The new Ad Valorem Tax Credit for Deployed Military Personnel is different from any other homestead exemptions of classifications, said Marie Smith, Assistant Property Tax Appraiser for Madison County. The deadlines for any other homestead exemptions, March 1, has already passed, but any military personnel in Madison County who qualify for this new, additional exemption have until June 1 to come into the property appraiser’s office and fill out the necessary paperwork.
Since this is the first year the tax credit takes effect, “we have no way of knowing how many people from Madison County may have been deployed,” said Smith. “That’s why we have to advertise, so they will come to us.”
The measure, which was approved by voters last November, applies members of the U.S. military or military reserves, the United States Coast Guard or its reserves who receive a homestead exemption and who were deployed in that previous calendar year on active duty outside the continental United States, Alaska or Hawaii, supporting military operations designated by the Legislature. This year, the Legislature has identified the three qualifying deployments as Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn.
The tax credit is in addition to the homeowner’s exemption already in place, and the amount of the exemption will depend on how many calendar days in the previous year (2010) the applicant spent on active deployment.
Those who qualify for this exemption will need to come into the Property Appraiser’s Office by June 1 to complete the application, and each applicant must identify which of the three operations they were deployed on, supply the dates they were deployed, and furnish proof of the deployment. There are also provisions to allow a spouse or other specified person to apply for the exemption on behalf of the deployed service member.
Since the measure is so new, still awaiting Governor Rick Scott’s signature, the appraiser’s office has now received a complete list of acceptable documentation for proof of deployment, but copies of orders or anything from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs will surely be on the list, said Smith.
For further information, please contact the Madison County Property Appraiser’s Office at (850) 973-6133 prior to June 1.
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