§297.6. Reduction to tax due; rehabilitation of residential structures

            A.(1) There shall be a credit against individual income tax liability due under this Title for the amount of eligible costs and expenses incurred during the rehabilitation of an owner-occupied residential or owner-occupied mixed use structure located in a National Register Historic District, a local historic district, a Main Street District, a cultural products district, or a downtown development district, or such owner-occupied residential structure that has been listed or is eligible for listing on the National Register, or such structure that has been certified by the State Historic Preservation Office as contributing to the historical significance of the district, or a vacant and blighted owner-occupied residential structure located anywhere in the state that is at least fifty years old. The tax credit authorized pursuant to this Section shall be limited to one credit per structure rehabilitated. The total credit shall not exceed eighteen thousand five hundred dollars per structure. In order to qualify for that credit, the rehabilitation costs for the structure must exceed ten thousand dollars.

            (a) If the credit is for the rehabilitation of an owner-occupied residential structure, the credit shall be twenty-five percent of the eligible costs and expenses of a rehabilitation for which an application for credit has been filed for the first time after July 1, 2011, and on or before July 1, 2015. The credit shall be eighteen and one-half percent of the eligible costs and expenses of a rehabilitation for which an application for credit has been filed for the first time after July 1, 2015, and on or before July 1, 2017, and the credit shall be eighteen percent of the eligible costs and expenses of a rehabilitation for which an application for credit has been filed for the first time after July 1, 2017. If the residential structure is owned and occupied by two or more individuals, the applicable percentage shall be based on the sum of all owner-occupants who contribute to the rehabilitation, and the credit will be divided between the owner-occupants in proportion to their contribution to the eligible costs and expenses.

            (b) If the credit is for the rehabilitation of a vacant and blighted owner-occupied residential structure that is at least fifty years old, the credit shall be thirty-six percent of the eligible costs and expenses of a rehabilitation for which an application for credit has been filed for the first time after July 1, 2011.

            (2) The tax credit for qualified rehabilitation expenditures shall be divided in five equal portions to be applied against the tax for the five-year period beginning in the taxable period in which the rehabilitated residential structure is first placed in service. To be eligible to use a tax credit portion, the taxpayer who initially earned the credit must continue to own and occupy the residential structure as the taxpayer's primary residence. If the residential structure is sold during the five-year period beginning in the taxable period in which the rehabilitated residential structure is first placed in service, all unused credit portions granted under this Section shall immediately become void and of no effect.

            (3)(a) Eligible structures must be owner-occupied residential property.

            (b) A fee shall be charged by the office of cultural development within the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism to review applications based on the amount of material rehabilitation costs not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars per application.

            (4) Any excess of the credit portion allowed in a taxable period over the individual income tax liability for that taxable period against which the credit can be applied shall constitute an overpayment, as defined in R.S. 47:1621(A), and the secretary shall make a refund of such overpayment from the current collections of the taxes imposed by Chapter 1 of Subtitle II of this Title, as amended. The right to a refund of any such overpayment shall not be subject to the requirements of R.S. 47:1621(B).

            (5) The maximum amount of tax credits allowed by the State Historic Preservation Office to be granted in any calendar year shall not exceed seven million two hundred thousand dollars. The granting of credits under this Section shall be on a first-come, first-served basis. If the total amount of credits applied for in any particular year exceeds the aggregate amount of tax credits allowed for that year, the excess will be treated as having been applied for on the first day of the subsequent year.

            B. For purposes of this Section, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

            (1) "Eligible costs and expenses" shall mean qualified rehabilitation expenditures as promulgated in regulations by the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in consultation with the Department of Revenue and shall take into consideration qualified rehabilitation expenditures as defined in Section 47(c)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code and applicable regulations.

            (2) "Rehabilitation" shall mean the process of returning a structure to a state of unity, through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient use while preserving those portions and features of the structure and its site and environment which makes the structure and its site and environment historically, architecturally, or culturally significant. "Rehabilitation" does not include an alteration which is primarily remodeling.

            C. The provisions of this Section shall be effective for the taxable years ending prior to January 1, 2018.

            Acts 2005, No. 479, §1, eff. for all taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2005, until and including the tax years beginning on or before Dec. 31, 2009; Acts 2007, No. 298, §1; Acts 2011, No. 412, §2, eff. July 7, 2011; Acts 2013, No. 272, §1, eff. June 13, 2013; Acts 2015, No. 125, §2, eff. July 1, 2015; Acts 2016, 1^st Ex. Sess., No. 29, §2; Acts 2017, No. 400, §§1, 2, and 4, eff. June 26, 2017.

NOTE: Acts 2011, No. 412, §1, amended Acts 2005, No. 479, as amended by Acts 2007, No. 298, to provide that the credit may be given for all taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2005, until and including the tax years beginning before Jan. 1, 2016.