Indiana homeowners who've let homestead deductions expire without refiling for them soon will receive notices warning of the potential loss of the tax break, a state official said.
Homeowners who received the deduction previously but haven't submitted new forms will get notices of the potential loss and how to reinstate the deduction, Indiana Department of Local Government Finance spokeswoman Jenny Banks said.
The reassurance came as some homeowners panicked over the potential loss of the deduction jammed county auditor offices across the state on the last business
day of 2012."In all my 21 years here, I've never seen anything like it," Hancock County Auditor Robin Lowder said.
Indiana is requiring homeowners to certify they're eligible for the deduction so it can create a database aimed at preventing people from receiving more than the single credit allowed for primary residences. Vacation homes and rentals aren't eligible. People who don't verify their records could lose their homestead deductions and pay higher property taxes
.Most counties have issued the pink, one-page forms each of the last three years, sending repeat mailings only to those who haven't already filled them out properly and returned them.
"People have seen news stories about it and kind of panicked," Lowder said. "Our phones are ringing off the hook, and we have a line that winds around the hallway. Probably 90 to 95 percent of them don't really need to be here."
The deduction is $45,000 on houses with assessed values over $90,000 or 60 percent of gross assessed valuations less than $90,000. A supplemental deduction gives homeowners an additional 35 percent of the remaining assessed value.
In northwestern Indiana, Lake County Auditor Peggy Katona said Monday she'll give homeowners until the end of January to file paperwork needed to retain their deductions, extending by one month the Dec. 31 deadline the state had set.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/sbt-homeowners-warned-about-tax-deduction-20130104,0,1680808.story
