Please read before you complete the application.
What is the Homestead Exemption? The homestead exemption provides a reduction in property taxes to qualified senior or disabled citizens, or a surviving spouse, on the dwelling that is that individual’s principal place of residence and up to one acre of land of which an eligible individual is an owner. The reduction is equal to the taxes that would otherwise be charged on up to $25,000 of the market value of an eligible taxpayer’s homestead.
What Your Signature Means: By signing the front of this form, you affirm under penalty of perjury that your statements on the form are true, accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge and belief and that you are authorizing the tax commissioner and the county auditor to review financial and tax information filed with the state. A conviction of willfully falsifying information on this application will result in the loss of the homestead exemption for a period of three years.
Qualifications for the Homestead Exemption for Real Property and Manufactured or Mobile Homes: To receive the homestead exemption you must be (1) at least 65 years of age during the year you first file, or be determined to have been permanently and totally disabled (see definition below), or be a surviving spouse (see definition below), and (2) own and have occupied your home as your principal place of residence on Jan. 1 of the year in which you file the application. For manufactured or mobile home owners, the dates apply to the year following the year in which you file the application. A person only has one principal place of residence; your principal place of residence determines, among other things, where you are registered to vote and where you declare residency for income tax purposes. You may be required to present evidence of age. If the property is being purchased under a land contract, is owned by a life estate or by a trust, or the applicant is the mortgagor of the property, you may be required to provide copies of any contracts, trust agreements, mortgages or other documents that identify the applicant’s eligible ownership interest in the home.
If you are applying for homestead and did not qualify for the exemption for 2013 (2014 for manufactured homes), your total income cannot exceed the amount set by law. Beginning tax year 2020 for real property and tax year 2021 for manufactured homes, “total income” is defined as “modified adjusted gross income,” which is comprised of Ohio adjusted gross income plus any business income deducted on Schedule A, line 11 of your Ohio IT 1040. “Total Income” is that of the owner and the owner’s spouse for the year preceding the year for which you are applying. If you do not file an Ohio income tax return, you will be asked to produce a federal income tax return for you and your spouse. If you do not file a federal income tax return, you will be asked to produce evidence of income and deductions allowable under Ohio law so that the auditor may estimate Ohio modified adjusted gross income.
Current Application: If you qualify for the homestead exemption for the first time this year (for real property) or for the first time next year (for manufactured or mobile homes), check the box for Current Application on the front of this form.
Late Application: If you also qualified for the homestead exemption for last year (for real property) or for this year (for manufactured or mobile homes) on the same property for which you are filing a current application, but you did not file a current application for that year, you may file a late application for the missed year by checking the late application box on the front of this form. You may only file a late application for the same property for which you are filing a current application.
Definition of a Surviving Spouse: An eligible surviving spouse must (1) be the surviving spouse of a person who was receiving the homestead exemption by reason of age or disability for the year in which the death occurred, and (2) must have been at least 59 years old on the date of the decedent’s death.
Permanent Disability: Permanent and totally disabled means a person who has, on the first day of January of the year for which the homestead exemption is requested, some impairment of body or mind that makes him/her unfit to work at any substantially remunerative employment which he/she is reasonably able to perform and which will, with reasonable probability, continue for an indefinite period of at least 12 months without any present indication of recovery, or who has been certified as totally and permanently disabled by an eligible state or federal agency.