Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: reserve investment and taxes

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Apr 18, 2026, at 1:00 PM, Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> I think you have it backwards. 1120-H is the form specifically designed for 
> home owners associations and is very simple (one page), and it is a straight 
> 30% on taxable earnings, which includes interest but NOT assessments. If it 
> is true that Takoma Village (or any other community!) is really alternating 
> over the years between filing 1120-H and 1120 and making it work to their 
> financial benefit, I really need you to hook me up with your finance people 
> for a powwow! (dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com please)

I probably do have it backwards but my point is that it isn’t always as simple 
as paying less taxes. Taxes are (theoretically) based on income and they are 
ways to pay taxes that have different advantages for condos at different stages 
of their development.

If one of the drawbacks of the H form is that it has to be used “forever 
after,” I had forgotten that requirement.

Diana has been doing her communiites accounts and taxes for years and years, 
and has willingly shared her research with Cohousing-L. I didn’t mean to 
question her knowledge of what can be done.

> Are you sure those are condominiums and not coops? And are any of those 
> cohousing? That sounds like a very uncohousing approach. Anyway, if there is 
> somewhere an existing cohousing condominium that does not support buyers 
> getting mortgages, that would be a very tiny edge case, so not really an 
> explanation for how to avoid paying taxes. 

There is no cohousing in NYC and this particular restriction, as you say, would 
not be welcomed or possible in typical cohousing projects. When I researched 
the possibility in Manhattan, I was told the number one reason I couldn’t 
organize cohousing in the city is that I don’t have in-crowd relationships in 
the construction industry. And that I would have to know who to bribe. Large 
corporations budget for bribes.

I would have had to partner with a developer who had a history of building and 
bribing in the city. I wasn’t that interested — not only was it the company I 
would have to keep but those kinds of relationships take decades or generations 
to secure.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Riderwood Village, Silver Spring MD
Founding member and 25 year resident in Takoma Village, Washington DC