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H0252...............................................by REVENUE AND TAXATION
PROPERTY TAX RELIEF - Amends existing law to exclude benefits paid by the
United States Department of Veterans Affairs to dependents of deceased
veterans under the definition of income for circuit breaker property tax
relief purposes.
02/21 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/22 Rpt prt - to Rev/Tax
03/07 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/08 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/09 3rd rdg - PASSED - 69-0-1
AYES -- Anderson, Andrus, Barraclough, Barrett, Bastian, Bayer, Bell,
Bilbao, Black, Block, Boe, Bolz, Bradford, Cannon, Chadderdon, Clark,
Collins, Crow, Deal, Denney, Edmunson, Ellsworth, Eskridge,
Field(18), Field(23), Garrett, Hart, Harwood, Henbest, Henderson,
Jaquet, Jones, Kemp, Lake, LeFavour, Loertscher, Martinez, Mathews,
McGeachin, McKague, Miller, Mitchell, Moyle, Nielsen, Nonini,
Pasley-Stuart, Pence, Raybould, Ring, Ringo, Roberts, Rusche,
Rydalch, Sali, Sayler, Schaefer, Shepherd(2), Shepherd(8), Shirley,
Skippen, Smith(30), Smith(24), Smylie, Snodgrass, Stevenson, Trail,
Wills, Wood, Mr. Speaker
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Bedke
Floor Sponsor - Eskridge
Title apvd - to Senate
03/10 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Loc Gov
03/17 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/18 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/22 3rd rdg - PASSED - 34-0-0, 1 vacancy
AYES -- Andreason, Brandt, Broadsword, Bunderson, Burkett,
Burtenshaw, Cameron, Coiner, Compton, Corder, Darrington, Davis,
Gannon, Geddes, Goedde, Hill, Jorgenson, Kelly, Keough, Langhorst,
Little, Lodge, Malepeai, Marley, McGee, McKenzie, Pearce, Richardson,
Schroeder, Stegner, Stennett, Sweet, Werk, Williams
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- (District 21 seat vacant)
Floor Sponsors - McKenzie & Williams
Title apvd - to House
03/23 To enrol
03/24 Rpt enrol - Sp signed
03/25 Pres signed
03/28 To Governor
04/01 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 241
Effective: 01/01/05
]]]] LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ]]]]
Fifty-eighth Legislature First Regular Session - 2005
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE BILL NO. 252
BY REVENUE AND TAXATION COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO PROPERTY TAX RELIEF; AMENDING SECTION 63-701, IDAHO CODE, TO PRO-
3 VIDE A CORRECT REFERENCE AND TO EXCLUDE BENEFITS PAID BY THE UNITED STATES
4 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO DEPENDENTS OF DECEASED VETERANS UNDER
5 THE DEFINITION OF "INCOME"; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND PROVIDING RETROAC-
6 TIVE APPLICATION.
7 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
8 SECTION 1. That Section 63-701, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
9 amended to read as follows:
10 63-701. DEFINITIONS. As used in this chapter:
11 (1) "Claimant" means a person who has filed a claim under the provisions
12 of sections 63-701 through 63-710, Idaho Code. Except as provided in section
13 63-702(2), Idaho Code, on January 1 of the year or before April 15 in which
14 the claim was filed a claimant must be an owner of a homestead and be:
15 (a) Not less than sixty-five (65) years old; or
16 (b) A child under the age of eighteen (18) years who is fatherless or
17 motherless or who has been abandoned by any surviving parent or parents;
18 or
19 (c) A widow or widower; or
20 (d) A disabled person who is recognized as disabled by the social secu-
21 rity administration pursuant to title 42 of the United States Code, or by
22 the railroad retirement board pursuant to title 45 of the United States
23 Code, or by the office of management and budget pursuant to title 5 of the
24 United States Code; or
25 (e) A disabled veteran of any war engaged in by the United States, whose
26 disability is recognized as a service-connected disability of a degree of
27 ten percent (10%) or more, or who has a pension for nonservice-connected
28 disabilities, in accordance with laws and regulations administered by the
29 United States department of veterans affairs; administration; or
30 (f) A person, as specified in 42 U.S.C. 1701, who was or is entitled to
31 receive benefits because he is known to have been taken by a hostile force
32 as a prisoner, hostage or otherwise; or
33 (g) Blind.
34 (2) "Homestead" means the dwelling, owner-occupied by the claimant as
35 described in this chapter and used as the primary dwelling place of the claim-
36 ant and may be occupied by any members of the household as their home, and so
37 much of the land surrounding it, not exceeding one (1) acre, as is reasonably
38 necessary for the use of the dwelling as a home. It may consist of a part of a
39 multidwelling or multipurpose building and part of the land upon which it is
40 built. "Homestead" does not include personal property such as furniture, fur-
41 nishings or appliances, but a manufactured home may be a homestead.
42 (3) "Household" means the claimant and the claimant's spouse. The term
43 does not include bona fide lessees, tenants, or roomers and boarders on con-
2
1 tract. "Household" includes persons described in subsection (8)(b) of this
2 section.
3 (4) "Household income" means all income received by the claimant and, if
4 married, all income received by the claimant's spouse, in a calendar year.
5 (5) "Income" means the sum of federal adjusted gross income as defined in
6 the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in section 63-3004, Idaho Code, and to
7 the extent not already included in federal adjusted gross income:
8 (a) Alimony;
9 (b) Support money;
10 (c) Nontaxable strike benefits;
11 (d) The nontaxable amount of any individual retirement account, pension
12 or annuity, (including railroad retirement benefits, all payments received
13 under the federal social security act except the social security death
14 benefit as specified in this subsection, state unemployment insurance
15 laws, and veterans disability pensions and compensation, excluding
16 rollovers as provided in section 402 or 403 of the Internal Revenue Code);
17 (e) Nontaxable interest received from the federal government or any of
18 its instrumentalities or a state government or any of its instrumentali-
19 ties;
20 (f) Worker's compensation; and
21 (g) The gross amount of loss of earnings insurance.
