Saturday, August 21, 2010

The homestead tax exemption is meant, we assume, to financially help Floridians who have bought a home and intend to live in it permanently.

It can save you meaningful money -- like maybe $500 off your tax bill.

Apparently, for some people, that's enough to induce them to skirt the rules, claiming the exemption when the law says otherwise.

Three (so far) elected officials or candidates in Monroe County recently have been in hot water over their claims for the exemption.

Jay Marzella, who is running for a seat on the Florida Keys Mosquito Control board, apparently was renting out a home in Summerland Key for which he claimed a Homestead exemption, while living in a unit at his Parmer's Resort on Little Torch Key.

Bill Langstaff, a sitting member of the Mosquito Control Board who is not running for re-election, has two homes and claimed a $25,000 exemption on both, a home in Key Largo and a mobile home in Morriston.

The case for or against Ron Martin, a School Board candidate, is a little more complicated. Martin has claimed a homestead exemption for a home he owns in which his son is living in Fort Myers, while Martin lives in his mother-in-law's home in Tavernier. State and local election officials say that's OK in regard to his eligibility to run for office, although it may not fit into the homestead rules. In the meantime, Martin has asked Lee County to cancel his homestead exemption, effective Jan. 1.

Earlier this year, the county property appraiser won a court case that approved the revocation of a homestead exemption for a Key West home owned by Paul Mitchell, a former Keys Federal Credit Union board member, who, it was ruled, lived in Sugarloaf Key.

The exemption is basically a $25,000 reduction in the assessed evaluation of your home. If your home is assessed at $200,000, taxes will be figured on only $175,000. There also are provisions that will reduce the evaluation by an additional $25,000. Other provisions of the law can reduce it even further.

In a nutshell, you can't own a home in Wisconsin and one in Marathon and claim a homestead exemption on both. If you live in Wisconsin and have a "winter" home in Marathon, the law says you can claim only the Wisconsin home, because it's your "primary" home, no matter how many days you live in each.

In essence, the law comes down to the "primary" home being the eligible one. That snowbird from Wisconsin would have to establish that his "primary" residence was in Marathon, if he wished to get the exemption (along with not paying income tax in Florida).

A husband and wife cannot each claim an exemption on two homes, unless they claim they are "separated" and not supporting each other.

If the homeowner begins living in a nursing home, he or his agent could claim that he has "intent to return home" to retain the exemption. Upon his death, however, the state could put in a claim for Medicaid reimbursement.

The exemption is a help to many people. To others, it's obviously a temptation.

-- The Citizen