Bill Text: NJ S2277 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires certain information to be contained in application for homestead property tax reimbursement and revises application deadline.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-03-12 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S2277 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S2277-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
Requires certain information to be contained in application for homestead property tax reimbursement and revises application deadline.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the content of the application for 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 3 of P.L.1997, c.348 (C.54:4-8.70) is amended to read as follows:
3. An application for a homestead property tax reimbursement hereunder shall first be made available to applicants not earlier than July 1, but not later than July 10, and shall be filed with the director annually on or before [June] September 1, of the year following the year for which the claim is being made and shall reflect the prerequisites for a homestead property tax reimbursement on December 31 of the tax year for which the claim is being made; provided, however, that the director may, by rule, designate a later date as the date by which the application shall be filed or waive the requirement for filing an annual application for any year or years subject to any limitations and conditions the director may deem appropriate. The application shall be on a form prescribed by the director and provided for the use of applicants hereunder. The application shall set forth the income limits, set by law, for the tax year for which the reimbursement is sought, and for the tax year immediately prior to that tax year, that an eligible claimant must not exceed in order to be eligible to receive a homestead property tax reimbursement under P.L.1997, c.348 (C.54:4-8.67 et seq.).
Each applicant making a claim for a homestead property tax reimbursement under this act shall provide, if required by the director, to the director a copy of his or her current year property tax bill or current year site fee bill on the homestead constituting that person's principal residence and a copy of his or her property tax bill for the base year or site fee bill for the base year on the same homestead, or other equivalent proof as permitted by the director.
It shall be the duty of every eligible claimant to inform the director of any change in his or her status or homestead which may affect his or her right to continuance of the homestead property tax reimbursement.
If an eligible claimant receives an additional homestead property tax reimbursement to which the claimant was not entitled or greater than the reimbursement to which the claimant was entitled, the director shall permit the claimant to enter into an installment payment agreement for a reasonable period of time that will enable the claimant to completely satisfy the amount of the reimbursement paid to which the claimant was not entitled. If the claimant does not enter into an installment payment agreement, the director may, in addition to all other available legal remedies, offset such amount against a gross income tax refund or amount due pursuant to P.L.1990, c.61.
(cf: P.L.2017, c.207, s.3)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would revise the application process for the homestead property tax reimbursement program. The bill would require that the application for the program would first be available to applicants for a homestead property tax reimbursement on or after July 1, but no later than July 10, and would also require that the application for a homestead property tax reimbursement must set forth the income limits, set by law, that are required for eligibility to receive a homestead property tax reimbursement.
Under current statutory law (N.J.S.A.54:4-8.67), the annual income of an eligible claimant and his or her spouse from 2009 forward (for the tax year and the prior tax year) cannot exceed $80,000. However, since State Fiscal Year 2012, those statutory income limits were superseded by language in those annual appropriations acts that limited an eligible claimant's income to not more than $70,000 for the tax year for which reimbursement is sought, and for the previous tax year. This appropriations act language effectively rendered ineligible property owners having annual incomes over $70,000 but not exceeding $80,000, who applied for a reimbursement on an application form that indicated their income-eligibility, only to find out after the enactment of the appropriations act that its language made them ineligible to receive a reimbursement.
The Division of Taxation now lists only the statutory income eligibility limits, not the actual income limits set forth in the annual appropriations act, on the homestead property tax reimbursement applications. By requiring that the earliest date that an application would be available in any year would first be July 1, and the latest date that the application would first be available would be July 10, the Director of the Division of Taxation would be able to ensure that the income eligibility limits listed in the application reflect any changes to those income limits made in the annual appropriations act.
