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H0101.................................................................by TRAIL
PROPERTY TAX - RELIEF - Amends existing law to provide that, for the circuit
breaker property tax relief program, a person is deemed disabled who is
prevented from engaging in any occupation or employment for remuneration or
profit as a result of bodily injury, mental or emotional impairment or
disease, either occupational or nonoccupational in cause, which fact is
certified by two licensed physicians.
01/23 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/24 Rpt prt - to Rev/Tax
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-seventh Legislature First Regular Session - 2003
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE BILL NO. 101
BY TRAIL
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO THE CIRCUIT BREAKER PROPERTY TAX RELIEF PROGRAM; AMENDING SECTION
3 63-701, IDAHO CODE, TO FURTHER DEFINE THE TERM "CLAIMANT" AND TO MAKE A
4 TECHNICAL CORRECTION; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND PROVIDING RETROACTIVE
5 APPLICATION.
6 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
7 SECTION 1. That Section 63-701, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
8 amended to read as follows:
9 63-701. DEFINITIONS. As used in this chapter:
10 (1) "Claimant" means a person who has filed a claim under the provisions
11 of sections 63-701 through 63-710, Idaho Code. Except as provided in section
12 63-702(2), Idaho Code, on January 1 of the year in which the claim was filed a
13 claimant must be an owner of a homestead and be:
14 (a) Not less than sixty-five (65) years old; or
15 (b) A child under the age of eighteen (18) years who is fatherless or
16 motherless or who has been abandoned by any surviving parent or parents;
17 or
18 (c) A widow or widower; or
19 (d) A disabled person who is recognized as disabled by the social secu-
20 rity administration pursuant to title 42 of the United States Code, or by
21 the railroad retirement board pursuant to title 45 of the United States
22 Code, or by the office of management and budget pursuant to title 5 of the
23 United States Code, or who is disabled and as a result is prevented from
24 engaging in any occupation or employment for remuneration or profit as a
25 result of bodily injury, mental or emotional impairment or disease, either
26 occupational or nonoccupational in cause and which fact is certified by
27 two (2) licensed physicians; or
28 (e) A disabled veteran of any war engaged in by the United States, whose
29 disability is recognized as a service-connected disability of a degree of
30 ten percent (10%) or more, or who has a pension for nonservice-connected
31 disabilities, in accordance with laws and regulations administered by the
32 United States veterans administration; or
33 (f) A person, as specified in 42 U.S.C. 1701, who was or is entitled to
34 receive benefits because he is known to have been taken by a hostile force
35 as a prisoner, hostage or otherwise; or
36 (g) Blind.
37 (2) "Homestead" means the dwelling, owner-occupied by the claimant as
38 described in this chapter and used as the primary dwelling place of the claim-
39 ant and may be occupied by any members of the household as their home, and so
40 much of the land surrounding it, not exceeding one (1) acre, as is reasonably
41 necessary for the use of the dwelling as a home. It may consist of a part of a
42 multidwelling or multipurpose building and part of the land upon which it is
43 built. "Homestead" does not include personal property such as furniture, fur-
2
1 nishings or appliances, but a manufactured home may be a homestead.
2 (3) "Household" means the claimant and the claimant's spouse. The term
3 does not include bona fide lessees, tenants, or roomers and boarders on con-
4 tract. "Household" includes persons described in subsection (8)(b) of this
5 section.
6 (4) "Household income" means all income received by the claimant and, if
7 applicable, the claimant's spouse, in a calendar year.
8 (5) "Income" means the sum of federal adjusted gross income as defined in
9 the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in section 63-3004, Idaho Code, and to
10 the extent not already included in federal adjusted gross income:
11 (a) Alimony;
12 (b) Support money;
13 (c) Nontaxable strike benefits;
14 (d) The nontaxable amount of any individual retirement account, pension
15 or annuity, (including railroad retirement benefits, all payments received
16 under the federal social security act except the social security death
17 benefit as specified in this subsection, state unemployment insurance
18 laws, and veterans disability pensions and compensation, excluding
19 rollovers as provided in section 402 or 403 of the Internal Revenue Code);
20 (e) Nontaxable interest received from the federal government or any of
21 its instrumentalities or a state government or any of its instrumentali-
22 ties;
23 (f) Worker's compensation; and
24 (g) The gross amount of loss of earnings insurance.
25 It does not include capital gains, gifts from nongovernmental sources or
26 inheritances. To the extent not reimbursed, the cost of medical care as
27 defined in section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, incurred or paid by
28 the claimant and/or, if applicable, the claimant's spouse, may be deducted
29 from income. To the extent not reimbursed, personal funeral expenses, includ-
30 ing prepaid funeral expenses and premiums on funeral insurance, of the claim-
31 ant and claimant's spouse only, may be deducted from income up to an annual
32 maximum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per claim. "Income" does not include
33 veterans disability pensions received by a person described in subsection
34 (1)(e) who is a claimant or a claimant's spouse if the disability pension is
35 received pursuant to a service-connected disability of a degree of forty per-
36 cent (40%) or more. "Income" does not include lump sum death benefits made by
37 the social security administration pursuant to 42 U.S.C. section 402(i). Docu-
38 mentation of medical expenses may be required by the county assessor, board of
39 equalization and state tax commission in such form as the county assessor,
40 board of equalization or state tax commission shall determine. "Income" shall
41 be that received in the calendar year immediately preceding the year in which
42 a claim is filed. Where a claimant and/or the claimant's spouse does not file
43 a federal tax return, the claimant's and/or the claimant's spouse's federal
44 adjusted gross income, for purposes of this section, shall be an income equiv-
45 alent to federal adjusted gross income had the claimant and/or the claimant's
46 spouse filed a federal tax return, as determined by the county assessor. The
47 county assessor, board of equalization or state tax commission may require
48 documentation of income in such form as each shall determine, including, but
49 not limited to: copies of federal or state tax returns and any attachments
50 thereto; and income reporting forms such as the W-2 and 1099.
