hb1562i_5.ps
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 1562
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES SMITH (14) (Sponsor), SCHNEIDER, YATES, WHORTON,
SANDER, DARROUGH, COOPER (155), ZWEIFEL, PARKER, MEADOWS, BURNETT, BIVINS,
WILLOUGHBY, YOUNG, SMITH (118), PEARCE, McKENNA,
JOHNSON (61) AND ABEL (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time February 24, 2004, and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
4401L.01I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 135.010 and 135.030, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections
relating to senior citizens property tax relief.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 135.010 and 135.030, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections
enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 135.010 and 135.030, to read as follows:
135.010. As used in sections 135.010 to 135.030 the following words and terms mean:
(1) "Claimant", a person or persons claiming a credit under sections 135.010 to 135.030.
If the persons are eligible to file a joint federal income tax return and reside at the same address
at any time during the taxable year, then the credit may only be allowed if claimed on a combined
Missouri income tax return or a combined claim return reporting their combined incomes and
property taxes. A claimant shall not be allowed a property tax credit unless the claimant or
spouse has attained the age of sixty-five on or before the last day of the calendar year and the
claimant or spouse was a resident of Missouri for the entire year, or the claimant or spouse is a
veteran of any branch of the armed forces of the United States or this state who became one
hundred percent disabled as a result of such service, or the claimant or spouse is disabled as
defined in subdivision (2) of this section, and such claimant or spouse provides proof of such
disability in such form and manner, and at such times, as the director of revenue may require, or
if the claimant has reached the age of sixty on or before the last day of the calendar year and such
claimant received surviving spouse Social Security benefits during the calendar year and the
claimant provides proof, as required by the director of revenue, that the claimant received
surviving spouse Social Security benefits during the calendar year for which the credit will be
claimed. The residency requirement shall be deemed to have been fulfilled for the purpose of
determining the eligibility of a surviving spouse for a property tax credit if a person of the age
of sixty-five years or older who would have otherwise met the requirements for a property tax
credit dies before the last day of the calendar year. The residency requirement shall also be
deemed to have been fulfilled for the purpose of determining the eligibility of a claimant who
would have otherwise met the requirements for a property tax credit but who dies before the last
day of the calendar year;
(2) "Disabled", the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any
medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death
or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve
months. A claimant shall not be required to be gainfully employed prior to such disability to
qualify for a property tax credit;
(3) "Gross rent", amount paid by a claimant to a landlord for the rental, at arm's length,
of a homestead during the calendar year, exclusive of charges for health and personal care
services and food furnished as part of the rental agreement, whether or not expressly set out in
the rental agreement. If the director of revenue determines that the landlord and tenant have not
dealt at arm's length, and that the gross rent is excessive, then [he] the director shall determine
the gross rent based upon a reasonable amount of rent. Gross rent shall be deemed to be paid
only if actually paid prior to the date a return is filed. The director of revenue may prescribe
regulations requiring a return of information by a landlord receiving rent, certifying for a
calendar year the amount of gross rent received from a tenant claiming a property tax credit and
shall, by regulation, provide a method for certification by the claimant of the amount of gross
rent paid for any calendar year for which a claim is made. The regulations authorized by this
subdivision may require a landlord or a tenant or both to provide data relating to health and
personal care services and to food. Neither a landlord nor a tenant may be required to provide
data relating to utilities, furniture, home furnishings or appliances;
(4) "Homestead", the dwelling in Missouri owned or rented by the claimant and not to
exceed five acres of land surrounding it as is reasonably necessary for use of the dwelling as a
home. It may consist of part of a multidwelling or multipurpose building and part of the land
upon which it is built. "Owned" includes a vendee in possession under a land contract and one
or more tenants by the entireties, joint tenants, or tenants in common and includes a claimant
actually in possession if he was the immediate former owner of record, if a lineal descendant is
presently the owner of record, and if the claimant actually pays all taxes upon the property. It
may include a mobile home;
(5) "Income", Missouri adjusted gross income as defined in section 143.121, RSMo, less
[two] four thousand dollars as an exemption for the claimant's spouse residing at the same
address, and increased, where necessary, to reflect the following:
(a) Social Security, railroad retirement, and veterans payments and benefits unless the
claimant is a one hundred percent service-connected, disabled veteran or a spouse of a one
hundred percent service-connected, disabled veteran. The one hundred percent
service-connected disabled veteran shall not be required to list veterans payments and benefits;
(b) The total amount of all other public and private pensions and annuities;
(c) Public relief, public assistance, and unemployment benefits received in cash, other
than benefits received under this chapter;
(d) No deduction being allowed for losses not incurred in a trade or business;
(e) Interest on the obligations of the United States, any state, or any of their subdivisions
and instrumentalities;
(6) "Property taxes accrued", property taxes paid, exclusive of special assessments,
penalties, interest, and charges for service levied on a claimant's homestead in any calendar year.
