MDAH — Tax Credits
601-576-6935 · taxincentives@mdah.ms.gov — the office that runs the 25% credit. Call before any work starts.
Columbia North Residential Historic District
345 houses. One tax credit almost nobody claims.
If your house is a contributing building in Columbia's National Register district, Mississippi will credit you 25% of what you spend fixing it up. Most owners have no idea they qualify.
The short version
You are probably already listed.
The Columbia North Residential Historic District went on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. It covers 509 buildings, of which 345 are "contributing" — old enough and intact enough to carry the district's character.
If yours is one of them, it is already on the National Register. There is no form to file, nothing to send anyone, and no application to be listed. That happened in 2009 and it included you.
What most owners don't know is what comes with it.
The money
25% of what you spend, back from the state.
Mississippi runs a historic preservation tax incentives program giving a state income tax credit equal to 25% of qualified rehabilitation expenditures. In MDAH's own words:
"Properties do not need to be income-producing to qualify for the state tax credit; rehabilitations of owner-occupied residences are eligible."
That sentence is the important one. This is not a landlord's program — the house you live in counts.
- You must spend more than $5,000 in qualified expenditures on an owner-occupied dwelling.
- Only expenditures made after 1 January 2021 qualify for owner-occupied residences.
- Being a contributing building in a listed district is what makes you eligible. No further designation is needed.
A new roof, sound windows, foundation and porch repair on a house like these runs well past the $5,000 floor. A quarter of that comes back.
Read this before you call a contractor
Three ways people lose the credit.
1. Starting work before you get approval. This is the big one. MDAH puts it bluntly: "Owners who proceed with rehabilitation without receiving prior approval from MDAH do so at their own risk." Parts 1 and 2 of the application go in before the first nail. Money spent ahead of approval may simply not count.
2. Assuming only the part you're claiming gets looked at. Review is against the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, and those "address interior and exterior work, both of which will be reviewed by MDAH." MDAH evaluates the entire project — including additions — not just the line items on your form.
3. Replacing instead of repairing. The Standards favor repairing historic material over swapping it out. Vinyl over original siding, or modern sash in place of wood windows, is the classic way a project stops qualifying.
Review fees are modest: $100 for projects estimated under $100,000, $250 above that.
Myth-busting
Being listed does not mean the government controls your house.
This is the single most common misunderstanding, and it stops people claiming money they're owed.
National Register listing on its own places no restriction on a private owner spending private money. Federal regulation says so directly — listing "does not prohibit under Federal law or regulation any actions which may otherwise be taken by the property owner with respect to the property." You can paint, remodel, add on, or sell. Nobody's permission is required.
The rules only attach when you choose to take the tax credit, and then only to that project.
Two genuine cautions, so you hear them from us first:
- Mississippi Landmark is a different, state-level designation. It is voluntary for private property — and it is recorded in the Chancery Clerk's deed records as a perpetual preservation easement, binding you and every owner after you, with a state permit required before work. For a private home it gives you nothing the district already gives you. Think hard before requesting it.
- The federal 20% credit does not apply to a home you live in. It requires the building be depreciable — that is, income-producing. Don't spend time chasing it. The state credit is the better deal anyway.
One thing listing does not do, which people also assume: it does not protect a building from demolition. The Register is an honour and a funding key, not a shield.
Do this first
How to check your address.
1. Look yourself up — free, about fifteen minutes.
Search your address in MDAH's Historic Resources Inventory at apps.mdah.ms.gov/Public/search.aspx. It has tabs for National Register listings, Mississippi Landmarks and local designations.
2. Read the district nomination.
The full document is public at NPS reference 09000625. Every building is inventoried by address with a C (contributing) or NC (non-contributing) beside it. Find your street, find your number. Save that page — it is the document that proves eligibility.
3. Get it in writing.
Ask MDAH's National Register staff to confirm in writing that your address is a contributing resource in the Columbia North Residential Historic District. A contractor or accountant will want to see it.
4. Call before you spend.
Ask whether the owner-occupied credit is accepting applications this year, and request the current forms — MDAH moved to electronic submission, so posted PDFs may be out of date.
Who to call
Three numbers worth having.
MDAH — National Register
601-576-6940 — to confirm in writing that your address is a contributing building in the district.
Columbia City Hall
601-736-8201 · 201 Second Street — ask whether a local historic district covers your block, which is separate from the federal one.
The people who handle this locally
Columbia's Historic Preservation Commission.
The city has its own Historic Preservation Commission and its own preservation ordinance. That is separate from the National Register district described above — the National Register is federal recognition, the Commission is local.
(In state and federal paperwork you may see Columbia called a Certified Local Government, or CLG. Same thing — it is the designation that gives the city its own commission.)
What the Commission is for: if your property is in a locally designated district, exterior changes can require a Certificate of Appropriateness before work begins. That is the one rule that genuinely affects what you may do to your own house.
Whether local designation covers a given block is not published anywhere we could find — so it is worth a single phone call to 601-736-8201 rather than an assumption. ⏳ A map of the local district, and the Certificate of Appropriateness application, are both coming to this page.
This page is general information compiled in July 2026, not tax or legal advice. Credit rules, funding caps and deadlines change. Confirm current terms with MDAH and talk to your accountant before relying on any figure here.
Old houses, kept
It is cheaper to fix these than to lose them.
Three hundred and forty-five houses in Columbia carry the district. Most are owned by families who have had them a long time and have quietly paid for every repair themselves. A quarter of that was available the whole time.