22 It does not include capital gains, gifts from nongovernmental sources or
23 inheritances. To the extent not reimbursed, the cost of medical care as
24 defined in section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, incurred or paid by
25 the claimant and, if married, the claimant's spouse, may be deducted from
26 income. To the extent not reimbursed, personal funeral expenses, including
27 prepaid funeral expenses and premiums on funeral insurance, of the claimant
28 and claimant's spouse only, may be deducted from income up to an annual maxi-
29 mum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per claim. "Income" does not include
30 veterans disability pensions received by a person described in subsection
31 (1)(e) who is a claimant or a claimant's spouse if the disability pension is
32 received pursuant to a service-connected disability of a degree of forty per-
33 cent (40%) or more. "Income" does not include dependency and indemnity compen-
34 sation or death benefits paid to a person described in subsection (1) of this
35 section by the United States department of veterans affairs and arising from a
36 service-connected death or disability. "Income" does not include lump sum
37 death benefits made by the social security administration pursuant to 42
38 U.S.C. section 402(i). Documentation of medical expenses may be required by
39 the county assessor, board of equalization and state tax commission in such
40 form as the county assessor, board of equalization or state tax commission
41 shall determine. "Income" shall be that received in the calendar year immedi-
42 ately preceding the year in which a claim is filed. Where a claimant and/or
43 the claimant's spouse does not file a federal tax return, the claimant's
44 and/or the claimant's spouse's federal adjusted gross income, for purposes of
45 this section, shall be an income equivalent to federal adjusted gross income
46 had the claimant and/or the claimant's spouse filed a federal tax return, as
47 determined by the county assessor. The county assessor, board of equalization
48 or state tax commission may require documentation of income in such form as
49 each shall determine, including, but not limited to: copies of federal or
50 state tax returns and any attachments thereto; and income reporting forms such
51 as the W-2 and 1099.
52 (6) "Occupied" means actual use and possession.
53 (7) "Owner" means a person holding title in fee simple or holding a cer-
54 tificate of motor vehicle title (either of which may be subject to mortgage,
55 deed of trust or other lien) or who has retained or been granted a life estate
3
1 or who is a person entitled to file a claim under section 63-702, Idaho Code.
2 "Owner" shall also include any person who:
3 (a) Is the beneficiary of a revocable or irrevocable trust which is the
4 owner of such homestead and under which the claimant or the claimant's
5 spouse has the primary right of occupancy of the homestead; or
6 (b) Is a partner of a limited partnership, member of a limited liability
7 company or shareholder of a corporation if such entity holds title in fee
8 simple or holds a certificate of motor vehicle title and if the person
9 holds at least a five percent (5%) ownership in such entity, as determined
10 by the county assessor; or
11 (c) Has retained or been granted a life estate.
12 "Owner" includes a vendee in possession under a land sale contract. Any par-
13 tial ownership shall be considered as ownership for determining initial quali-
14 fication for property tax reduction benefits; however, the amount of property
15 tax reduction under section 63-704, Idaho Code, and rules promulgated pursuant
16 to section 63-705, Idaho Code, shall be computed on the value of the
17 claimant's partial ownership. "Partial ownership," for the purposes of this
18 section, means any one (1) person's ownership when property is owned by more
19 than one (1) person or where the homestead is held by an entity, as set forth
20 in this subsection, but more than one (1) person has the right of occupancy of
21 such homestead. A person holding either partial title in fee simple or holding
22 a certificate of motor vehicle title together with another person but who does
23 not occupy the dwelling as his primary dwelling place, shall not be considered
24 an owner for purposes of this section, if such person is a cosignatory of a
25 note secured by the dwelling in question and at least one (1) of the other
26 cosignatories of the note occupies the dwelling as his primary dwelling place.
27 The combined community property interests of both spouses shall not be consid-
28 ered partial ownership so long as the combined community property interests
29 constitute the entire ownership of the homestead, including where the spouses
30 are occupying a homestead owned by an entity, as set forth in this subsection,
31 and the spouses have the primary right of occupancy of the homestead. The pro-
32 portional reduction required under this subsection shall not apply to commu-
33 nity property interests. Where title to property is held by a person who has
34 died without timely filing a claim for property tax reduction, the estate of
35 the deceased person shall be the "owner," provided that the time periods dur-
36 ing which the deceased person held such title shall be attributed to the
37 estate for the computation of any time periods under subsection (8)(a) or
38 (8)(b) of this section.
39 (8) (a) "Primary dwelling place" means the claimant's dwelling place on
40 January 1 or before April 15 of the year for which the claim is made. The
41 primary dwelling place is the single place where a claimant has his true,
42 fixed and permanent home and principal establishment, and to which when-
43 ever the individual is absent he has the intention of returning. A claim-
44 ant must establish the dwelling to which the claim relates to be his pri-
45 mary dwelling place by clear and convincing evidence or by establishing
46 that the dwelling is where the claimant resided on January 1 or before
47 April 15 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, 2005.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 14924
This measure allows exemption as income from the Dependency and
Indemnity Compensation and widow's pension benefits for widows of
veterans applying for the Circuit Breaker Program.
FISCAL IMPACT
A negative impact of $150,000 to the general fund.
Contact
Name: Rep. George Eskridge
Phone: 332-1000
Rep. Lawerence Denney
Phone: 332-1000
Pat Teague, Division of Veteran's Services
Phone: 334-3513
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 252