By Howard Greninger
TERRE HAUTE — For the first time in three years, payment for spring property tax bills in Vigo County will be due … in the spring.
In addition, homeowners with an existing homestead deduction must formally file again for the exemption with the county auditor’s office within the next three years, or face losing that tax break after 2012.
“Our employees worked extremely hard to make a May 10 deadline,” said Vigo County Auditor Tim Seprodi. “The state has all the [property tax] information and we are waiting on them to give us our budget orders. Even if it is not May 10, tax bills will go out in May. I will guarantee they will be out sometime in May,” Seprodi said.
Historically, spring property taxes have been due in May in Indiana. Changes in assessment requirements, such as property tax caps and “trending” property to market value based on home sales in a neighborhood, have caused assessment delays in recent years.
Last year, spring property tax bills were due in July. In 2008, the spring tax due date was in September. Spring taxes in 2007 also were due in July.
The date for fall property taxes has never changed, remaining due in November.
Taxpayers in May will find three pieces of paper in their tax bill. The first includes a payment amount for spring and fall taxes. A second paper will contain a comparison of the property owner’s taxes over the past few years.
A third, new piece of paper, colored pink as required by state law, requires homeowners to refile for a homestead property tax credit.
“The purpose behind the new law is to prevent double-dipping,” Seprodi said. “It is a measure to try to get rid of duplications in homestead deductions. You can’t own a home in Clay County and another in Vigo County and get a homestead deduction on both homes. You only get a deduction on one home.
“Also, a husband and wife can’t individually file for the deduction, only one per home. And, if someone stays in Florida half the year and in Indiana the other half, you can only have a deduction in one state,” Seprodi said.
The deduction is based on a place of residence, as determined by tax returns and an address on a driver’s license, among other factors, Seprodi said.
With computerized records, Seprodi said, it is easier to double-check tax records nationwide. That is also why state law requires taxpayers seeking the homestead deduction to file the last five digits of their Social Security number, plus their driver’s license number with the county auditor. Those requirements apply to each person listed on the title to the property, Seprodi said.
The law took effect in July and the auditor’s office has since been filing new homestead deductions using Social Security and driver’s license numbers. People who’ve had those ID numbers recorded by the auditor’s office under the new law will not have to refile for the deduction, Seprodi said.
A standard homestead deduction is worth about $300 in taxes. For example, an owner of a $100,000 home in Harrison Township in Terre Haute with a homestead deduction would pay about $1,200 a year in taxes, but without the deduction the homeowner would pay $1,500 in taxes.
The standard homestead deduction is worth $45,000 in assessed value. A home with a $100,000 assessed value would then have taxes calculated on an assessed value of $55,000. The homestead deduction also allows a taxpayer to receive a special supplemental deduction, valued at 25 to 35 percent of the remaining assessed value, according to the auditor’s office.
Related to the new tax bills, the Vigo County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved a contract up to $53,000 with Worrell Corp. to the print the tax bills, the tax comparison sheets and the special pink homestead notification slips. The contract saves the county nearly $4,000 because the company is a subsidiary of Manatron, which supports the county’s computerized tax system, said Vigo County Treasurer David Crockett.
Property owners will be asked to mail their tax bills, as usual, to the treasurer’s office, but the pink slips will require a separate mailing to a different destination.
“We will be asking taxpayers to mail back or return the homestead deduction to the auditor’s office as we do not apply or deal with [property] tax deductions,” Crockett said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
