Municipal Property Tax Deferral for Senior Citizens

Effective 18 October 2021, municipalities have the option to adopt a lower interest rate than the default interest rate of 0.5 percentage points above the otherwise applicable rate for delinquent taxes. This was put into effect by 2021 M.E. Laws ch. 120 § 1. All deferred taxes and interest are payable if: the taxpayer dies, or someone other than the taxpayer becomes the property’s owner, or the property is no longer occupied as the taxpayer’s primary residence, or the property is moved out of the State. In the latter-most case, all owed monies are due 5 days before moving. In all other instances, all owed monies are due within 45 days of the date of notice for payment. A municipality that has adopted the program under this section may discontinue it through the same procedure by which the program was adopted; however, any taxes deferred under the program continue to be deferred under the conditions of the program on the date it was ended. If an event requiring the the payment of deferred tax and interest occurs, and the ownership of the property is transferred to another member of the same property, the transferee may apply for continuation of the deferral of taxes only if that person is at least 70 years of age with an income not exceeding 300% of the federal poverty level.