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HOUSE
BILL 2514
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Passed
Legislature - 1992 Regular Session
State of Washington 52nd
Legislature 1992 Regular Session
Read first time 01/20/92.
Referred to Committee on Revenue. Modifying for the
purposes of senior citizen property tax relief the calculation of combined
disposable income for persons whose spouse has recently died.
AN ACT
Relating to averaging income for senior citizen property tax exemption upon
death of spouse; reenacting and amending RCW 84.36.381; and creating a new
section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
84.36.381 and 1991 c 213 s 3 and 1991 c 203 s 1 are each reenacted and amended
to read as follows:
A
person shall be exempt from any legal obligation to pay all or a portion of the
amount of excess and regular real property taxes due and payable in the year
following the year in which a claim is filed, and thereafter, in accordance
with the following:
(1)
The property taxes must have been imposed upon a residence which was occupied
by the person claiming the exemption as a principal place of residence as of
January 1st of the year for which the exemption is claimed: PROVIDED, That any
person who sells, transfers, or is displaced from his or her residence may
transfer his or her exemption status to a replacement residence, but no
claimant shall receive an exemption on more than one residence in any year:
PROVIDED FURTHER, That confinement of the person to a hospital or nursing home
shall not disqualify the claim of exemption if the residence is temporarily
unoccupied or if the residence is occupied by a spouse and/or a person financially
dependent on the claimant for support;
(2)
The person claiming the exemption must have owned, at the time of filing, in
fee, as a life estate, or by contract purchase, the residence on which the
property taxes have been imposed or if the person claiming the exemption lives
in a cooperative housing association, corporation, or partnership, such person
must own a share therein representing the unit or portion of the structure in
which he or she resides. For purposes of this subsection, a residence owned by
a marital community or owned by cotenants shall be deemed to be owned by each
spouse or cotenant, and any lease for life shall be deemed a life estate;
(3)
The person claiming the exemption must be sixty-one years of age or older on
December 31st of the year in which the exemption claim is filed, or must have
been, at the time of filing, retired from regular gainful employment by reason
of physical disability: PROVIDED, That any surviving spouse of a person who
was receiving an exemption at the time of the person's death shall qualify if
the surviving spouse is fifty-seven years of age or older and otherwise meets
the requirements of this section;
(4)
The amount that the person shall be exempt from an obligation to pay shall be
calculated on the basis of combined disposable income, as defined in RCW
84.36.383. If the person claiming the exemption was retired for two months or
more of the preceding year, the combined disposable income of such person shall
be calculated by multiplying the average monthly combined disposable income of
such person during the months such person was retired by twelve. If the
income of the person claiming exemption is reduced for two or more months of
the preceding year by reason of the death of the person's spouse, the combined
disposable income of such person shall be calculated by multiplying the average
monthly combined disposable income of such person after the death of the spouse
by twelve.
(5)(a)
A person who otherwise qualifies under this section and has a combined
disposable income of twenty-six thousand dollars or less shall be exempt from
all excess property taxes; and
(b)(i)
A person who otherwise qualifies under this section and has a combined
disposable income of eighteen thousand dollars or less but greater than fifteen
thousand dollars shall be exempt from all regular property taxes on the greater
of thirty thousand dollars or thirty percent of the valuation of his or her
residence, but not to exceed fifty thousand dollars of the valuation of his or
her residence; or
(ii) A
person who otherwise qualifies under this section and has a combined disposable
income of fifteen thousand dollars or less shall be exempt from all regular
property taxes on the greater of thirty-four thousand dollars or fifty percent
of the valuation of his or her residence.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. Section
1 of this act shall be effective for taxes levied for collection in 1992 and thereafter.
Passed the House February 13, 1992.
Passed the Senate March 12, 1992.
Approved by the Governor April 2,
1992.
Filed
in Office of Secretary of State April 2, 1992.
