4% Housing Tax Credits

Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code establishes that, under certain circumstances, 4% Housing Tax Credits (HTC) may be available for projects that receive an allocation of tax-exempt volume limited bonds. Minnesota has two different agencies for the distribution of tax-exempt volume limited bonding authority and HTC. Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) is the primary allocating agency for tax-exempt volume limited bonding authority and Minnesota Housing is the primary agency for awarding 4% HTC.

Minnesota Housing’s Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) is the agency’s plan for the distribution of HTCs. The QAP and corresponding documents are published every two years. The following documents set forth the overall funding priorities for all the HTC funding rounds and the annual Multifamily Consolidated Request for Proposals (RFP). The year in which tax-exempt volume limited bonds are issued in an amount sufficient to meet the 50% test for 4% HTC determines which year’s QAP applies to the project.

• 2024-2025 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) (pdf)
• 2024-2025 Self-Scoring Worksheet (pdf)
• 2024-2025 Methodology Guide (pdf)
• Visit our Community Profiles Webpage for an interactive geographic scoring map.
• Scoring Guide: 2023 Consolidated RFP/2024 HTC
• Underwriting Standards

Minnesota Housing is currently accepting pre-applications and, starting Tuesday, January 14, 2025, will begin accepting full applications for an award of 2025 4% HTCs (42M) for projects anticipated to be financed with tax-exempt volume limited bonding authority from MMB. Pre-applications and applications must be submitted using Minnesota Housing's online Multifamily Customer Portal. Application resources include the following:

• Frequently Asked Questions: 4% Housing Tax Credit Process
• Procedures for Projects Financed with Tax-Exempt Volume Limited Bonds
• Pre-application and Application Process
• Timeline
• 2023 4% HTC Only Addendum recording (04:44). View the presentation slides.
  • 2022 4% Only HTC webinar recording (01:05:51). View the presentation slides.

A full and complete application for a preliminary determination of eligibility for 4% Only Housing Tax Credit (42M) must be submitted at least 60 days prior to bond issuance.

Optional: Pre-applications are accepted 30 days prior to submitting the full 4% Only Housing Tax Credit (42M) application for a preliminary predictive cost model and scoring determination.

Sign up for our eNews to receive timely updates about 4% HTCs available for projects financed with tax-exempt volume limited bonds.

Technical assistance with Minnesota Housing staff is available and strongly encouraged throughout the process.