The Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb strives to keep our readers who are interested in personal finance and ways to save money educated and informed. In our efforts to do so, today we want to share with you a way that many senior homeowners save thousands of dollars a year by using a tax break a lot of people don't know about. This tax break is known as property tax deferral.
It is very hard for most people to save money as a homeowner, and paying property taxes is one big hurdle that comes along annually which keeps many a homeowner stressed about how to come up with the money. This becomes even more so for senior homeowners. Once a homeowner retires, most of you are on a limited budget, so paying property taxes becomes even more of a challenge.
In a recent analysis by Zillow and Thumbtack, property taxes, utilities, and homeowners insurance added up to $6,327 a year for the median-priced U.S. home, with property taxes likely making up the lion’s share of that cost. For retirees living on a fixed income, the ability to stay in their home often comes down to what they pay in property taxes. For many there is another option: Defer your property taxes.
Roughly two dozen states, including California and Texas, have property tax deferral programs that are available to older homeowners who want to put off paying real estate taxes for as long as they remain in their home. (Owners who have mortgages will typically need approval from their lenders.) When program participants do eventually sell or pass away, the state claims the balance of what they owe, plus interest, from their home equity.
“For most people, their house is their major asset, and to be able to tap some of that equity” — that is, by using it to cover current tax burdens — “could greatly improve their comfort in retirement,” says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
Yet many of these programs go underused; only about 10% of eligible homeowners in Oregon, for instance, participate in the program, according to a Boston Globe story on the deferrals. Many state programs have income limitations — but unlike property tax exemptions, which are typically reserved for low-income households and offer only modest relief, some of the deferral programs are open to retirees with relatively healthy retirement incomes.
In Minnesota, for example, the Senior Citizens Property Tax Deferral Program is open to homeowners age 65 older with a household income of $60,000 or less. In Washington, owners age 60 and older qualify with combined disposable incomes of $45,000 or less.
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