Confirm Decertification Dates of TIF Districts

After a municipality approves the establishment of a TIF district, the district is certified and its estimated decertification date is recorded by the county. The decertification date is adjusted if the year the district receives its first increment is different than originally estimated.

It is important that a development authority and its county confirm that there is agreement on a TIF district’s decertification date. If the authority receives tax increment after the decertification date, it must return the increment to the county for redistribution. If the county’s recorded decertification date is earlier than the date used by the development authority, the authority may not be able to cover its bonded debt obligations or its contractual obligations.

If tax increment is received in error, the county auditor has the authority to correct the error through the Correction of Errors provision in the TIF Act. For more information on correcting TIF errors, see our Statement of Position available here.

Date this Avoiding Pitfall was most recently published: 12/2/2022