Owners may claim credits for rehabilitating some long-empty buildings

A building can meet the definition of abandoned without having had an income-producing use before it was left empty. A building used as a single-family residence immediately before abandonment is excluded. The building must still meet the other requirements, including being at least 66 percent unoccupied or nonoperational for five years. The site must be put to an income-producing use; schools may qualify, but a single-family home does not. The five-year period is measured immediately before the taxpayer files a Notice of Intent to Rehabilitate.

The Department of Revenue must hold certain property-tax exemption applications without final approval. This applies to applications for the specified property-tax exemption filed on or after June 30, 2026. The hold does not cover property owned entirely by a nonprofit housing corporation that provides housing to low- or very-low-income residents and meets the stated federal safe-harbor rules; the department may approve those applications during this period. Filing, spending money in reliance on an exemption, or receiving a preliminary decision does not give an applicant a right to the exemption. The hold applies during property-tax years 2026 and 2027, and this section expires June 30, 2027.

A taxpayer may transfer remaining credits tied to a leased, sold, or transferred part of a building site, but may not use credits as security for debt. This applies to taxpayers with remaining abandoned-building credits and the lessees, purchasers, or other transferees of the relevant site portion. A transfer must relate to rehabilitation expenses for the leased, sold, or transferred part of the site. The taxpayer must notify the Department of Revenue in the manner it prescribes.