Year-End Bills Includes FY 2021 Omnibus Spending, Permanent 4% Floor, Disaster LIHTC Allocation, Five-Year NMTC Extension, RETC Extensions; COVID-19 Relief Legislation Includes $25 Billion in Emergency Rental Assistance, Extension of Eviction Moratorium

A permanent minimum 4% low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) rate, a five-year extension of the new markets tax credit (NMTC) and an extension of phase-down provisions for the renewable energy investment tax credit (ITC) and production tax credit (PTC) are included in a $1.4 trillion omnibus fiscal year 2021 (FY 2021) spending and $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill that will be considered by Congress today. The COVID-19 relief package that includes $25 billion in emergency rental assistance and an extension of the Center for Disease Control’s federal eviction moratorium through Jan. 31, 2021. The year-end omnibus legislation will permanently establish the 4% minimum LIHTC rate and include a $1.1 billion allocation of disaster LIHTCs for 11 states and Puerto Rico. The legislation will extend the NMTC–which is currently set to expire with the calendar-year 2020 round–through the calendar-year 2025 round. The PTC will be extended one year at a 40% rate and the ITC will have two extra years as a 26% credit. The COVID-19 relief legislation also includes a reopening of the Paycheck Protection Program, $600 in stimulus checks to individuals and $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits.

Novogradac’s Peter Lawrence wrote a Notes from Novogradac blog post on the legislation. The 4% LIHTC floor and the effect of the emergency rental assistance and extension of the eviction moratorium will be a focus of the Novogradac 2021 RAD Public Housing Virtual Conference, Jan. 14-15, 2021, and the extension of the NMTC will be covered during the Novogradac 2021 New Markets Tax Credit Virtual Conference, Jan. 21-22, 2021.