TAX NEWS - JUNE 2010

Ohio Tax: Homestead exemption applications due June 7

COLUMBUS, Ohio -Senior citizens and disabled homeowners who are not already enrolled in the property tax relief program known as the homestead exemption have until Monday, June 7 to sign up for the 2010 tax year, the Ohio Department of Taxation reminded today.

Applications for the exemption are available at county auditor offices. Auditors will be accepting the applications through Monday, June 7. Senior citizens and disabled Ohioans need sign up only if they have not enrolled before.

The homestead exemption allows eligible homeowners, regardless of income, the opportunity to shield $25,000 of the market value of their homestead (a dwelling and up to one acre of land) from property taxation. For example, if a home is valued at $100,000, it would be taxed as if it was worth $75,000.

Although the actual savings varies according to local tax rates, the typical owner will save about $400 annually.

"This program is saving senior citizens hundreds of dollars each year on property taxes," Ohio Tax Commissioner Richard A. Levin said today. "The homestead exemption means real property tax relief. But to get it, you need to sign up."

The homestead exemption is available to Ohio resident homeowners 65 and older and to all totally and permanently disabled homeowners. Seniors are eligible for the 2010 tax year (bills due in 2011) as long as they own and occupy their home as of Jan. 1, 2010 and the date they turn in their application, and will turn 65 sometime during the year.

The current version of the homestead exemption was revised by Governor Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly in 2007. A previous exemption included income tests and a tiered system of benefits that excluded most senior and disabled citizens.