Connecticut 2024 2024 Regular Session

Connecticut House Bill HB05190 Comm Sub / Bill

Filed 04/09/2024

                     
 
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General Assembly  Substitute Bill No. 5190  
February Session, 2024 
 
 
 
 
 
AN ACT CONCERNING THE HISTORIC HOMES REHABILITATION 
TAX CREDIT.  
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General 
Assembly convened: 
 
Section 1. Section 10-416 of the 2024 supplement to the general 1 
statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2 
(Effective July 1, 2024, and applicable to taxable and income years commencing 3 
on or after January 1, 2024): 4 
(a) As used in this section, the following terms shall have the 5 
following meanings unless the context clearly indicates another 6 
meaning: 7 
(1) "Department" means the Department of Economic and 8 
Community Development; 9 
(2) "Historic home" means a building that: (A) Will contain one-to-10 
four dwelling units of which at least one unit will be occupied as the 11 
principal residence of the owner for not less than five years following 12 
the completion of rehabilitation work, and (B) is (i) listed individually 13 
on the National or State Register of Historic Places, or (ii) located in a 14 
district listed on the National or State Register of Historic Places, and 15 
has been certified by the department as contributing to the historic 16 
character of such district; 17  Substitute Bill No. 5190 
 
 
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(3) "Nonprofit corporation" means a nonprofit corporation 18 
incorporated pursuant to chapter 602 or any predecessor statutes 19 
thereto, having as one of its purposes the construction, rehabilitation, 20 
ownership or operation of housing and having articles of incorporation 21 
approved by the Commissioner of Economic and Community 22 
Development in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to 23 
section 8-79a or 8-84; 24 
(4) "Owner" means (A) any taxpayer filing a state of Connecticut tax 25 
return who possesses title to an historic home, or prospective title to an 26 
historic home in the form of a purchase agreement or option to 27 
purchase, or (B) a nonprofit corporation that possesses such title or 28 
prospective title; 29 
(5) "Qualified rehabilitation expenditures" means any costs incurred 30 
for the physical construction involved in the rehabilitation of an historic 31 
home, but excludes: (A) The owner's personal labor, (B) the cost of site 32 
improvements, unless to provide building access to persons with 33 
disabilities, (C) the cost of a new addition, except as may be required to 34 
comply with any provision of the State Building Code or the Fire Safety 35 
Code, (D) any cost associated with the rehabilitation of an outbuilding, 36 
unless such building contributes to the historical significance of the 37 
historic home, and (E) any nonconstruction cost such as architectural 38 
fees, legal fees and financing fees; 39 
(6) "Rehabilitation plan" means any construction plans and 40 
specifications for the proposed rehabilitation of an historic home in 41 
sufficient detail to enable the department to evaluate compliance with 42 
the standards developed under the provisions of subsections (b), (c) and 43 
(m) of this section; and 44 
(7) "Occupancy period" means a period of five years during which 45 
one or more owners occupy an historic home as such owner's or owners' 46 
primary residence. The occupancy period begins on the date the tax 47 
credit voucher is issued by the Department of Economic and 48 
Community Development. 49  Substitute Bill No. 5190 
 
 
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(b) The Department of Economic and Community Development shall 50 
administer a system of tax credit vouchers within the resources, 51 
requirements and purposes of this section for owners rehabilitating 52 
historic homes or taxpayers making contributions to qualified 53 
rehabilitation expenditures. Any owner shall be eligible for a tax credit 54 
voucher in an amount equal to thirty per cent of the qualified 55 
rehabilitation expenditures. 56 
(c) The department shall develop standards for the approval of 57 
rehabilitation of historic homes for which a tax credit voucher is sought. 58 
Such standards shall take into account whether the rehabilitation of an 59 
historic home will preserve the historic character of the building. 60 
(d) Prior to beginning any rehabilitation work on an historic home, 61 
the owner shall submit a rehabilitation plan to the department for a 62 
determination of whether such rehabilitation work meets the standards 63 
developed under the provisions of subsections (b), (c) and (m) of this 64 
section and shall also submit to the department an estimate of the 65 
qualified rehabilitation expenditures. 66 
(e) If the department certifies that the rehabilitation plan conforms to 67 
the standards developed under the provisions of subsections (b), (c) and 68 
(m) of this section, the department shall reserve for the benefit of the 69 
owner an allocation for a tax credit equivalent to thirty per cent of the 70 
projected qualified rehabilitation expenditures. 71 
(f) Following the completion of rehabilitation of an historic home, the 72 
owner shall notify the department that such rehabilitation has been 73 
completed. The owner shall provide t he department with 74 
documentation of work performed on the historic home and shall certify 75 
the cost incurred in rehabilitating the home. The department shall 76 
review such rehabilitation and verify its compliance with the 77 
rehabilitation plan. Following such verification, the department shall 78 
issue a tax credit voucher to either the owner rehabilitating the historic 79 
home or to the taxpayer named by the owner as contributing to the 80 
rehabilitation. The tax credit voucher shall be in an amount equivalent 81  Substitute Bill No. 5190 
 
