Bill > S940

Introduced Session

This bill changes the payment method for some benefit recipients under the New Jersey Homestead Property Tax Credit program (N.J.S.A.54:4-8.57 et seq.), which is also known as the Homestead Benefit Program. Specifically, the bill requires the direct payment of a homestead benefit to a claimant if the claimant requests the direct payment following the sale of the claimant's qualifying homestead. The bill grants the Division of Taxation the discretion to select a specific direct payment method. With limited exceptions, all claimants currently receive their homestead benefits as a credit against their property tax bill. This disbursement method risks shortchanging claimants who sell their qualifying homesteads after filing a homestead benefit application. This is so because the division will apply the benefit against the property's tax bill even if the property's ownership has changed. The Division of Taxation advises on its webpage that homestead benefit claimants who sell their homes after applying for a homestead benefit take credit therefor at the closing of the property sale. Often, however, property sellers are unaware of the division's advice and lose the benefit to which they are entitled. This bill ends the unnecessary misallocation of homestead benefits. It empowers claimants to request the benefits' direct disbursement to them if they sell their homes after filing a homestead benefit application.

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Nellie Pou (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee (on 01/16/2018)