Property owners in Hyattsville have received more than a half million dollars in state tax credits for rehabilitating historic buildings.

Since 1999, the Maryland Historic Trust has granted $552,471 in tax credits to property owners rehabilitating historic structures in Hyattsville, according to a search of state records conducted for the Hyattsville Wire.

In total, 78 property owners spent $2.7 million fixing up the buildings, with about a third of that coming in 2005 and 2006, when 22 applications were filed. Generally, the tax credits are used on commercial buildings, although historic homes are also eligible.

After the housing market fell in 2006, applications went down to just three a year, but they started to pick back up in 2011. Since then, there have been five or six a year.

To be eligible for the credits, projects must meet U.S. Interior Department standards for rehabilitation. They’re often paired with federal historic preservation tax credits.

Overall, tax credits are much more valuable than deductions, since they are a dollar-for-dollar match on how much you have to pay at the end of the year. (Deductions only reduce your income level, so your tax bill doesn’t go down as quickly.)

If you own a historic structure in Hyattsville,  you can learn more from the Maryland Historic Trust or the Hyattsville Preservation Association.