Certificate of Rent Paid
A Certificate of Rent Paid is the Minnesota form showing how much rent a tenant paid during the year. Renters need it to claim the Renter's Credit, and landlords are required to issue one.
The obligation#
A property owner or managing agent must issue a CRP to each adult renter for rent received during the year, and provide it by January 31.
It applies where property tax was payable on the property during the rental period, or where the owner was not required to pay property tax but made payments in lieu of it.
Electronic or hard copy is acceptable. CRPs are created and submitted through the Department of Revenue's e-Services system, and the landlord must keep copies for four years.
Moves and part-years#
A renter who moved before 31 December still gets one. The landlord may provide it at move-out or by January 31, and where no forwarding address was left, must send it to the last known address.
A tenant who moved during the year needs a CRP from every property they rented. Missing one means claiming less than they are entitled to.
When the landlord does not provide one#
This happens often, particularly with small and informal landlords who do not know the requirement exists.
The remedy is a Rent Paid Affidavit from the Minnesota Department of Revenue, issued from February 1 each year. The renter requests it, and includes it with the return along with proof of rent paid — even if the landlord's CRP turns up afterward.
That means a landlord's failure does not cost the tenant the credit. It costs them time and a phone call.
The cases people miss#
Long motel and hotel stays qualify where the accommodation is the person's permanent residence and the stay runs 30 consecutive days or more. Operators are frequently unaware, and a Rent Paid Affidavit is the route when they refuse.
Line 1 of the CRP must be rent only, not services — relevant to assisted living and care facilities, which have their own rules.
Campgrounds, travel trailers and campers do not generate a CRP, however long someone has lived there.
Why it matters more than it looks#
The Renter's Credit is worth up to $2,720, and it is refundable — payable even to people who owe no tax.
For a low-income household that is a meaningful sum, and the whole thing depends on a single piece of paper arriving in January. A landlord who does not issue CRPs is, in practice, costing their tenants money every year, usually without realising it.