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COtax_creditpct_of_investmenttransferable

Historic Structures Preservation Credit

CO-HSP · Colorado

Summary

Transferable tax credit for qualifying rehabilitation expenditures on certified historic commercial structures in Colorado. Joint pre-certification by OEDIT and History Colorado required: rehab plan must be approved before work begins, and project must be completed substantially as approved. Rate is tiered 20%–40% depending on (a) urban vs. rural location and (b) whether the project includes a housing-deed-restricted component. Per-property/year cap: $1.0M (large + small project pools) or $1.5M (housing project pool). Distinct from the legacy Historic Property Preservation Credit (pre-2020), which was revenue-dependent on state general-fund growth — this newer credit (§39-22-514.5) is NOT revenue-dependent and continues to be available.

Benefit

Percentage
— of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures
Flat
—
Duration
—
Max annual
$1,500,000 (per_property)
Max total
— (taxpayer)
Carryforward
—

Program metadata

Distribution
taxpayer_earned
Claimant subject
business
Refund/transfer election
transferable_only
Program family
—
Effective
—
Sunset
—
Application deadline
—
Transfer discount
—

Tiers (8)

#NameBenefitMin jobsMin investmentMin wageMax annual
1Urban — small (≤$2M QRE)25% of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures————
2Urban — large (>$2M QRE)20% of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures————
3Urban Housing w/ Deed Restriction — small30% of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures————
4Urban Housing w/ Deed Restriction — large25% of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures————
5Rural — small (project commenced ≥2020)35% of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures————
6Rural — large30% of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures————
7Rural Housing w/ Deed Restriction — small40% of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures————
8Rural Housing w/ Deed Restriction — large35% of qualified_rehabilitation_expenditures————

Hard requirements (2)

  • local_approval_requiredJoint pre-certification by OEDIT and History Colorado required: the historic structure must be certified, the rehabilitation plan must be approved before work begins, and the completed project must be approved as substantially conforming. State agencies (modeled via local_approval_body until future_proposals.md §26 lands).
  • min_investmentSubstantial rehabilitation standard — for applications submitted on or after January 1, 2020, qualified rehabilitation expenses must be at least $20,000. (Pre-2020 applications used a different test: ≥25% of original purchase price minus current land value.)

Preference / tiering rules (0)

None.

NAICS industries (0)

Any.

Geo zones (1)

  • statewide — · Colorado Statewide (with national / state register listing)

Tags (6)

  • min_property_age_years: 30
  • requires_state_register_listing: true
  • requires_secretary_interior_standards: true
  • min_lease_term_years_urban: 39
  • min_lease_term_years_rural: 5
  • rural_definition_population_threshold: 50000

Tax bases

  • corporate_income_taxprimary

Approval requirements (1)

  • requiredCO OEDIT + History Colorado (joint) — Joint OEDIT + History Colorado pre-certification of the rehab plan, project completion, and structure historic-status.

Program relationships (1)

  • StackableCO-RJS — Rural Jump-Start Tax Credit
    RJS explicitly permits stacking with the Historic Preservation Tax Credit.

Source

https://www.historycolorado.org/preservation-tax-credits
§ 39-22-514.5, C.R.S.
Last verified: 2026-04-30
Rate tiers + per-property cap retrofitted 2026-04-30 (Phase 2 batch B3) from https://oedit.colorado.gov/commercial-historic-preservation-tax-credit. Four tiers in benefit_tiers table: Urban / Urban-Housing-with-Deed-Restriction / Rural / Rural-Housing-with-Deed-Restriction. Each tier has a "small" rate (expenditures ≤$2M) and a "large" rate (>$2M). Application fee: $250 (tax credit reservation < $250k) or $500 (≥$250k); issuance fee: 3% of approved credit amount. Annual program cap: $5M reserved + $10M waitlisted across all pools.