Damaged Property
If property receiving a homestead tax credit is uninhabitable due to an accident or a natural disaster, the property may continue to receive a homestead tax credit, at its current level, for the current tax year and the next two tax years.
The damaged improvements should be removed from the tax rolls. The existing homestead tax credit and owner occupancy code should not be changed. If all the improvements are being removed from the tax rolls, an improvement value of $100 should be maintained.
If the improvements have not been reconstructed or repaired at the end of the second full tax year following the damage, the property should be changed to non-owner occupied and the homestead credit should be removed.
Damaged improvements should be removed from the base and current full cash values in CAMA. The adjusted base value should be entered in the prior improvement field in CAMA. The amount of improvement adjustment to be made to the current full cash value should be entered in the improvement adjustment field. The existing improvement data will not be lost in CAMA. The adjusted values should be keyed into the mainframe after recosting the account in CAMA.
An out-of-cycle notice should be generated for the current assessment year and the prior homestead credit status field should be changed to an “M”.
The homestead tax credit may not be greater than the total assessed value. Real property headquarters staff must be notified of accounts with a homestead tax credit greater than the total assessed value.
The abatement on the property should be based on the schedule in Tax-Property Article 10-304.
Razed Property
The second category involves razed property or property vacated due to substantial rehabilitation. In this instance, a homeowner must own and occupy the dwelling as a principal residence for at least 3 full previous tax years in order to continue meeting the homestead credit eligibility.
Unlike damaged property described above, the new construction for razed or rehabilitated property must be complete and occupied as the owner’s principal residence after the first full tax year instead of the two year period for damaged property.
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