Homestead

Homestead dan skognes motivation blogger speaker teacher trainer coach educator1The homestead exemption that the Government offers you is great and gives you tax breaks on your dwelling place; however, here are a couple of things you may not know:

  • The homestead exemption is not a one and done deal. If you move, you have to reapply for a homestead exemption. It is based on your dwelling, not on you. I was aware of this one, but only because my CPA explained it to me many years ago.
  • Did you know about the age 65 exemption that supplements the homestead exemption? This is HUGE as it uses the year you turned 65 to set the baseline for taxes. There is a ceiling that your taxes will never go over based upon that baseline number….with the exception of the Hospital District Taxes. Those have no cap…sorry. Not sure what it is in your state, but it is worth a phone call to you county tax assessor to find out what your state offers.

By applying for the homestead exemption you get tax breaks. Add to that the age 65 exemption and you put a cap on your taxes. That is pretty cool for us senior citizens.

You might be thinking, “That is all well and good, but I turned 65 last year, or the year before that, or 15 years ago.” He is some good news (again…this is here in Texas). You can automatically roll back one year, and they allow you to request however many years it was that you turned 65. There is no guarantee that the review board will grant you the full rollback, but even if you get to roll back one year, that is a great thing here in Texas where the prices of real estate seem to be going crazy with the thousands of people moving here every month.

I hope this will help you or someone you know. It is going to make a big difference for me and my wife. For anyone that is 65 or older, this is a huge benefit that you need to take advantage of.

Shalom!

Dan Skognes

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