Bill Text: NJ A4674 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Concerns eligibility for senior freeze reimbursement if eligible claimant exceeds income limit.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-30 - Approved P.L.2023, c.84. [A4674 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A4674-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman PAUL D. MORIARTY
District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns eligibility for senior freeze reimbursement if eligible claimant exceeds income limit.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the qualifications for receiving a homestead property tax reimbursement and amending P.L.1997, c.348.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 7 of P.L.1997, c.348 (C.54:4-8.74) is amended to read as follows:
7. [In] a. Except as provided in subsection b. of this section, in the event that a previously eligible claimant ceases to be an eligible claimant for any tax year, the base year for that claimant shall be the year prior to which the claimant again becomes an eligible claimant.
b. If, for any tax year, a person, who was in the prior tax year an eligible claimant, shall have income that exceeds the income limit for that tax year, that person shall not receive a homestead property tax reimbursement for that tax year but shall maintain their base year without change, as long as the person shall have income in the next immediately succeeding tax year that does not exceed the income limit for that tax year. If that person's income for the next succeeding tax year exceeds the income limit for that tax year as well, the base year for that claimant shall be changed to be the year prior to which the claimant again becomes an eligible claimant.
(cf: P.L.1997, c.348, s.7)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides an exception to an eligibility requirement in the law establishing the homestead property tax exemption program (colloquially referred to as the "senior freeze program"). Under current law, a person who had been an eligible claimant for a homestead property tax reimbursement in a previous tax year, but is not an eligible claimant for a tax year, would lose their base year, and the base year would reset to the year prior to the year in which the person once again becomes an eligible claimant. Depending on how long the person has been eligible to participate in the homestead property tax reimbursement program, this could cause the person to permanently lose a large portion of their annual homestead property tax reimbursement.
Under this program, a person's
base year is the first year in which the person first becomes an eligible
claimant under the law, and the annual homestead property tax reimbursement is
calculated by subtracting the person's base year property tax bill from the
current year property tax bill. For example, if an eligible claimant's
base year was 1998, when their property tax bill was $5,000, and that person has remained an eligible claimant through the current tax year, when their property tax bill is $12,000, that person would receive an homestead property tax reimbursement check for the current year of $7,000. However, if that person loses their eligible claimant status in the current tax year, their base year resets to the year prior to which the person again becomes an eligible claimant. So, if in that year the person's property tax bill is $11,000, their annual homestead property tax reimbursement checks will be much smaller, as they will have lost the benefit of the 1998 base year.
This bill would rectify that problem, if the loss of a person's eligible claimant status is the result of a one-time annual income increase. The bill provides that, if, for any tax year, a person, who was in the prior tax year an eligible claimant, shall have income that exceeds the income limit for that tax year, that person shall not receive a homestead property tax reimbursement for that tax year but shall maintain their base year without change, as long as the person shall have income in the next immediately succeeding tax year that does not exceed the income limit for that tax year. However, if that person's income for the next succeeding tax year exceeds the income limit for that tax year as well, the base year for that claimant shall be changed to be the year prior to which the claimant again becomes an eligible claimant.
