Novogradac & Company Llp

The United States Tax Court ruled in a Feb. 20 decision that a taxpayer was correct to include bond issuance costs in eligible basis for a 4% low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) property in New York City. That decision ran counter to more than two decades of practice that followed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance from as far back as 2000 that said including such costs was disallowed. In the latest installment of Tax Credit Tuesday, Michael Novogradac, CPA, and Nicolo Pinoli, CPA, discuss the details of the case in question before the court as well as the possible ramifications of the decision, including what the IRS could do now and what this decision could mean for credit allocating agencies, developers, investors and others who build multifamily affordable rental housing using LIHTCs.