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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 140
January Session, 2019
AN ACT EXPANDING ELIGIBILITY FOR TAX RELIEF FOR CERTAIN
ELDERLY HOMEOWNERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (b) of section 12-170aa of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 2
October 1, 2019, and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after 3
October 1, 2019): 4
(b) (1) The program established by this section shall provide for a 5
reduction in property tax, except in the case of benefits payable as a 6
grant under certain circumstances in accordance with provisions in 7
subsection (j) of this section, applicable to the assessed value of certain 8
real property, determined in accordance with subsection (c) of this 9
section, for any (A) owner of real property, [or any] including any 10
owner of real property held in trust for such owner, provided such 11
owner or such owner and such owner's spouse are the grantor and 12
beneficiary of such trust, (B) tenant for life or tenant for a term of years 13
liable for property tax under section 12-48, or [any] (C) resident of a 14
multiple-dwelling complex under certain contractual conditions as 15
provided in said subsection (j) of this section, who [(A)] (i) at the close 16
of the preceding calendar year has attained age sixty-five or over, or 17
whose spouse domiciled with such homeowner, has attained age sixty-18
five or over at the close of the preceding calendar year, or is fifty years 19 Substitute Bill No. 140
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of age or over and the surviving spouse of a homeowner who at the 20
time of his death had qualified and was entitled to tax relief under this 21
section, provided such spouse was domiciled with such homeowner at 22
the time of his death or [(B)] (ii) at the close of the preceding calendar 23
year has not attained age sixty-five and is eligible in accordance with 24
applicable federal regulations to receive permanent total disability 25
benefits under Social Security, or has not been engaged in employment 26
covered by Social Security and accordingly has not qualified for 27
benefits thereunder but who has become qualified for permanent total 28
disability benefits under any federal, state or local government 29
retirement or disability plan, including the Railroad Retirement Act 30
and any government-related teacher's retirement plan, determined by 31
the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management to contain 32
requirements in respect to qualification for such permanent total 33
disability benefits which are comparable to such requirements under 34
Social Security; and in addition to qualification under [(A)] (i) or [(B)] 35
(ii) above, whose taxable and nontaxable income, the total of which 36
shall hereinafter be called "qualifying income", in the tax year of such 37
homeowner ending immediately preceding the date of application for 38
benefits under the program in this section, was not in excess of sixteen 39
thousand two hundred dollars, if unmarried, or twenty thousand 40
dollars, jointly with spouse if married, subject to adjustments in 41
accordance with subdivision (2) of this subsection, evidence of which 42
income shall be required in the form of a signed affidavit to be 43
submitted to the assessor in the municipality in which application for 44
benefits under this section is filed. The amount of any Medicaid 45
payments made on behalf of such homeowner or the spouse of such 46
homeowner shall not constitute income. The amount of tax reduction 47
provided under this section, determined in accordance with and 48
subject to the variable factors in the schedule of amounts of tax 49
reduction in subsection (c) of this section, shall be allowed only with 50
respect to a residential dwelling owned by such qualified homeowner 51
and used as such homeowner's primary place of residence. If title to 52
real property or a tenancy interest liable for real property taxes is 53
recorded in the name of such qualified homeowner or his spouse 54 Substitute Bill No. 140
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making a claim and qualifying under this section and any other person 55
or persons, the claimant hereunder shall be entitled to pay his 56
fractional share of the tax on such property calculated in accordance 57
with the provisions of this section, and such other person or persons 58
shall pay his or their fractional share of the tax without regard for the 59
provisions of this section, unless also qualified hereunder. For the 60
purposes of this section, a "mobile manufactured home", as defined in 61
section 12-63a, or a dwelling on leased land, including but not limited 62
to a modular home, shall be deemed to be real property and the word 63
"taxes" shall not include special assessments, interest and lien fees. 64
(2) The amounts of qualifying income as provided in this section 65
shall be adjusted annually in a uniform manner to reflect the annual 66
inflation adjustment in Social Security income, with each such 67
adjustment of qualifying income determined to the nearest one 68
hundred dollars. Each such adjustment of qualifying income shall be 69
prepared by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management in 70
relation to the annual inflation adjustment in Social Security, if any, 71
becoming effective at any time during the twelve-month period 72
immediately preceding the first day of October each year and the 73
amount of such adjustment shall be distributed to the assessors in each 74
municipality not later than the thirty-first day of December next 75
following. 76
(3) For purposes of determining qualifying income under 77
subdivision (1) of this subsection with respect to a married homeowner 78
who submits an application for tax reduction in accordance with this 79
section, the Social Security income of the spouse of such homeowner 80
shall not be included in the qualifying income of such homeowner, for 81
purposes of determining eligibility for benefits under this section, if 82
such spouse is a resident of a health care or nursing home facility in 83
this state receiving payment related to such spouse under the Title XIX 84
Medicaid program. An applicant who is legally separated pursuant to 85
the provisions of section 46b-40, as of the thirty-first day of December 86
preceding the date on which such person files an application for a 87 Substitute Bill No. 140
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grant in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, may apply as an 88
unmarried person and shall be regarded as such for purposes of 89
determining qualifying income under said subsection. 90
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019, and
applicable to assessment
years commencing on or
after October 1, 2019
12-170aa(b)
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subsec. (b)(1)(A), "is" was changed to "are", for clarity.
PD Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO