How to Apply for Homestead Tax Credits for Owner Occupied Homes

If your home in Takoma Park is your principal residence, you probably have been receiving a Homestead Tax Credit on that property.  The state established the Homestead Property Tax Credit, which limits or caps the increase in taxable assessment each year to a fixed percentage.  A one-time application is now required to continue or to begin receiving this credit.  Applications have recently been sent by the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation to owners who had their properties last valued on January 1, 2007.  So this means you may not receive an application because your home was not assessed on that date.  If you have any questions about the Homestead Tax Credit or whether it is time for you to apply for the credit, visit www.dat.state.md.us.

The application and instructions are at https://sdathtc.resiusa.org/homestead/.

If you have received the application in the mail, you can mail in the paper application or fill out the on-line application by choosing Montgomery County from the drop-down list and pressing continue.  If you did not receive the application in the mail, you will not have an access code to fill out the form on-line.  In that case, download an application by clicking “click here” from the web site illustrated above.  This will take you to the application itself.  Or you can go there directly by pointing your web browser to http://www.dat.state.md.us/sdatweb/Homestead_application.pdf. 

Be sure you use a computer that has both internet and a printer—you will not be able to save the completed form on your computer; you can only print it.  You will need a two-digit county code (16 for Montgomery County) and your 16-digit property tax account number.  You can get your account number from your property tax bill or by searching the Real Property database at http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/.

Fill out the form, print it, then sign and mail it to the address on the form.