HB-6024, As Passed House, December 13, 2018
SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 6024
A bill to amend 1893 PA 206, entitled
"The general property tax act,"
by amending section 7b (MCL 211.7b), as amended by 2013 PA 161.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 7b. (1) Real property used and owned as a homestead by a
disabled
veteran who was discharged from the armed forces Armed
Forces
of the United States under honorable
conditions or, by an
individual
described in subject to subsection (2), a disabled
veteran's unremarried surviving spouse is exempt from the
collection of taxes under this act. To obtain the exemption, the
property owner or his or her legal designee shall file an affidavit
showing the facts required by this section and a description of the
real
property shall be filed by the property owner or his or her
legal
designee with the supervisor or
other assessing officer
during
the period beginning with the tax day for each year and
ending at the time of the final adjournment of the local board of
review.
The affidavit when filed shall be open to inspection. The
county
treasurer shall cancel taxes subject to collection under
this
act for any year in which a disabled veteran eligible for the
exemption
under this section has acquired title to real property
exempt
under this section. Upon granting the If an exemption is
granted under this section, all of the following apply:
(a) Taxes exempt from collection in a calendar year for which
the exemption is in effect shall be determined in proportion to the
number of months that the property qualified for the exemption
under this section during that calendar year.
(b) The exemption remains in effect until 1 of the following
dates, as applicable:
(i) If the exempt status of the property is based on a
disability described in subsection (3)(a) or (b), the date on which
the property no longer qualifies for the exemption under this
section. The beneficiary of an exemption that terminates under this
subparagraph shall, pursuant to a form and procedures prescribed by
the state tax commission, notify the supervisor or other assessing
officer of the loss of exempt status.
(ii) If the exempt status of the property is based on a
disability described in subsection (3)(c), December 30 of the tax
year in which the exemption claimant applied for the exemption or
the date on which the property no longer qualifies for the
exemption under this section, whichever is earlier. The beneficiary
of an exemption that terminates under this subparagraph before
December 30 shall, pursuant to a form and procedures prescribed by
the state tax commission, notify the supervisor or other assessing
officer of the loss of exempt status.
(c) While the exemption is in effect, each local taxing unit
shall bear the loss of its portion of the taxes upon which the
exemption has been granted.
(2) If a disabled veteran who is otherwise eligible for the
exemption under this section dies, either before or after the
exemption
under this section is granted, the exemption shall remain
remains
available to or shall continue continues for his or her
unremarried surviving spouse. The surviving spouse shall comply
with the requirements of subsection (1) and shall indicate on the
affidavit that he or she is the surviving spouse of a disabled
veteran entitled to the exemption under this section. The exemption
shall
continue is available to a
surviving spouse who meets the
requirements of subsection (1) as to real property that he or she
owns and uses as a homestead whether or not the disabled veteran to
whom the surviving spouse had been married owned or used that
property as his or her homestead. An exemption granted under this
subsection continues as long as the surviving spouse remains
unremarried.
(3)
As used in this section, "disabled veteran" means a person
an individual who is a resident of this state and who meets 1 of
the following criteria:
(a)
Has been determined by the United States department
Department
of veterans affairs Veterans Affairs to be permanently
and totally disabled as a result of military service and entitled
to veterans' benefits at the 100% rate.
(b)
Has a certificate from the United States veterans'
administration,
or its successors, Department
of Veterans Affairs
certifying that he or she is receiving or has received pecuniary
assistance due to disability for specially adapted housing.
(c)
Has been rated by the United States department Department
of
veterans affairs Veterans
Affairs as individually unemployable.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act is curative insofar as
it clarifies the scope of the exemption available to a disabled
veteran's surviving spouse under section 7b(2) of the general
property tax act, 1893 PA 206, MCL 211.7b, and, to that extent, is
intended to correct any misinterpretation of legislative intent in
the final opinion and judgment of the Michigan tax tribunal, MTT
Docket No. 16-004780, issued March 15, 2017.