Monday, March 27, 2017

Apply Now for Property Tax Credit for Long-time Homeowners

Visit the Department of Finance's Web site to get more information on Bill 42-16 that creates a new property tax credit for residents who are at least 65 years old and who have either lived in the same home for at least 40 years or are retired veterans of the U.S. military. The application form is at the bottom of the page.

3 comments:

Local Tax Expert said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Local Tax Expert said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Local Tax Expert said...

Seniors with income under $60,000 --- that is, seniors who get the Homeowners Tax Credit, or HTC as it's known -- will have their HTC reduced by 1/2 the amount of the longtime resident credit. In other words, MODERATE AND LOW INCOME SENIORS WILL ACTUALLY LOSE MONEY IF THEY APPLY FOR THE LONGTIME RESIDENT CREDIT. They won't even know that their HTC has been cut because the HTC worksheets are not issued to homeowners by the SDAT except upon request -- and almost no one requests their HTC worksheet from the SDAT.

State Delegate Al Carr sponsored a bill, HB633, to fix this issue, but the bill is not going to become law in the current legislative session because the legislators want to study the issue more.

The reduction in HTC for moderate and low income seniors (income under $60,000) actually occurs when ANY optional property tax credit is issued by Montgomery County, including historical restoration credits, energy savings device credits, and many other credits. Therefore, Montgomery County senior homeowners who receive the HTC should almost never apply for optional property tax credits because the result will actually be a HIGHER property tax blll.