Homestead and Renter Property Tax Rebate (Circuit Breaker)

Vermont

2018

Benefit Varies with Income

Minimum Tax Amount Must be Paid

Circuit Breaker

For homeowners and renters with income less than $47,000, the benefit for homeowners is relief of property taxes for municipal purposes. For renters, the 2019 benefit based on 2018 income and calculated rent of allocated rent which is equal to 21% of rent. For those with income below $10,000, the benefit is the excess of allocated rent above 2% of income; for those with income between $10,000 and $24,999 is 4.5%, and for those with income between $25,000 and $47,000, the benefit is allocated rent in excess of 5%. The maximum rebate is $3,000. For homeowners, the credit is the amount of taxes on the first $400,000 that are in excess of a certain percentage of a claimant's income. For homeowners, there are 2 thresholds based on income. For incomes between $0-9,9999, the credit is municipal taxes in excess of 1.5% of income. For incomes between $10,000-47,000, the credit is taxes in excess of 3.0% of income. An additional adjustment for the statewide education tax is available to the extent that the statewide education tax after both the education and municipal adjustments exceeds the threshold levels, based on income. For household income less than $10,000 the credit is the reduced taxes in excess of 0.5%. The threshold is 1.5% for those with income $10,000 but less than $25,000 and 2.0% for those with income between $25,000 and $47,000. The maximum rebate for municipal taxes is $2,400 and the maximum rebate is $5,600 for adjustments for education and municipal purpose taxes and the additional adjustment for statewide education tax. The total combined credit for the property tax rebate and education property tax adjustment is $8000. Note that the credit is calculated after the education property tax adjustment has been applied. For renters with income less than $10,000 the credit is allocated rent in excess of 2% of income. For renters with income $10,000 but less than $25,000, the credit is allocated rent in excess of 4.5% of income and for those with income between $25,000 and $47,000, the credit is allocated rent in excess of 5% of income. The maximum rebate for renters is $3,000.

Credit to the property tax bill

Residential

Eligibility is limited to the applicant's residence and 2 acres associated with the residence.

Homeowner

Income Ceiling

Principal Residence

Renter

Household income cannot exceed $47,000. Claimants must live or rent in Vermont for the entire calendar year.

Local government is unable to exercise an option

No local option regarding program features

State reimburses all of the local government tax loss

State disburses benefits directly to municipality for credit to claimants property tax bill.

VT103_RR18