Did you know that senior home owners qualify for a property tax exemption? That’s in addition to the homestead tax credit that all home owners who own and use their home as their primary residence can apply for. Just like the homestead tax credit, you need to apply for the property tax exemption for seniors by July 1st for it to be applied to the next year’s tax bill. The easiest way to apply is to do it via the link on the property page at the Johnson County Assessors Site. Once you put in the address, you’ll need to scroll down to the link for the online application. It’s a pretty big button, so there’s not much chance of missing it. I should mention, there is one caveat to this method and that is that it’s an application for the Homestead Credit and Property Exemption combined. If you’ve already applied for and receive the homestead credit, you might want to call the assessor’s office to ask if you still need to fill that out for the Property Exemption or if they have another mechanism in place for that.
A tax exemption of course works differently to a tax credit. The homestead tax credit is an actual reduction in the real estate taxes due. (Typically around $150-$200 at the time of writing this in March 2024). The senior property tax exemption reduces the taxable value of the property. Since real estate taxes are paid in arrears, it’s not yet clear how much of a tax benefit it will be until we get our tax bill for the 2023-2024 tax year, which will be in July/August 2024.
As we Brits say, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. This information won’t save you a ton of money, but that’s not the point: It’s a “penny” saved and that’s always a good thing!
My goal on this website is to provide helpful and relevant information for home buyers and home sellers. If you’ve got any real estate related questions that you’re not finding answers for, be sure to reach out. We know a thing or two about the Iowa City area real estate market and are happy to help!
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