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Laucanno Tax Credit AssessmentChristopher Sawyer- Lau�anno, Ph.D. Architectural Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Consultant 70 Prospect Street Turners Falls, MA 01376 -1305 413 - 863 -3027 csl @mit.edu Mr. Steve Strimer Re: Hopkins House June 29, 2011 Dear Steve I had the great pleasure of attending the walk through of the Erastus Hopkins house last week. What an impressive building, and what an absolutely wonderful candidate for historic preservation tax incentives. Not only is the house historically important as a unique example of an underground railway refuge, it also is architecturally significant. I feel very confident that you would receive the full tax credit of 40% for this project, although as a non - profit the process for you to obtain tax credits is somewhat more complicated. The new NPS /IRS regulations for non - profits, however, have loosened up some. I attach as appendices the regulations relating to non - profits and charitable organizations. At present, the easiest way for your group to obtain the credits is to have a proxy entity submit the application. This would mean that your group would enter an agreement with the contractor or the bank allowing them to use the credits to lower either the rehab costs or loan. This for - profit entity could use the credits to offset his /her /their income on a dollar for dollar basis. In other words, if the project costs $300,000, the for- profit entity could claim $120,000 as income reduction on their taxes. They could also sell the credits to another business that needs major tax deductions. Another way is for an individual or business to apply for the tax credits, then donate these credits to your group. They would get a charitable deduction on their taxes. For more specific details, please the appendix. In order to qualify for tax credits owners or designated business or individual must submit very detailed applications first to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), then, after approval by the SHPO, to the National Park Service for federal approval. The deadline for the next state application is August 31, 2011. NPS accepts applications at any time. As the building is to be moved, it would be in the best interests of your group prior to its removal f` to inventory the building, with photographic documentation of all exterior and interior features. f This documentation procedure is often required to demonstrate to the state and federal preservation agencies that the house after moving has not been altered structurally. Once this I f i inventory is completed then you may apply for the tax credits. Although the state and federal applications differ in their specifics, both entities require three parts. Part One is a request for certifying that the building is an historic structure. Part One is a comprehensive review of the structure's importance historically, as well as a complete description accompanied by numerous photographs, of the building as it currently exists. Part Two is a more complex application in that it involves a complete description of all rehabilitation work to be performed, as well as detailed description as to how this work meets both state and federal guidelines for historic preservation. In addition, this part requires a proforma, detailed construction estimates, architectural drawings of the existing building, drawings of all proposed rehabilitation, and notated drawings accompanied by photographs detailing current and proposed work. We will submit both Parts One and Two simultaneously. Part Three is submitted once all work is completed to certify that the rehabilitation met all requirments. In terms of time, the state usually approves applications within 60 days; the feds usually get back to the owners within 30 -45 days. It usually takes me about a month to put the applications together. Overall, the turn- around time is 4 -6 months. Applications normally run between 60 and 100 pages for each of the government entities. I hope this helps. Yours, Chris APPENDIX - NPS REGULATIONS REGARDING TAX EXEMPT CORPORATIONS Rehabilitations Involving Governments and Other Tax - Exempt Entities Property used by governmental bodies, nonprofit organizations, or other tax - exempt entities is not eligible for the rehabilitation tax credit if the tax- exempt entity enters into a disqualified lease (as the lessee) for more than 50% of the property. A disqualified lease occurs when: • Part or all of the property was financed directly or indirectly by an obligation in which the interest is tax - exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 103 (a) and such entity (or related entity) participated in such financing; or, • Under the lease there is a fixed or determinable price for purchase or an option-to buy which involves such entity (or related entity); or, • The lease term is in excess of 20 years; or, • The lease occurs after a sale or lease of the property and the lessee used the property before the sale or lease. Other Tax Incentives for Historic Preservation Other Federal and State tax incentives exist for historic preservation. They may be combined with the rehabilitation tax credit. Charitable Contributions for Historic Preservation Purposes Internal Revenue Code Section 170(h) and Department of the Treasury Regulation Section 1.170A -14 provide for income and estate tax deductions for charitable contributions of partial interests in historic property (principally easements). Generally, the IRS considers that a donation of a qualified real property interest to preserve a historically important land area or a certified historic structure meets the test of a charitable contribution for conservation purposes. For purposes of the charitable contribution provisions only, a certified historic structure need not be depreciable to qualify, and may include the land area on which it is located. A facade easement on a building in a registered historic district must preserve the entire exterior of the building (including its front, sides, rear, and height) and