Michigan's New State Historic Tax Credit Program

2024 State Historic Preservation Tax Credit Application Background and Updates

January 2, 2024 Update: Program Applications for 2024 are now being accepted. Review eligibility, program rules, frequently asked questions, and find applications and instructions below.

Applications for the State Historic Preservation Tax Credit ("state credit") must fall into one of three categories. The availability of credits in each category will depend on the amount of credits already committed in each category within the calendar year.

Owner occupied residential projects
Small commercial projects (up to $2 million)
Large commercial projects ($2 million and above)

Owner Occupied residential and Small Commercial applicants may apply for the 2024 state credit beginning January 2, 2024. The application will be available until all credits have been reserved, up to the program cap.

Applications and supplemental information are required to be submitted via courier so that delivery date and time can be tracked. When all credits for 2024 have been committed, it will be announced on this webpage and the application window will be closed. Any received applications in process will be reviewed and awarded priority numbers for 2025 credits if found to be eligible.

Due to the overwhelming number of applications received for the 2022 large commercial category credits and the 2-year eligibility of those applications, all large commercial credits have been committed and the application window is not anticipated to reopen in 2024. Any changes will be announced on this website.

December 14, 2023 Tax Credit Webinar

Click the blue link below to review a webinar recording which discusses the 2024 application process and deadlines for the program.

State Tax Credit Webinar Recording

Michigan State Historic Preservation Tax Credit Basics

The following general requirements apply for State Historic Preservation Tax Credit consideration:

A property must be listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the State Register of Historic Sites, or be in a local historic district, and either be individually listed or contribute to a listed district in order to be eligible for the state credit.
Credit reservations will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis.
A three-part application process is used to apply for the state credit. It is similar to the parts used for the Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit, but is a completely independent and separate application.

It is strongly recommended that you apply and receive approval prior to beginning work so that plans can be revised if needed to align with The Standards (see below).

Your application for the State Historic Preservation Tax Credit

Applying for the State Historic Tax Credit is a sequential three-part process. Once you have completed and submitted Part 1, if your project is found to be eligible, you will be provided with a Part 2 application.

Part 1 gives us some background on your property and allows the SHPO to verify that it meets the basic eligibility requirements.
Part 2 allows the applicant to illustrate the work they plan to do as part of their rehabilitation project.
Once the work is complete, Part 3 allows the applicant to illustrate that the work that was done meets The Standards and is the work that was proposed.

We strongly recommend that applicants download and save the relevant PDF documents below and open them in Adobe or another program before attempting to fill out any form fields.

Please review the Program parameters:

What are "The Standards?"

To be eligible for the state credit, proposed work must be in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. Commonly referred to as "The Standards," they are a set of 10 nationally-accepted and easy to understand concepts which preserve the historic features of a property during a rehabilitation project.