For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 30, 2016
The Montgomery County Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 30, will discuss legal and policy issues surrounding eligibility for the County's property tax credit for income tax offset. Part of the discussion will focus on whether the committee supports legislation to clarify the County's current interpretation that a taxpayer need not complete and submit the State's Homestead Tax Credit application in order to receive the County's property tax credit.
Montgomery Council committee to discuss
property tax credit on Thursday, June 30
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 29, 2016—The Montgomery County Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 30, will discuss legal and policy issues surrounding eligibility for the County's property tax credit for income tax offset. Part of the discussion will focus on whether the committee supports legislation to clarify the County's current interpretation that a taxpayer need not complete and submit the State's Homestead Tax Credit application in order to receive the County's property tax credit.
The GO Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Nancy Navarro and includes Councilmembers Sidney Katz and Hans Riemer, will meet in the Third Floor Conference Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon) and also will be available via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 .
Maryland law permits counties to provide a property tax credit to offset a portion of the income tax levied. The credit is only available to the owner-occupied property of a homeowner—an individual having a legal interest in a dwelling. A dwelling is defined in the Maryland Code as a house or unit that is used as a principal residence and is actually occupied as such (or expected to be occupied as such) for at least six months out of the relevant 12-month period.
Montgomery County implemented the property tax credit for income tax offset law, adding a provision that a taxpayer need not file an application to receive the income tax offset credit.
Several years later, the State of Maryland amended the Homestead Tax Credit law, adding a new requirement: To qualify for the credit under this section, a homeowner must submit an application for the credit to the State.
The change to the Homestead Tax Credit law has resulted in some confusion about the County's property tax credit.
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Release ID: 16-209