The Housing Credit Certified Professional (HCCP) credential is awarded by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to professionals who demonstrate mastery of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program under Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code. Our free HCCP practice test PDF gives you a printable set of exam-style questions covering every domain tested on the HCCP examination.
Download once and study anywhere — on the train, at the office, or between site visits. The PDF covers income and rent limits, tenant certification procedures, eligible basis calculations, compliance monitoring, and the Section 8 interaction rules that appear most often on the exam.
The HCCP examination tests your working knowledge of the LIHTC program from development to ongoing compliance. Below are the core topic areas you need to master.
You must understand Section 42 of the IRC in depth — the difference between 9% competitive credits allocated by state Housing Credit Agencies and 4% credits paired with tax-exempt bond financing, Qualified Allocation Plans (QAPs), placed-in-service requirements, the 10-year credit period, the 15-year compliance period, and the 30-year extended use commitment required under most state regulatory agreements.
Exam questions focus on Area Median Income (AMI) set-aside elections, HUD income limit tables, gross rent limit calculations (30% of applicable income limit), utility allowance methodology and how it reduces allowable tenant rent, and income calculation rules for certification — including anticipated annual income, proper treatment of assets over $5,000, and imputed income from those assets.
You are tested on initial income certification requirements (income documentation, third-party verification, asset calculation), annual recertification obligations, the general student rule and its statutory exceptions, required interim certifications (income changes, household composition changes), and proper move-in and move-out procedures for LIHTC units.
Questions cover which costs belong in eligible basis — hard construction, architect and engineering fees, developer fee inclusions — and how the applicable fraction is calculated using the ratio of qualified LIHTC units to total units or total square footage. You must know how the minimum set-aside election constrains the applicable fraction and affects the credit amount.
State Housing Credit Agencies monitor LIHTC properties and file IRS Form 8823 to report noncompliance. Exam questions address the most common noncompliance issues — over-income tenants, extended unit vacancies, habitability violations, and failure to recertify — as well as correction periods, physical inspection standards, and the available unit rule that governs what happens when an existing qualified tenant becomes over-income.
Many LIHTC properties layer additional subsidies. You need to know how project-based Section 8 rental assistance interacts with LIHTC income and rent limits, how HOME funds can be combined with LIHTC credits, and how overlapping income limits from multiple federal programs are reconciled at the unit level.
The downloadable PDF is perfect for offline review, but our interactive HCCP practice test gives you instant scoring and answer explanations after every question. Use the PDF to build familiarity with the material, then shift to online timed tests as your exam date approaches to simulate real exam conditions and identify any remaining weak areas before test day.