Property taxes shall qualify for the credit only if actually paid prior to the date a return is filed.
The director of revenue shall require a tax receipt or other proof of property tax payment. If a
homestead is owned only partially by claimant, then "property taxes accrued" is that part of
property taxes levied on the homestead which was actually paid by the claimant. For purposes
of this subdivision, property taxes are "levied" when the tax roll is delivered to the director of
revenue for collection. If a claimant owns a homestead part of the preceding calendar year and
rents it or a different homestead for part of the same year, "property taxes accrued" means only
taxes levied on the homestead both owned and occupied by the claimant, multiplied by the
percentage of twelve months that such property was owned and occupied as the homestead of
the claimant during the year. When a claimant owns and occupies two or more different
homesteads in the same calendar year, property taxes accrued shall be the sum of taxes allocable
to those several properties occupied by the claimant as a homestead for the year. If a homestead
is an integral part of a larger unit such as a farm, or multipurpose or multidwelling building,
property taxes accrued shall be that percentage of the total property taxes accrued as the value
of the homestead is of the total value. For purposes of this subdivision "unit" refers to the parcel
of property covered by a single tax statement of which the homestead is a part;
(7) "Rent constituting property taxes accrued", twenty percent of the gross rent paid by
a claimant and spouse in the calendar year.
135.030. 1. As used in this section:
(1) The term "maximum upper limit" shall, in the calendar year 1989, be the sum of
thirteen thousand five hundred dollars. For each calendar year through December 31, 1992, the
maximum upper limit shall be increased by five hundred dollars per year. For calendar years
after December 31, 1992, and prior to calendar year 1998, the maximum upper limit shall be the
sum used on December 31, 1992. For each calendar year after December 31, 1997, and before
calendar year 2005, the maximum upper limit shall be the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars.
For each calendar year beginning January 1, 2005, the maximum upper limit shall be
increased, rounded to the nearest fifty dollar increment, by the same percentage as the
increase in the general price level as measured by the Consumer Price Index for all Urban
Consumers for the United States, or its successor index, as defined and officially recorded
by the United States Department of Labor, or its successor agency;
(2) The term "minimum base" shall, in the calendar year 1989, be the sum of five
thousand dollars. For each succeeding calendar year through December 31, 1992, the minimum
base shall be increased, in one hundred-dollar increments, by the same percentage as the increase
in the general price level as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
for the United States, or its successor index, as defined and officially recorded by the United
States Department of Labor, or its successor agency, or five percent, whichever is greater. The
increase in the index shall be that as first published by the Department of Labor for the calendar
year immediately preceding the year in which the minimum base is calculated. For calendar
years after December 31, 1992, and prior to calendar year 1998, the minimum base shall be the
sum used on December 31, 1992. For each calendar year after December 31, 1997, and before
calendar year 2005, the minimum base shall be the sum of thirteen thousand dollars. For each
calendar year beginning January 1, 2005, the minimum base shall be increased, rounded
to the nearest fifty dollar increment, by the same percentage as the increase in the general
price level as measured by the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers for the
United States, or its successor index, as defined and officially recorded by the United States
Department of Labor, or its successor agency.
2. [When calculating the minimum base for purposes of this section, whenever the
increase in the Consumer Price Index used in the calculation would result in a figure which is
greater than one one-hundred-dollar increment but less than another one-hundred-dollar
increment, the director of revenue shall always round that figure off to the next higher
one-hundred-dollar increment when determining the table of credits under this section.
3.] If the income on a return is equal to or less than the maximum upper limit for the
calendar year for which the return is filed, the property tax credit shall be determined from a table
of credits based upon the amount by which the total property tax described in section 135.025
exceeds the percent of income in the following list:
If the income on the return is: The percent is:
Not over the minimum base 0 percent with credit not
to exceed actual property
tax or rent equivalent
paid up to $750
Over the minimum base but 1/16 percent accumulative
not over the maximum upper per $300 from 0 percent limit
to 4 percent.
The director of revenue shall prescribe a table based upon the preceding sentences. The property
tax shall be in increments of twenty-five dollars and the income in increments of three hundred
dollars. The credit shall be the amount rounded to the nearest whole dollar computed on the
basis of the property tax and income at the midpoints of each increment. As used in this
subsection, the term "accumulative" means an increase by continuous or repeated application of
the percent to the income increment at each three hundred dollar level.
[4.] 3. Notwithstanding [the provision of] subsection 4 of section 32.057, RSMo, the
department of revenue or any duly authorized employee or agent shall determine whether any
taxpayer filing a report or return with the department of revenue who has not applied for the
credit allowed pursuant to section 135.020 may qualify for the credit, and shall notify any
qualified claimant of [his or her] the claimant's potential eligibility, where the department
determines such potential eligibility exists.