 
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to the lesser of (1) the tax credit reserved upon certification of the 82 
rehabilitation plan under the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, 83 
or (2) thirty per cent of the actual qualified rehabilitation expenditures. 84 
In order to obtain a credit against any state tax due that is specified in 85 
subsection (i) of this section, the holder of the tax credit voucher shall 86 
file the voucher with the holder's state tax return. 87 
(g) Before the department issues a tax credit voucher, the owner shall 88 
deliver a signed statement to the department that provides that: (1) The 89 
owner shall occupy the historic home as the owner's primary residence 90 
during the occupancy period; (2) the owner shall convey the historic 91 
home to a new owner who will occupy it as the new owner's primary 92 
residence during the occupancy period; or (3) an encumbrance shall be 93 
recorded, in favor of the local, state or federal government or other 94 
funding source, that will require the owner or the owner's successors to 95 
occupy the historic home as the primary residence of the owner or the 96 
owner's successors for a period equal to or longer than the occupancy 97 
period. A copy of any such encumbrance shall be attached to the signed 98 
statement. 99 
(h) The owner of an historic home shall not be eligible for a tax credit 100 
voucher under subsections (b), (c) and (m) of this section, unless the 101 
owner incurs qualified rehabilitation expenditures exceeding fifteen 102 
thousand dollars. 103 
(i) (1) The Commissioner of Revenue Services shall grant a tax credit: 104 
(A) (i) For a taxpayer holding a tax credit voucher issued prior to 105 
January 1, 2024, under subsections (d) to (h), inclusive, of this section, 106 
against any tax due under chapter 207, 208, 209, 210, 211 or 212 in the 107 
amount specified in the tax credit voucher. 108 
(ii) Any unused portion of such credit under this subparagraph may 109 
be carried forward to any or all of the four income years following the 110 
year in which the tax credit voucher is issued; and 111 
(B) (i) For a taxpayer [described under subparagraph (A) of 112  Substitute Bill No. 5190 
 
 
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subdivision (4) of subsection (a) of this section] holding a tax credit 113 
voucher issued on or after January 1, 2024, under subsections (d) to (h), 114 
inclusive, of this section, against [the] any tax due under chapter 207, 115 
208, 208a, 209, 210, 211, 212 or 229 in the amount specified in the tax 116 
credit voucher. 117 
(ii) If a taxpayer described under subparagraph (A) of subdivision (4) 118 
of subsection (a) of this section holding such tax credit voucher claims a 119 
credit against the tax imposed under chapter 229 and the amount of the 120 
tax credit voucher exceeds the taxpayer's liability for [the] such tax, 121 
[imposed under chapter 229,] the Commissioner of Revenue Services 122 
shall treat such excess as an overpayment and, except as provided under 123 
section 12-739 or 12-742, shall refund the amount of such excess, without 124 
interest, to the taxpayer. [; and] 125 
[(C) (i) For an owner that is a nonprofit corporation holding a tax 126 
credit voucher issued on or after January 1, 2024, under subsections (d) 127 
to (h), inclusive, of this section, against the tax due under chapter 208a 128 
in the amount specified in the tax credit voucher.] 129 
[(ii) Any] (iii) If a taxpayer holding such tax credit voucher claims a 130 
credit against any tax imposed under chapter 207, 208, 208a, 209, 210, 131 
211 or 212, any unused portion of such credit under this subparagraph 132 
may be carried forward to any or all of the four income years following 133 
the year in which the tax credit voucher is issued. 134 
(2) The Department of Economic and Community Development shall 135 
provide a copy of the voucher to the Commissioner of Revenue Services 136 
upon the request of said commissioner. 137 
(j) A credit allowed under this section shall not exceed thirty 138 
thousand dollars per dwelling unit for an historic home, except that 139 
such credit shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars per such dwelling 140 
unit for an owner that is a nonprofit corporation. 141 
(k) The tax credit granted under subsection (i) of this section shall be 142 
taken in the same tax year in which the tax credit voucher is issued.  143  Substitute Bill No. 5190 
 
 
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(l) The aggregate amount of all tax credits that may be reserved by 144 
the Department of Economic and Community Development upon 145 
certification of rehabilitation plans under subsections (b) to (d), 146 
inclusive, of this section shall not exceed three million dollars in any one 147 
fiscal year. On and after July 1, 2015, seventy per cent of the tax credits 148 
reserved pursuant to this section shall be for owners rehabilitating 149 
historic homes that are located in a regional center as designated in the 150 
state plan of conservation and development adopted by the General 151 
Assembly pursuant to section 16a-30 or taxpayers making contributions 152 
to qualified rehabilitation expenditures on historic homes that are 153 
located in a regional center as designated in the state plan of 154 
conservation and development adopted by the General Assembly 155 
pursuant to section 16a-30. 156 
(m) The Department of Economic and Community Development 157 
may, in consultation with the Commissioner of Revenue Services, adopt 158 
regulations in accordance with chapter 54 to carry out the purposes of 159 
this section. 160 
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following 
sections: 
 
Section 1 July 1, 2024, and 
applicable to taxable and 
income years commencing 
on or after January 1, 2024 
10-416 
 
CE Joint Favorable Subst.