51 (6) years "Occupied" means actual use and possession.
52 (7) "Owner" means a person holding title in fee simple or holding a cer-
53 tificate of motor vehicle title (either of which may be subject to mortgage,
54 deed of trust or other lien) or who has retained or been granted a life estate
55 or who is a person entitled to file a claim under section 63-702, Idaho Code.
3
1 "Owner" shall also include any person who:
2 (a) As grantor, or whose spouse as grantor, created a revocable or irrev-
3 ocable trust and was named as a beneficiary of that trust; or
4 (b) Is the beneficiary of a revocable or irrevocable trust which is the
5 owner of such homestead and under which the claimant or the claimant's
6 spouse has the primary right of occupancy of the homestead; or
7 (c) Is a partner of a limited partnership, member of a limited liability
8 company or shareholder of a corporation if such entity holds title in fee
9 simple or holds a certificate of motor vehicle title and if the person
10 holds at least a five percent (5%) ownership in such entity, as determined
11 by the county assessor; or
12 (d) Has retained or been granted a life estate.
13 "Owner" includes a vendee in possession under a land sale contract. Any par-
14 tial ownership shall be considered as ownership for determining initial quali-
15 fication for property tax reduction benefits; however, the amount of property
16 tax reduction under section 63-704, Idaho Code, and rules promulgated pursuant
17 to section 63-705, Idaho Code, shall be computed on the value of the
18 claimant's partial ownership. "Partial ownership," for the purposes of this
19 section, means any one (1) person's ownership when property is owned by more
20 than one (1) person or where the homestead is held by an entity, as set forth
21 in this subsection, but more than one (1) person has the right of occupancy of
22 such homestead. A person holding either partial title in fee simple or holding
23 a certificate of motor vehicle title together with another person but who does
24 not occupy the dwelling as his primary dwelling place, shall not be considered
25 an owner for purposes of this section, if such person is a cosignatory of a
26 note secured by the dwelling in question and at least one (1) of the other
27 cosignatories of the note occupies the dwelling as his primary dwelling place.
28 The combined community property interests of both spouses shall not be consid-
29 ered partial ownership so long as the combined community property interests
30 constitute the entire ownership of the homestead, including where the spouses
31 are occupying a homestead owned by an entity, as set forth in this subsection,
32 and the spouses have the primary right of occupancy of the homestead. The pro-
33 portional reduction required under this subsection shall not apply to commu-
34 nity property interests. Where title to property is held by a person who has
35 died without timely filing a claim for property tax reduction, the estate of
36 the deceased person shall be the "owner," provided that the time periods dur-
37 ing which the deceased person held such title shall be attributed to the
38 estate for the computation of any time periods under subsection (8)(a) or
39 (8)(b) of this section.
40 (8) (a) "Primary dwelling place" means the claimant's dwelling place on
41 January 1 of the year for which the claim is made. The primary dwelling
42 place is the single place where a claimant has his true, fixed and perma-
43 nent home and principal establishment, and to which whenever the individ-
44 ual is absent he has the intention of returning. A claimant must establish
45 the dwelling to which the claim relates to be his primary dwelling place
46 by clear and convincing evidence or by establishing that the dwelling is
47 where the claimant resided on January 1 and:
48 (i) At least six (6) months during the prior year; or
49 (ii) The majority of the time the claimant owned the dwelling if
50 owned by the claimant less than one (1) year; or
51 (iii) The majority of the time after the claimant first occupied the
52 dwelling if occupied by the claimant for less than one (1) year. The
53 county assessor may require written or other proof of the foregoing
54 in such form as the county assessor may determine.
55 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection,
4
1 the property upon which the claimant makes application shall be deemed to
2 be the claimant's primary dwelling place if the claimant is otherwise
3 qualified and resides in a care facility and does not allow the property
4 upon which the claimant has made application to be occupied by persons
5 paying a consideration to occupy the dwelling. Payment of utilities shall
6 not be payment of a consideration to occupy the dwelling. A claimant's
7 spouse who resides in a care facility shall be deemed to reside at the
8 claimant's primary dwelling place and to be a part of the claimant's
9 household. A care facility is a hospital, nursing facility or intermediate
10 care facility for the mentally retarded as defined in section 39-1301,
11 Idaho Code, or a facility as defined in section 39-3302(16), Idaho Code,
12 or a dwelling other than the one upon which the applicant makes applica-
13 tion where a claimant who is unable to reside in the dwelling upon which
14 the application is made lives and receives help in daily living, protec-
15 tion and security.
16 SECTION 2. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby
17 declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after its
18 passage and approval, and retroactively to January 1, 2003.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 12567 Cl
This legislation amends Section 63-701, Idaho Code, to further
define the term "Claimant" and to provide retroactive application.
The amending language adds that two (2) licensed physicians can be
utilized to certify that a claimant who is disabled and as a result
is prevented from engaging in any occupation or employment for
remuneration or profit as a result of bodily injury or disease
either occupationally or nonoccupational in cause can qualify for
the circuit breaker property tax relief program as long as they
also meet all other requirements as outlined in Idaho Code, 63-710.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact on the state general fund.
Contact:
Name: Rep. Tom Trail
Phone: 322-1058
Name: Rep. Shirley Ringo
Phone: 332 -1232
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H101