must prohibit any change to the exterior of the building that is inconsistent with its historic character. The easement donor must enter into a written agreement with the organization receiving the easement contribution, and must provide additional substantiation requirements. If the deduction claimed is over $10,000, the taxpayer must pay a $500 filing fee. For additional information, see IRS publication 526. Publication 526 Organizations That Qualify To Receive Deductible Contributions You can deduct your contributions only if you make them to a qualified organization. To become a qualified organization, most organizations other than churches and governments, as described below, must apply to the IRS. Publication 78. You can ask any organization whether it is a qualified organization, and most will be able to tell you Or you can check IRS Publication 78, which lists most qualified organizations. You may find Publication 78 in your local library's reference section. Or you can find it on the Internet at http: / /www.irs.aov /app /pub -78 You can also call the IRS to find out if an organization is qualified. Call 1- 877 - 829 -5500. (ForTTY/TDD help, call 1- 800 - 829 - 4059.) Types of Qualified Organizations Generally, only the five following types of organizations can be qualified organizations. A community chest, corporation, trust, fund, or foundation organized or created in or under the laws of the United States, any state, the District of Columbia, or any possession of the United States (including Puerto Rico). It must be organized and operated only for one or more of the following purposes. a. Religious. b. Charitable. c. Educational. d. Scientific. e. Literary. f. The prevention of cruelty to children or animals. Qualified Conservation Contribution A qualified conservation contribution is a contribution of a qualified real property interest to a qualified organization to be used only for conservation purposes. Qualified organization. For purposes of a qualified conservation contribution, a qualified organization is: • A governmental unit, • A publicly supported charitable, religious, scientific, literary, educational, etc., organization, or • An organization that is controlled by, and operated for the exclusive benefit of, a governmental unit or a publicly supported charity. The organization also must have a commitment to protect the conservation purposes of the donation and must have the resources to enforce the restrictions. Qualified real property interest. This is any of the following interests in real property. 1. Your entire interest in real estate other than a mineral interest (subsurface oil, gas, or other minerals, and the right of access to these minerals). 2. A remainder interest. 3. A restriction (granted in perpetuity) on the use that may be made of the real property. Conservation purposes. Your contribution must be made only for one of the following conservation purposes. • Preserving land areas for outdoor recreation by, or for the education of, the general public. • Protecting a relatively natural habitat of fish, wildlife, or plants, or a similar ecosystem. • Preserving open space, including farmland and forest land, if it yields a significant public benefit. It must be either for the scenic enjoyment of the general public or under a clearly defined federal, state, or local governmental conservation policy. • Preserving a historically important land area or a certified historic structure. Building in registered historic district. If a building in a registered historic district is a certified historic structure, a contribution of a qualified real property interest that is an easement or other restriction on the exterior of the building is deductible only if it meets all of the following three conditions. 1. The restriction must preserve the entire exterior of the building (including its front, sides, rear, and height) and must prohibit any change to the exterior of the building that is inconsistent with its historical character. 2. You and the organization receiving the contribution must enter into a written agreement certifying, under penalty of perjury, that the organization: a. Is a qualified organization with a purpose of environmental protection, land conservation, open space preservation, or historic preservation, and b. Has the resources to manage and enforce the restriction and a commitment to do so. 3. You must include with your return: a. A qualified appraisal, b. Photographs of the building's entire exterior, and c. A description of all restrictions on development of the building, such as zoning laws and restrictive covenants. If you claimed the rehabilitation credit on Form 3468 for the building for any of the 5 years before the year of the contribution, your deduction is reduced. See section 170(f)(14) of the Internal Revenue Code. If you claim a deduction of more than $10,000, your deduction will not be allowed unless you pay a $500 filing fee. See Form 8283 -V, Payment Voucher for Filing Fee Under Section 170(f)(13), and its instructions. More information. For information about determining the fair market value of qualified conservation contributions, see Publication 561. For information about the limits that apply to deductions for this type of contribution, see Limits on Deductions, later. For more information about qualified conservation contributions, see section 1.170A -14 of the regulations. Limits on Deductions If your total contributions for the year are 20% or less of your adjusted gross income, you do not need to read this section. The limits discussed here do not apply to you. The amount of your deduction is limited to 50% of your adjusted gross income, and may be limited to 30% or 20% of your adjusted gross income, depending on the type of property you give and the type of organization you give it to. A different limit applies to certain qualified conservation contributions. These limits are described in detail in this section. Your adjusted gross income is the amount on Form 1040, line 38. If your contributions are more than any of the limits that apply, see