Drawing on tap for projects awaiting historic preservation tax credits

STATE TAX officials will hold a drawing this month to refine the lineup for building renovation projects awaiting state historic preservation tax credits.
STATE TAX officials will hold a drawing this month to refine the lineup for building renovation projects awaiting state historic preservation tax credits.

PROVIDENCE – State tax officials will hold a drawing this month to refine the lineup for building renovation projects awaiting state historic preservation tax credits.
Eighty projects are waiting for funds, according to a notice announcing the Jan. 26 drawing, released by the R.I. Division of Taxation.
The state’s program, designed to help spur economic growth through reinvestment in historic properties, has only $3.5 million remaining in unallocated credits.
The list of would-be projects includes 39 applications made since August 2013, when the state established an initial lineup, and waiting list, for the tax credits, according to Michael Canole, chief of examinations for the state’s Division of Taxation.
The $3.5 million in tax credits that remains unallocated is part of the $34.5 million made available in 2013, when credits that had been allocated in previous years, but were unused, were redistributed among new applicants.
As soon as the funds were made available, the program was over-subscribed, so the state in August 2013 held a lottery-style drawing. Of the 41 applications made for the funds at that time, 32 made the cutoff for available credits, while nine were placed on a wait list. Seven more applications came in following the deadline for the lottery, and were placed in line in order of application, according to the division.
The queue is somewhat fluid. As development projects drop off for various reasons, other applications can move ahead. In December, for example, NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley received approval for slightly more than $1 million in credits, despite initially falling below the “cutoff” line. Another project ahead in line had fallen through.
Since the 2013 lottery, 39 more applicants have requested tax credits. The drawing on Jan. 26 will serve as a “tie-breaker” for nine applications made in 2014, which arrived on the same date, according to the notice.
The drawing will be held in a public session, but the projects will not be identified, according to the division, which said state law requires taxpayer information to be kept confidential with only specific exceptions. The agency releases the information once projects are approved by the state Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, and applicants sign a tax credit contract.
A list of projects with approved contracts is available at www.tax.ri.gov/taxcreditreports/historictax2013.php.

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