Home Improvement tax question. Any Obama Bucks floating out there?

[Grateful11]

mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=Grateful11]
We're converting our one car attached garage into a handicap accessible
room for my son can will we be able to get any tax credits for that?
They're pouring the concrete and ramp as I write this to bring it up to the
level of the rest of the house.

Talk to the local, county or state department of community/neighborhood development. In general, this sort of help is loan-based, and sometimes forgivable if you live in the house for a set period of time, say 10 years. Very rarely will there be a grant for such a thing - unless it comes from a rich uncle.
I'm not borrowing any money for it. I was thinking about a write off at tax time.
My CPA should know.

[michaelb]

what Mr Bigs is referring to may be called a "section 504" loan or grant program. This looks like info on the program in NY:

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/NY/toolbarpag...rogram.htm

they are pretty income sensitive so the senior has to be very low income, and these are "rural" grants, so I don't think Brooklyn will count. There could be other programs for weatherization though, so it is worth looking around, since states or utilities may offer assistance.

[3d]

"There is a LOT of bogus information regarding the stimulus funding, so I would not put any weight into what a "friend of a friend" said regarding stimulus funds."
Yeah, I've noticed this at the start of my research. I'm seeing alot of .com sites with promises of this and that. Not too many .gov sites to back up the claims. The "stimulus" info I heard about was from my parent's friend of a friend who has limited English and interpreted through my senior age parents. So you can imagine the validity of it all. LOL

"In general, they are probably on their own, there are no "stimulus funding" grant for fixing your house but there may be some loans available."
I'm beginning to see this... Owning property is so freakin expensive. After you factor in the taxes (NYC) and bills and maintenance costs. It's insane. 25Gs to repair/replace existing cracked brick work. Yikes!!

"...they are pretty income sensitive so the senior has to be very low income, and these are "rural" grants, so I don't think Brooklyn will count."
My couple of hours of research has led me to this conclusion as well. You gotta be poor and in need of assistance. Or you (the home owner) is using money to renovate an "affordable housing" building. Which this is not.

What I *HAVE* come across is possible savings through tax exemptions and abatements. I'm weeding through the PDF documents. And again alot of it has low income qualifications. But there may be one or two items my parents can qualify for.

For NYC folks,, it's the J-51 Tax Incentive Guidebook and Application. Page 11. Section 3-C. :banghead:

Thanks again all for the help in introducing me to the wonderful world of beaurocracy, red tape, and gov't assistance.

**EDIT**
Edited to improve reading pleasure.

[DP]

>They are EXTREMELY frugal. We had to talk them into making these repairs after seeing some news stories of buildings crumbling in NYC from poor maintenance.

I would have told them it would cost a LOT more if they get sued by someone tripping and falling due to crumbling steps

[DavidS]

Grateful11 wrote:
We're converting our one car attached garage into a handicap accessible
room for my son can will we be able to get any tax credits for that?
They're pouring the concrete and ramp as I write this to bring it up to the
level of the rest of the house.

In Georgia, those type of improvements (making part of the house more handicap accessible) are tax deductible on the state income tax. I think the max is $1500, though. You should check with your state tax bureau.

[3d]

**More info**

On my commute home did some more reading on the J-51 Tax Incentives. They turned out to be a bust because those tax breaks are linked to rent stabilization that my parents want nothing to do with.

Following up on cbelt3's idea of tax rebates on energy saving improvements...
30% of insulation costs, up to $1500. BUT... for insulation to qualify, it's primary purpose must be to insulate. Insulated siding does not qualify. Maybe if we installed new insulation in addition to the brick siding facade. And there are additional fine print requirements for this as well.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=ta...x_index#c2

I've just about hit the bottom of the barrel. I have a few more leads which involve Senior Citizen status but as mentioned before all of those are heavily dependent on economic level (poor), for any help.

If these fall through after a few inquisitive phone calls tomorrow on my parents behalf, it looks like they are on their own. Fix their home with their own money. LOL What a concept! Hah.

Just wanted to know what their options were and if there were any government programs to help them. But it doesn't look too promising... We'll keep immaculate records of contracts, costs, and receipts in hopes that during tax time their accountant can pull a bunny out of his hat from this situation.

If anything else comes to mind. Please post away. Even if it's just a thought or phrase. I'll do the leg work and research. Just point me in a direction. Thanks again guys!