Senior Freeze Property Tax
Reimbursement Available
NEW JERSEY – Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco and the Bergen County Division of Senior Services are reminding residents age 65 or older, and disabled residents, that they may be eligible for the property tax relief program known as New Jersey Senior Freeze. This program reimburses them for property tax increases on their principal residence.
To qualify, applicants must meet all the eligibility requirements for each year from the base year (the first year they met all the requirements, such as age, residency or ownership) through the application year (the current application year is 2019). The 2018 Senior Freeze application deadline is October 31, 2019. The Senior Freeze (Property Tax Reimbursement) Hotline is 1-800-882-6597.
Using 2017 as the base year, eligibility requirements for new applicants are that they:
· Be at least age 65 or receive Social Security Disability benefits;
· Must have been a New Jersey resident for at least the last 10 years, either as a homeowner or renter;
· Have owned and lived in that home for the last three years and have paid the full amount of property taxes on the home; or
· Have leased and lived at a site in a mobile home park for the last three years and have paid the full amount of property taxes/site fees;
· Live below the required income level for eligibility, which in 2017 was $87,268 and in 2018 was $89,013 (including Social Security and Medicare).
Those who filed an application in 2017 and met all the eligibility requirements should receive a 2018 application (PTR-2) mailed to their homes by late February.
Those who met the eligibility requirements for both 2017 and 2018 are filing for the first time can download Form PTR-1from https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation and click on “Senior Freeze”.
For help in completing the forms, call the Bergen County Division of Senior Services Senior Helpline at 201-336-7400