited recommendations on a variety of tax-related topics, including four key issue areas—individual income tax relief for middle-class individuals and families, lowering...
In the News
June 30, 2017
Representatives from the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury recently spoke at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development. The representatives did not speak on behalf of their respective agencies, but rather provided personal...
Dos & Don'ts
June 30, 2017
When you calculate a household’s income to determine if it’s qualified, total the income of all the household’s members, even if they’re not related. If you make the mistake of counting members’ incomes separately, you’re likely to determine that their household...
Dos & Don'ts
June 30, 2017
Don’t include the value of any approved federal or state rent subsidies the owner gets for a household when you calculate the household’s income and rent. If you do, you may charge the household too much rent. Or you may lose out on renting to a qualified household because you...
Dos & Don'ts
June 30, 2017
Make sure that you verify every source of income a household reports. A household isn’t qualified unless you have the verifications to prove it. So if you accept a household without verifying all its income, the owner won’t be able to claim tax credits for the household’s unit....
Feature
May 31, 2017
Some tax credit sites may require a household to get a third party to sign a lease guaranty if its ability to pay the rent is questionable. In a guaranty, a third party (known as a guarantor) becomes legally responsible for the rent in case the household doesn’t pay. And sometimes, a...
Compliance
May 31, 2017
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 verified...
Compliance
May 31, 2017
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 law...
