Property Tax Deferment Gives Our Seniors a Safe Option 

Our seniors have contributed to West Virginia throughout their lives, and we owe it to them to provide fair taxation options that can help them enjoy the quality of life they deserve. By providing options that allow senior citizens to choose when they can pay increases in their household property taxes – now or later – we are assisting without placing unnecessary burden on other taxpayers.

One of my favorite bills passed this past legislative session was Senate Bill 239, known as the Senior Citizen Property Tax Deferment Act. This bill was supported by AARP and, for the 2009 tax year, SB239 allows those people 65 and older to claim a new refundable tax credit. This credit gives seniors the option of deferring payment on any residential property tax increase that’s more than $300 or 10 percent of the prior year’s tax.
A qualified senior citizen homeowner can defer the increased payment until they sell their home or when their heirs settle their estate. As property values have increased and the subsequent property taxes have also risen, this has placed some of our seniors at risk of losing their homes because they could not afford the increase.

The act also allows certain lower-income seniors to take a property tax relief credit against their personal income tax. A senior’s gross household income must be $25,000 or less to qualify. The credit the homeowner will receive is equal to the difference between the base year tax paid before the tax increase and the tax paid during the tax year.

So, for example, let’s say you are 65 years old or older and your household income is less than $25,000, and your previous year’s property tax was $1,000 but this year it increased to $1,350.  If you choose to seek the refundable credit, you could get back $350.

An important note, however, is that the senior must choose between this and other existing refundable tax credits designed to provide property tax relief to lower-income households. Those tax credits are: the Refundable Personal Income Tax Credit for Real Property Tax Paid; the Senior Citizen Income Tax Credit for Property Tax Paid; and the new program, the Senior Citizen Property Tax Deferment Act.

These programs are in addition to the Homestead Exemption, which allows seniors 65 and older who own and occupy their residences a $20,000 exemption against the total assessed value of their single-family home. This is a reduction in the real property tax they pay to the county where they live.

Don’t forget that beginning in July, there’s an important tax reduction that will affect not just seniors but all West Virginians. The state sales tax on food drops to 3 percent – that’s half of what it was just three years ago.
Taxes can be confusing. For help, please call our State Tax Department at 1-800-982-8297.

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