Carryovers under How To Figure Your Deduction When Limits Apply, later. Out -of- pocket expenses. Amounts you spend performing services for a charitable organization, which qualify as charitable contributions, are subject to the limit of the organization. For example, the 50% limit applies to amounts you spend on behalf of a church, a 50% limit organization. These amounts are considered a contribution to a qualified organization. Limit on itemized deductions. For 2008, the total of your charitable contributions deduction and certain other itemized deductions may be limited if your adjusted gross income is more than $159,950 ($79,975 if you are married filing separately). This is in addition to the other limits described here. However, this limit does not apply to qualified contributions (as defined under Temporary Suspension of 50% Limit for Midwestern Disaster Area Contributions, later). See the instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040) for more information about this limit. 50% Limit The 50% limit applies to the total of all charitable contributions you make during the year. This means that your deduction for charitable contributions cannot be more than 50% of your adjusted gross income for the year. But there is a higher limit, discussed later, for certain qualified conservation contributions. Also see Temporary Suspension of 50% Limit for Midwestern DisasterArea Contributions, later. _ Only limit for 50% organizations. The 50% limit is the only limit that applies to gifts to organizations listed below under 50% Limit Organizations. But there is one exception. Exception. A special 30% limit also applies to these gifts if they are gifts of capital gain property for which you figure your deduction using fair market value without reduction for appreciation. (See Special 30% Limit for Capital Gain Property, later.) 50% Limit Organizations You can ask any organization whether it is a 50% limit organization, and most will be able to tell you. Or you may check IRS Publication 78 (described earlier). Only the following types of organizations are 50% limit organizations. 1. Churches, and conventions or associations of churches. 2. Educational organizations with a regular faculty and curriculum that normally have a regularly enrolled student body attending classes on site. 3. Hospitals and certain medical research organizations associated with these hospitals. 4. Organizations that are operated only to receive, hold, invest, and administer property and to make expenditures to or for the benefit of state and municipal colleges and universities and that normally receive substantial support from the United States or any state or their political subdivisions, or from the general public. 5. The United States or any state, the District of Columbia, a U.S. possession (including Puerto Rico), a political subdivision of a state or U.S. possession, or an Indian tribal government or any of its subdivisions that perform substantial government functions. 6. Corporations, trusts, or community chests, funds, or foundations organized and operated only for charitable, religious, educational, scientific, or literary purposes, or to prevent cruelty to children or animals, or to foster certain national or international amateur sports competition. These organizations must be "publicly supported," which means they normally must receive a substantial part of their support, other than income from their exempt activities, from direct or indirect contributions from the general public or from governmental units. 7. Organizations that may not qualify as "publicly supported" under (6) but that meet other tests showing they respond to the needs of the general public, not a limited number of donors or other persons. They must normally receive more than one - third of their support either from organizations described in (1) through (6), or from persons other than "disqualified persons." 8. Most organizations operated or controlled by, and operated for the benefit of, those organizations described in (1) through (7). 9. Private operating foundation. 10. Private nonoperating foundations that make qualifying distributions of 100% of contributions within 2 months following the year they receive the contribution. A deduction for charitable contributions to any of these private nonoperating foundations must be supported by evidence from the foundation confirming that it made the qualifying distributions timely. Attach a copy of this supporting data to your tax return. 11. A private foundation whose contributions are pooled into a common fund, if the foundation would be described in (8) above but for the right of substantial contributors to name the public charities that receive contributions from the fund. The foundation must distribute the common fund's income within 2� /z months following the tax year in which it was realized and must distribute the corpus not later than 1 year after the donor's death (or after the death of the donor's surviving spouse if the spouse can name the recipients of the corpus). Temporary Suspension of 50% Limit for Midwestern Disaster Area Contributions The 50% limit does not apply to your "qualified contributions." A qualified contribution is a charitable contribution paid in cash or by check to a 50% limit organization if you make an election to have the 50% limit not apply to these contributions. To make the election, figure and claim your deduction for these contributions without applying the 50% limit. A qualified contribution must also meet all of the following requirements. • It must be paid after May 1, 2008, and before January 1, 2009. • ..It must be.for relief efforts in certain Midwestern disaster areas.. • You must get an acknowledgement from the organization that the contribution is for relief efforts in one or more Midwestern disaster areas. Your deduction for qualified contributions is limited to your adjusted gross income minus your deduction for all other charitable contributions. You can carry over any contributions you are not able to deduct for 2008 because of this limit. In 2009; treat the carryover of your unused qualified contributions like a carryover of contributions subject to the 50% limit. Exception. Qualified contributions do not include contributions to certain organizations described in section 509(a)(3) or contributions to establish a new, or maintain an existing, donor advised fund. - - Special Limit for Qualified Conservation Your deduction for qualified conservation contributions (QCCs) is limited to 50% of your adjusted gross income minus your deduction for all other charitable contributions. You can carry over any contributions you are not able to deduct for 2008 because of this limit. See Carryovers, later. 