History in the Making Tax program gives back to historic fixer-uppers

You'll find them scattered throughout America's olderneighborhoods, historic districts and rural stretches-historichomes that have found new life among preservationists and at-homeworkers.

And unbeknownst to many, the federal government is lending ahelping hand to people who undertake the task of reviving thesepieces of American history. The federal Historic Renovation TaxCredit program provides a 20-percent tax credit against current orfuture tax liabilities for money spent on renovating a registeredhistoric structure. The only caveat: The properties must beincome-generating, meaning anything from a warehouse to a retailshop to a home office may qualify.

Since 1976, some $21.8 billion has been spent under the programto renovate more than 28,000 historic properties nationwide, saysMichael Auer, a program administrator with the Federal HistoricPreservation Tax Incentives program, which is part of the NationalPark Service in Washington, DC.