Nebraska Affordable Housing Tax Credit – Program Update September 16, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — LB 884 (the “Affordable Housing Tax Credit Act” or the “Act”), passed during the 2016 Nebraska Legislative Session, created the Nebraska Affordable Housing Tax Credit (“AHTC”). The Act directs that the AHTC be allocated and administered in a process essentially parallel to that applicable to the Federal Section 42 Low Income Housing Tax Credit (“LIHTC”). Pursuant to the Act, the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (“NIFA”) is charged with the allocation of the AHTC. NIFA, by law, is directed to deploy the AHTC resource in coordination with the Nebraska Department of Revenue (the “Department of Revenue”) and the Governor’s Policy Research Office (the “Policy Research Office”).
As provided in the Act, the AHTC will be available for projects placed in service after January 1, 2018. The AHTC may first be claimed for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019.
NIFA staff has met with both the Nebraska Department of Revenue and the Governor’s office to discuss administrative matters, policy questions and internal management protocols for the administration of the AHTC program. These discussions identified several items which require further review or clarification.
Accordingly, while the process for development of the 2017 Qualified Allocation Plan for the federal LIHTC is underway, the process and publication of proposed rules for the allocation of the Nebraska AHTC will not commence until the items to be clarified are resolved. NIFA estimates this review and clarification process could take another 30 to 60 days.
At the conclusion of the review and clarification process, NIFA will provide notification to the public of the process to be followed for the application and allocation of the AHTC and will commence to integrate the allocation of the AHTC into a combined Federal/State Low Income Housing Tax Credit allocation process.
NIFA appreciates the input we have received from the tax credit community and we welcome your continued input. We look forward to working with you as the AHTC program details are reviewed, developed and deployed.