100% limit for QCCs of farmers and ranchers. If you area qualified farmer or rancher, your deduction for QCCs is limited to 100 %, rather than 50 %, of your adjusted gross income minus your deduction for all other charitable contributions. However, if the donated property is used in agriculture or livestock production (or is available for such production), the contribution must be subject to a restriction that the property remain available for such production. If not, the limit is 50 %. Qualified farmer or rancher. You area qualified farmer or rancher if your gross income from the trade or business of farming is more than 50% of your gross income for the year. How To Figure Your Deduction When Limits Apply If your contributions are subject to more than one of the limits just discussed, you can deduct them as follows. 1. Contributions subject only to the 50% limit, up to 50% of your adjusted gross income. 2. Contributions subject to the 30% limit, up to the lesser of: a. 30% of adjusted gross income, or b. 50% of adjusted gross income minus your contributions to 50% limit organizations, including contributions of capital gain property subject to the special 30% limit. 3. Contributions of capital gain property subject to the special 30% limit, up to the lesser of: a. 30% of adjusted gross income, or b. 50% of adjusted gross income minus your other contributions to 50% limit organizations. Carryovers You can carry over your contributions that you are not able to deduct in the current year because they exceed your adjusted - gross- income limits. You can deduct the excess in each of the next 5 years until it is used up, but not beyond that time. Your total contributions deduction for the year to which you carry your contributions cannot exceed 50% of your adjusted gross income for that year. A carryover of a qualified conservation contribution can be carried forward for 15 years. Contributions you carry over are subject to the same percentage limits in the year to which they are carried. For example, contributions subject to the 20% limit in the year in which they are made are 20% limit contributions in the year to which they are carried. For each category of contributions, you deduct carryover contributions only after deducting all allowable contributions in that category for the current year. If you have carryovers from 2 or more prior years, use the carryover from the earlier year first. - Cash Contributions Cash contributions include those paid by cash, check, electronic funds transfer, credit card, or payroll deduction. You cannot deduct a cash contribution, regardless of the amount, unless you keep one of the following. . 1. A bank record that shows the name of the qualified organization, the date of the contribution, and the amount of the contribution. Bank records may include: a. A canceled check, b. A bank or credit union statement, or c. A credit card statement. 2. A receipt (or a letter or other written communication) from the qualified organization showing the name of the organization, the date of the contribution, and the amount of the contribution. 3. The payroll deduction records described next. Acknowledgment. The acknowledgment must meet these tests. 1. It must be written. 2. It must include: a. The amount of cash you contributed, b. Whether the qualified organization gave you any goods or services as a result of your contribution (other than certain token items and membership benefits), c. A description and good faith estimate of the value of any goods or services described in (b) (other than intangible religious benefits), and d. A statement that the only benefit you received was an intangible religious benefit, if that was the case. The acknowledgment does not need to describe or estimate the value of an intangible religious benefit. An intangible religious benefit is a benefit that generally is not sold in commercial transactions outside a donative (gift) context. An example is admission to a religious ceremony. 3. You must get it on or before the earlier of: a. The date you file your return for the year you make the contribution, or b. The due date, including extensions, for filing the return. If the acknowledgment does not show the date of the contribution, you must also have a bank record or receipt, as described earlier, that does show the date of the contribution. If the acknowledgment does show the date of the contribution and meets the other tests just described, you do not need any other records. Deductions Over $5,000 If you claim a deduction of over $5,000 for a charitable contribution of one property item or a group of similar property items, you must have the acknowledgment and the written records described under Deductions Over $500 But Not Over $5,000. In figuring whether your deduction is over $5,000, combine your claimed deductions for all similar items donated to any charitable organization during the year. Generally, you must also obtain a qualified written appraisal of the donated property from a qualified appraiser. See Deductions of More Than $5,000 in Publication 561 for more information. How To Report Report your charitable contributions on lines 16 through 19 of Schedule A (Form 1040). Qualified Conservation Contribution If the gift was a "qualified conservation contribution," your records must also include the fair market value of the _ _ I underlying property before and after the gift and the conservation purpose furthered by the gift.