It’s July, for Montgomery County homeowners this means that annual and semi-annual tax bills will be arriving in your mailboxes shortly – the County estimates mailing bills in mid-July (bills will also be available via the County website).
When you receive your bill you should look to see if you are receiving the Homestead Property Tax Credit (you’ll see “County Property Tax Credit”). This tax credit was established to help homeowners deal with large assessment increases on their principal residence. The Homestead Credit limits the increase in taxable assessments each year to a fixed percentage.
To prevent improper granting of this credit, a law was enacted in 2007 that requires all homeowners to submit a one-time application to establish eligibility for the credit. There are several criteria to be met, but the main conditions are that the property is your principal residence and you must have lived in it for at least six months of the year, including July 1 of the year for which the credit is applicable.
If you are not seeing a homestead property tax credit on your tax bill, you should determine the status of your Homestead eligibility by looking up your property on the Real Property Database. Look at the bottom of the page, where it says Homestead Application Status. If it says “No Application,” then you should reapply to capture this credit on future tax bills.
For more info, check out frequently asked questions about Homestead Property Tax Credit, or contact the Homestead unit directly at 1-866-650-8783 or sdat.homestead@maryland.gov.
