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We are currently accepting, reviewing, and approving 2024 Project Applications! The deadline for a project to submit its application materials and be allocated funding from our 2024 budget is April 29th, 2024. Applications received thereafter will be reviewed, but they will not be allocated tax credits until 2025.
A Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit is a voluntary, dollar-for-dollar credit toward a property owner's income taxes, based on the cost of rehabilitating a Historic Property. Rehabilitation expenses must take place within 24-months.
See below, for more information, or contact us today with your questions!
The type of Tax Credit program you're eligible for is determined by how the property is going to be used once rehabilitated. Please select the category (below) that best describes your building's use.
"Owner-occupied residential property" means a building or portion thereof (condominium or cooperative) is occupied by the owner as their principal residence. If you plan to live at this property as your primary residence, then this page is for you!
An “income-producing property" is any type of property that generates income for the owner. Income-producing properties are eligible for State and Federal Tax Credits but must have their Adjusted Basis assessed prior to applying. See more here!
Is your property tax exempt, a second residence, not a building at all, or otherwise doesn’t neatly fit into one of the other two categories? Then this webpage is for you!
We accept, review, and process applications ALL YEAR. So you should start the application process as soon as you start planning a Rehabilitation Project! The deadline for a project to be in a specific year's budget cycle, is April 29th. We issue Allocation Letters (which allocates how much funding is set aside for your specific project from our annual budget) on June 29th each year. You may only have one (1) Tax Credit project at any given time. Each project must be separate, distinct, and completely finished prior to applying for a new Tax Credit project.
If a project's expenses are within 24-months of an Allocation Letter deadline (July 1 of each fiscal year), an applicant may apply for a Tax Credit Application retroactively. HOWEVER, it is NOT recommended that you begin work prior to receiving a Part 1 and Part 2 approval for the proposed project. By starting work prior to receiving your Tax Credit approvals, you are placing your Tax Credit eligibility in jeopardy and assuming the risk of disqualification from the program (at the Part 2 level) or a potential project denial (at the Part 3 level) if the work does not meet the federal Standards of Rehabilitation. It is the standard process - and ALWAYS recommended - to apply for a Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit and receive approval PRIOR to beginning ANY WORK. Please contact the Site Development staff if you have any questions.
A project must have all three applications (Parts 1, 2, and 3) approved by the Kentucky Heritage Council before the awarded tax credit amount may be applied to your tax return. The awarded credit amount can be applied to the year the project was completed. The Kentucky Heritage Council does not provide any tax-related advice beyond the (above) statement. Any tax-related questions should be directed to your tax-preparing professional and/or to the Department of Revenue's Tax Credit staff, at: DORTaxCredits@Ky.Gov.
The Kentucky Heritage Council does not offer or administer grants for Rehabilitation projects. However, the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) has several grant opportunities! The NTPF grants are often limited to a specific type of recipient, geographical region, and/or project goal. One of the grants administered through the NRHP is the Linda and Jerry Bruckheimer Preservation Fund for Kentucky, and has an application deadline of June 1st, each year. See all the NTPF grants that are available, here!
Katie Wilborn, Site Development Program AdministratorKatherine.Wilborn@ky.gov(502)-892-3446, Please note that email is the best way to reach Katie Wilborn. For additional Site Development staff contacts, please see our Staff Contact page.
Written Notice:
Please note that the KHC has followed the National Park Service's efforts to go digital. The National Park Service (NPS) created a fully-electronic Tax Credit process in September 2023. As such, all State and Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit applications MUST be submitted digitally AND on the correct electronic Application Forms (located on this website, under the "Applications & Forms" section), or they shall be deemed incomplete and the applicant notified to resubmit correctly. Furthermore, the Site Development Program will issue all State Historic Tax Credit Approvals (Parts 1, 2, and 3; also known as Forms: TC-1, -2, -3, and -4, respectively) by email to the applicant(s) from March 1, 2023 henceforth. The National Park Service provides their approval documents to the applicant for Federal Historic Tax Credit applications via email, as well. The only documents that shall be sent to the applicant via written notice in the mail, per our regulations, shall be:
The following forms are for income-producing properties and have been prepared and provided by the National Park Service for distribution.
Fee Schedules:
Application Examples: