Tax Relief for Low Income Housing Owners and Tenants
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 emergency, the IRS recently announced that it would be providing tax relief to the owners, tenants, and operators of certain low-income housing projects. For help determining whether you could qualify for this, or another form of tax relief, please contact an experienced Florida tax & IRS attorney who can evaluate your situation and advise you accordingly.
Compliance and Review Moratoriums
Under federal law, taxpayers can qualify for a low income housing credit for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of rental housing targeted to lower income households. In an effort to help businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS is offering additional tax relief to the operators, tenants, and owners of qualifying projects. For instance, the owners of low income housing projects are not required to take certain actions for the remainder of the year, including:
- Performing income recertifications; and
- Reducing the eligible basis of a property due to the COVID-19-related closure of common areas.
State agencies with jurisdiction over these types of projects are also no longer required to monitor the properties for compliance until the end of the year. Building owners, operators, and tenants, however, will be required to begin performing income recertifications again starting on December 31, 2020. Similarly, government agencies will resume compliance monitoring inspections on January 1st of next year.
Extended Deadlines
In addition to compliance and review moratoriums, owners, tenants, and operators of low income housing projects now have until December 31st to perform specific time-sensitive actions, including:
- Satisfying the ten percent test;
- Satisfying the 24 month minimum rehabilitation expenditure period, during which the property owner can incur minimum expenditures for a qualifying building;
- Restoring or replacing damaged property in the event of casualty loss (by reconstruction or replacement); and
- Calculating the 12 month transition period to meet set-asides.
For help determining whether these postponed deadlines could apply to you, please call our office today.
Displaced Individuals
Under the terms of the new regulations, qualifying taxpayers are now allowed to treat medical personnel and other essential workers as though they are displaced. This means that low income housing providers can now offer emergency housing to these individuals without having to satisfy income limitation requirements. This suspension is available to the owners and operators of qualified low income housing projects, as well as qualified residential rental projects financed with exempt facility bonds. To learn more about the other forms of tax relief being offered by the IRS during the COVID-19 emergency, please reach out to our legal team today.
Call or Email Our Florida Legal Team for Help
If you are the tenant, operator, or owner of a low income housing building, you could qualify for COVID-19-related tax relief. Please call experienced Florida tax attorney Ronald Cutler, P.A. at 386-490-9949 today to learn more. Initial consultations are both confidential and free of charge, so please don’t hesitate to call or contact us online to schedule a case review today.
Resource:
huduser.gov/portal/datasets/lihtc.html
https://www.hotlineforhelp.com/changes-made-to-employer-sponsored-section-125-cafeteria-plans/
