Post-award readiness clock — Wyoming

Wyoming's own name for the federal 10 percent test — and the clock it substitutes for the statute

The AHAP's “10% & Final Applications” section requires every project to supply, through the ProCorem Work Center, a “10% Test Package and all required supporting documentation including Independent Auditors report certifying costs; no later than as described in the project's Carryover document or within 11 months from the date of the Carryover document, whichever is less.” WCDA commits to delivering “all Carryover documentation … prior to Dec 1st of the carryover year as applicable,” after which the 10% test package is “to be completed and delivered to WCDA in the 11 months following the receipt of the carryover letter.”

This is Wyoming's own operational name for the federal carryover allocation requirement under IRC §42(h)(1)(E) — the rule that more than 10% of a project's reasonably expected basis be incurred by a set date to keep a Carryover Allocation valid — but the AHAP text itself never cites that Code section or restates its own calendar-year-end rule. It substitutes a WCDA-administered deadline (11 months from the Carryover document, or an earlier date WCDA states in that same document) rather than pointing developers back to the federal statute's own language. This research did not obtain WCDA's actual Carryover document or Tax Credit Reservation Agreement template, so it cannot confirm whether that document itself separately restates the federal calendar-year rule in addition to WCDA's 11-month administrative deadline; developers should track whichever date the Carryover document actually states, not assume the two rules run on identical calendars.

The fee schedule that actually enforces the clock

Lateness itself carries its own, separate price: “Projects may be assessed a penalty fee of up to $500.00 per day for 10% Test Allocation packages received after the deadline,” and the same up-to-$500-per-day penalty applies to Final Allocation Packages received after December 1. Should a developer request a corrected IRS Form 8609, WCDA may charge “a fee of up to $500 per 8609, unless it was an error by WCDA.” None of these three penalty provisions is described as an automatic forfeiture of the underlying allocation — they are priced as per-incident or per-diem fees.

What's due before the 10% test even matters: the 90-day and other early-stage deadlines

The 90-day commitment-letter requirement for HOME/NHTF-funded projects runs from “notification of award of funding” — not from the later Carryover document — so it can be the very first hard post-award deadline a project faces, arriving well before the 10% Test Package is anywhere close to due. The AHAP is equally direct that “final HOME and/or NHTF regulatory documents cannot be executed until a commitment letter has been issued for all other funding sources,” tying the rest of the closing sequence directly to meeting that 90-day window.

Final Allocation, Form 8609, and ongoing reporting

“Applications for final allocation must be received by WCDA, via ProCorem, no later than November 15 of the applicable year.” The AHAP's own text does not state how many years after the Carryover document that November 15 deadline falls in a given project's timeline — that interval was not confirmed in this research and should be checked directly against the individual project's own Carryover document rather than assumed. Once Form 8609 is issued, the Developer must complete Part II, file it with the IRS, and mail a completed copy to WCDA's compliance monitoring staff within 30 days — “failure to return the completed form … within the required timeframe is a form of noncompliance which will be reported by WCDA to the IRS.”

Throughout construction, Quarterly Progress Reports are due by the 15th of April, July, October, and January, uploaded directly to the Developer's ProCorem Work Center, continuing “throughout the duration of the project development and file closeout” and through final inspection; WCDA may substitute Monthly Progress Reports at its own discretion up to 8609 issuance. A final inspection is required before either the 10% construction retainage or the Form 8609 is released, and — when a project combines LIHTC with HOME or NHTF — neither the HOME/NHTF retention funds nor the 8609 will be released “until a final inspection of the site occurs, and all required documentation is received and accepted for both programs.”

What actually costs a project its allocation

The AHAP's broadest rescission language is general-purpose rather than tied to any single missed date: “Any funds allocated by WCDA may be rescinded if any violations are found and the project participants may be banned from participating in the program.” Separately, once an application is granted, “the project may not be changed in any way (including project name) without WCDA's prior written consent and may result in revocation of the project's allocation(s)” — a broad standing constraint that reaches even a name change, not only a scope or financing change.

Two further post-award rules narrow what a developer can do if costs move: “Developer fees may not be increased above the amount originally requested and approved in the original application (cannot have additional developer fees on cost overruns),” and any “Restricted Budget Differential” — a cost-category variance over 10% from the original application — must be justified at progress-report, 10%-certification, and final-cost-certification stages, with unjustified variances risking negative points in future applications rather than an immediate penalty.

Accepting a Wyoming Housing Tax Credit reservation also has a permanent, self-executing consequence for a later exit option: “Qualified Contract Option will not be allowed for any project receiving a reservation of housing tax credits. The owner/applicant waives the right to request WCDA to find a buyer under IRC 42(h)(6)(E)(F) and (I) by accepting a reservation of housing tax credits through the execution of a Tax credit Reservation Agreement. This also applies to tax credit projects financed with tax exempt bonds under IRC 142(d).” Compliance itself then runs a federally standard 15-year initial compliance period plus a 15-year extended use period (30 years total).

What Wyoming's plan doesn't spell out

Three gaps are worth flagging explicitly rather than assuming an answer. First, the AHAP contains no standalone Definitions section distinguishing “Reservation,” “Carryover,” and “Commitment” as separate defined LIHTC terms — it uses “award letter,” “carryover document/letter,” and “Tax Credit Reservation Agreement” in ordinary federal-practice sense without its own glossary entries. Second, unlike some peer states that publish a fixed calendar placed-in-service date for each award year, Wyoming's plan states only how the placed-in-service date itself is determined — the certificate of occupancy for new construction, or a clear final building-permit inspection or certificate of substantial completion for rehabilitation — leaving the actual deadline to the individual project's Carryover document and federal law rather than printing one in the plan itself. Third, the Final Allocation Application's November 15 deadline is stated only as falling “of the applicable year,” without the plan itself defining the interval from Carryover — confirm this date against the specific project's own Carryover document rather than assuming a fixed number of years.