Historic Tax Credits – First of a Three-Part Series

By Abby Hood, CPA

Somedays it feels like I follow more old houses and housing/building rehabilitations on Instagram than people. I love a good before and after photo. I’m also a believer in the phrase “they don’t build them like they used to,” when it comes to buildings and houses. The ornate woodwork, high ceilings, grand staircases, crown molding, pocket doors, transom windows, exposed brick/stone, and clawfoot tubs, are a few things I love to see in any home or building, especially when it is original to the structure or modeled off the original structure.

I’ve had a love of old buildings and houses since I was a child. I remember taking photos of a house on the National Registry of Historic Places (the Registry) in my grandparent’s town of Rock Port, Missouri for a 4-H project. My grandma and granddad gave me a history lesson on this house (it was added to the Registry for its age and architectural significant to the area) and a few other historical properties around town. I was fascinated!

My house was built in the 1940s and I personally refinished the hardwood floors on most of the main floor. Refinishing the hardwood floors is hard work but also very satisfying - the before and after photos still make me smile.

My house is not historic and will most likely never be on the Registry, but a girl can dream that maybe one day I’ll own a house worthy of being on the Registry or even better, already on the Registry! In the meantime, I can live vicariously through the clients we serve and their rehabilitation of historic structures to receive Historic Tax Credits (HTC). Who knew that my love for old structures could be part of my everyday work at MHCS (bonus for me!).

The benefit of HTC is twofold. First a structure, a part of history, has been preserved for future generations and second, credits are earned to either be claimed on an entity’s tax return or sold to pay down a portion of costs incurred to renovate the structure. Stay tuned for part two of the three-part series for details on what it takes to apply for and obtain HTC.

Abby Hood, CPA | Manager
AHood@MHCScpa.com