Access Indiana adds new feature

Indiana low-income housing property managers can now file their tax credit certification online in a new feature added to the state's World Wide Web portal, Access Indiana.

At the start of each year, property managers of low-income housing must report information about their tenants to the Internatl Revenue Service for tax credits and to monitor data.

The new service allows managers to accumulate data and update information throughout the year online. At the end of the year, they can send the data to the Indiana Housing Finance Authority (IHFA), which then will send the data to the IRS.

Previously, the information was manually accumulated and tracked using software, and then mailed to the IHFA, which would verify its accuracy and then mail it to the IRS. This cost the IHFA about $7,000 for clerks to enter the data and postage.

When inaccurate information was submitted, it cost the authority more money because clerks would have to send the forms back to managers for corrections. The new site fixes this problem by notifying the manager when inaccurate information is entered.

Jennifer Boehm, director of marketing and public affairs for the IHFA, said property managers must apply manually for a password, which is matched against their tax identification numbers, to access the secure site.

The site also allows developers to print a compliance statement, which is signed, notarized and mailed to the authority. The site was tested earlier in the year and is now operational. Boehm said it could be used for 2000 filings.