4% Housing Tax Credits

Use with Tax-Exempt Volume Limited Bonds (4% HTC)

Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code establishes that, under certain circumstances, low-income housing tax credits not from the state annual credit ceiling may be available for projects that are financed with tax-exempt volume limited bonds. Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) administers the state’s tax-exempt volume limited bonding authority for all issuers in the state, including Minnesota Housing. Projects that receive an allocation of bonding authority must separately request an award of 4% HTC from Minnesota Housing or the applicable suballocator, depending on the issuer and location of the project.

Minnesota Housing’s Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) is the agency’s plan for the distribution of HTC. The QAP and corresponding documents are published every two years. The following documents set forth the overall funding priorities for all HTC application 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.

Procedures for Projects Financed with Tax-Exempt Volume Limited Bonds
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: 2024 Consolidated RFP/2025 HTC
Underwriting Standards

Apply for 4% Housing Tax Credits

4% HTC are available year-round. There are two ways to apply for 4% HTC from Minnesota Housing:

Multifamily Consolidated RFP – Projects that were selected for deferred funds with 4% HTC financial structure in the annual Multifamily Consolidated RFP and Minnesota Housing is the bond issuer, must apply for 4% HTC through the 42M application using the Multifamily Customer Portal. The checklist is located within the funding round that project was selected.
4% HTC Only Application Round – Projects expected to be financed with tax-exempt volume limited bonding authority from Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) and don’t need or have not been awarded funding from Minnesota Housing, must apply through the applicable 4% HTC Only Application Round using the Multifamily Customer Portal.

4% HTC Only Application Round

Minnesota Housing is currently accepting pre-applications and full 42M applications for an award of 2025 4% HTC Only for projects expected to be financed with tax-exempt volume limited bonding authority from MMB. Pre-applications and 42M applications must be submitted using Minnesota Housing's online Multifamily Customer Portal. Review the Multifamily 4% Housing Tax Credit Only Standards for more information.

A full and complete application for a preliminary determination of eligibility for 4% Housing Tax Credit Only (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% Housing Tax Credit Only (42M) application and provide preliminary predictive cost model and scoring determinations.