Colorado Property Taxes

It pays to be informed!  My father-in-law made me aware of a rebate on property taxes if you are a senior.  He had heard about it on the radio but needed some help looking up its rules.

I helped him with the research and this is what we found.

In November of 2000 Coloradoans Voted on Referendum A which allows Qualifying Seniors to have the state pay 50% of their property tax for the primary home to their county for them.

This law somehow allows for it to be funded on some years and not on others.  The past few years have been hard on all of us and to tighten the budget Colorado did not pay out on this in the following years 2009, 2010, and 2011.  It has since been re-instated.

Here are the qualifications

·         You or your spouse must be 65 or older on Jan 1^st of this year

·         You are the current owner on record

·         You have lived in your house for the past 10 years

If you meet all these qualifications find a Senior Property Tax Homestead exemption form from your County fill it out and send it in.

My father-in-law lives in Arapahoe County.

His county's web site for this is at http://www.arapahoegov.com/index.aspx?NID=244 [1]

His specific form is at

http://www.arapahoegov.com/DocumentCenter/View/112 [2]

I helped him fill these out and sent them to our County Assessor (whose address is on the form)

We are still waiting a confirmation, but from my understanding once you have this you never need to fill it out again.  The county will keep paying half your property tax (unless you move)

References

[1]  Senior Citizen Property Tax Exemption

      http://www.arapahoegov.com/index.aspx?NID=244

       Visited 12/2013

[1]  Senior Property Tax form (for Arapahoe County)

       http://www.arapahoegov.com/DocumentCenter/View/112

       Visited 12/2013