18-125 C.M.R. ch. 901, § .04 - Property Taxes Accrued
A.
Definition."Property taxes accrued" means property taxes exclusive of
special assessment, delinquent interest, and charges for service levied on a
claimant's homestead in this State as of April 1 of the claim year. "Property
taxes accrued" means only the portion of property taxes levied that was not
abated for infirmity or poverty during the year for which the claimant requests
relief. If a claimant owns and occupies two (2) or more different homesteads in
Maine in the same calendar year, property taxes accrued means the total of the
property taxes owed for the time that each property was occupied by the
claimant and claimant's household as a homestead. To calculate the amount
attributable to each property, the April 1 assessment on each homestead is
multiplied by the percentage of 12 months that each property was owned and
occupied by the claimant as the claimant's homestead during the year for which
relief is requested. When a municipality changes the dates of its fiscal year
(for example, from January 1-December 31 to July 1-June 30) and assesses an
eighteen-month tax amount, the property taxes accrued will be the
eighteen-month amount based on the April 1 assessment for that claim year, even
if the municipality issues two separate tax bills spaced several months
apart.
B.
Exemptions.
If the claimant has an exemption for part of the valuation of the
property, such as a veteran's exemption or a homestead exemption for part of
the valuation of the property and the homestead is part of a larger unit, the
amount of the exemption must be subtracted from the valuation of the house and
house lot.
C.
Multiple
owners.Generally, a claimant who occupies a homestead that is owned by
several persons, one of whom is the claimant, must base the claim on his or her
pro rata share of the property tax assessed on the homestead. For example, if a
homestead is owned by three persons and one of those persons occupies it, that
person is the claimant and can claim one-third of the total tax. The others
cannot file a claim based on that homestead because they live elsewhere. If,
however, the claimant is solely responsible for the payment of the tax under
the terms of a written agreement with all the other owners that states the
claimant is allowed to occupy the homestead, he or she can base the claim on
the total tax.
D.
Part of a
larger unit.If a homestead is an integral part of a larger parcel of
property, such as a farm or multipurpose or multi-dwelling building, the
property taxes accrued for the homestead equal a percentage of the total
property taxes that represent the percentage of the homestead's value to the
total value of the larger unit.
Notes
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