Investments in Mortgage Revenue Bonds - Term of MRB Eliminated (Details) - Mortgage Revenue Bonds [Member] - Heights at 515 [Member] - Series B [Member] - San Antonio, Texas [Member]	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) Unit
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Month Restructured	November
Units (Unaudited) \| Unit	97
Original Maturity Date	Jan. 01, 2053
Base Interest Rate	12.00%
Principal Outstanding at Date of Restructuring \| $	$ 510,000

Investment owned, restructured month.

No definition available.

Name:	atax_InvestmentOwnedRestructuredMonth
Namespace Prefix:	atax_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Mortgage loans on real estate, restructuring, face amount.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	atax_MortgageLoansOnRealEstateRestructuringFaceAmount
Namespace Prefix:	atax_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Stated maturity date of the mortgage loan receivable on real estate, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 205
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-04.(c) Schedule IV)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27047687&loc=d3e5864-122674

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 948
-SubTopic 310
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.12-29)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6589523&loc=d3e617274-123014

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_MortgageLoanOnRealEstateFinalMaturityDate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The stated interest rate on the mortgage loan receivable or the weighted average interest rate on a group of loans.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 948
-SubTopic 310
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.12-29)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6589523&loc=d3e617274-123014

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 205
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-04.(c) Schedule IV)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27047687&loc=d3e5864-122674

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of units in a real estate property owned as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RealEstateAndAccumulatedDepreciationDescriptionOfPropertyAxis=atax_HeightsAtFiveOneFiveMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MortgageLoansOnRealEstateDescriptionLoanCategoryAxis=us-gaap_SecondMortgageMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
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- Details

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