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CASA of Oregon was consulted in the design
of the Oregon Farmworker Housing Tax Credit Program and has been
instrumental in helping growers and non-profit agencies use the credits as a
funding source for farmworker housing. The Oregon Farmworker Housing Tax
Credit Program is managed by the Oregon Housing and Community Services
Department (OHCS) and Oregon Department of Revenue (ODR). It’s a State
income tax credit available to persons or organizations who invest in
farmworker housing. The Farmworker Housing Tax Credit Program is designed to
give a state income tax credit to organizations or individuals who incur
costs to construct, install or rehabilitate farmworker housing.
The credit is available to anyone who
actually pays or incurs costs for the construction, rehabilitation or
installation of farmworker housing. A nonprofit organization may also be
eligible for this tax credit; although it does not pay taxes, it can
"assign" the tax credit to an investor who invests money into the housing
project. There is also a tax credit (administered by the Department of
Revenue) for lenders who make loans for the construction, rehabilitation and
installation of farmworker housing. If you are borrowing money to help
finance farmworker housing, both you and your lender are eligible for a tax
credit.
Farmworker housing is housing that is occupied by farmworkers and
their immediate families during the year. The housing can be year-round or
seasonal housing, in-town or on-farm, stick-built or manufactured. The
housing must be located in Oregon and remain designated for farmworker use
for a minimum of 10 years. A farmworker is defined as someone who, for pay,
performs labor, seasonally or year-round;
1) in the production of farm
products, or
2) in the planting, cultivation or harvesting of nursery stock
or agricultural crops, or
3) in the forestation or reforestation of lands,
including the planting, transplanting, tubing pre-commercial thinning and
thinning of trees and seedlings, the clearing, piling and disposal of brush
and slash and other related activities. Aquaculture is NOT farm work,
according to this definition. Occupants can work part of the year as farmworkers and have other non-farm work jobs part of the year. As long as
one family member in the housing unit has been a farmworker either
seasonally or year-round while living there, the housing unit will qualify.
Immediate family members can have non-farm work jobs some or all of the year
and the housing unit will still qualify.
Only the amount you pay for "eligible costs"
can be included in calculating the tax credit. Eligible costs are those
costs directly associated with the acquisition, construction, installation
or rehabilitation of seasonal or year-round farmworker housing. |
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§ Capital
expenditures for rehabilitation of existing housing are eligible; routine
maintenance expenses are not.
§ The
cost of buying land does not qualify.
§ The
purchase and installation of new manufacturing housing qualifies. The state
income tax credit may be taken over a period of no fewer and no more than 10
years with no more than 20 percent of the total credit taken in any one
year.
§ The
housing can be year-round or seasonal housing, in-town or on-farm.
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