SENATE COMMUNITY AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 1756
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: JANUARY 30, 2025
The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee reports
favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 1756.
As amended, this bill revises the criteria for establishing a
claimant’s base year under the homestead property tax reimbursement
program. Under current law, when an eligible claimant moves from
one home to another, the base year changes to the first full tax year
during which the person resides in the new homestead, and then a
claimant is to wait an additional tax year in order to be deemed
“eligible” for the homestead property tax reimbursement.
The bill allows the claimant to retain eligibility following a move
to another New Jersey homestead. Thus, a claimant is to be able to
qualify as an eligible claimant immediately following a move and is
not to be required to wait an additional tax year in order to claim a
reimbursement. In this case the homestead reimbursement payment is
to be based on the property taxes assessed on the current homestead
for the tax year prior to which the claimant resides in the current
homestead. However, if the new homestead is “new construction,”
which is defined as any homestead that first became taxable during the
year in which the eligible claimant initially takes residence in the
homestead or the year prior thereto, the base year is to be the first full
tax year following the construction’s completion.
This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 2024-2025 session
pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes
required by technical review, which has been performed.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS :
The committee amended the bill to provide that immediate
eligibility for certain claimants will not apply to tax years commencing
prior to the first full tax year next following the effective date of the
bill.