The federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC or Housing Tax Credit) program is sponsored by the U.S. Treasury Department. We are proud to administer this program for Virginia, which encourages the development of affordable rental housing by providing owners a federal income tax credit. It also provides incentive for private investors to participate in the construction and rehabilitation of housing for low-income families.
We accept applications for 9% Housing Tax Credits once a year, usually in mid-March. The process is competitive and applications are ranked according to scoring criteria outlined in our Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). The scores in the pools are used to subdivide the available per capita credits. Reservations are then made to developments in order of rank, as long as credits are available within the given pools.
Developments financed with tax-exempt bonds are eligible to apply for housing tax credits on a rolling basis and do not need to compete for credits. These applications must meet the minimum requirements of the QAP to be eligible for Housing Tax Credits, however they do not contain the same placed-in-service time restraints as the competitive 9% Housing Tax Credits.