New Jersey’s Senior Freeze is a property tax relief program that benefits senior homeowners and homeowners with disabilities. The deadline to apply for the 2022 New Jersey Senior Freeze property tax relief is over, and the state is currently issuing 2022 payments to qualified applicants. The state, however, has expanded the requirements for the 2023 filing season.
New Jersey Senior Freeze program: what is it?
New Jersey’s Senior Freeze program offers financial relief to qualifying seniors and disabled individuals by reimbursing any increase in property taxes or mobile home park site fees. Also called the Property Tax Reimbursement, this program sends relief checks to over 150,000 recipients to offset the rise in their local property tax bills.
In general, the program covers eligible residents who are 65 or older or those who receive Social Security disability payments. The deadline to apply for the 2022 property relief is over, and New Jersey is currently issuing payments to eligible applicants.
To qualify for the relief payment, a resident needs to be:
- 65 or older as of Dec. 31, 2021.
- Must have received the Social Security benefits by Dec. 31, 2021.
- Must have been a New Jersey residence since Dec. 31, 2011, or earlier.
- Resident must have been an owner and occupied the home since Dec. 31, 2018, or earlier.
- Must have paid property taxes on time for 2021 and 2022.
- Must have income $94,178 or less for 2021 and $99,735 or less for 2022.
Changes for the 2023 filing season
For the 2023 filing season, the state has changed two requirements that expand the income limit and simplify the residency requirements. Governor Phil Murphy signed the changes into law June 30, 2023. These changes are:
- Raised the income limit to $150,000.
- Does away with the requirement that an applicant needs to be a New Jersey resident for 10 consecutive years.
All other requirements to qualify for the New Jersey Senior Freeze property tax relief remain unchanged. It must be noted that the changes won’t go into effect until next year. It means that the old rules will remain in place for the current round of relief payments.
Visit the New Jersey Division of Taxation’s Senior Freeze program webpage to get more information on the New Jersey Senior Freeze property tax relief.
In addition to making changes to the eligibility requirements, Gov. Murphy signed into law a new program, called “Stay NJ,” to further ease the property-tax burden for senior homeowners.
The state has even started setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the Stay NJ program. The program aims to reduce the property-tax bills for many senior homeowners in half (starting in 2026).
Although the Stay NJ program has been praised widely by many advocacy groups, it has drawn criticism as well, especially for omitting tenants. Many also raised concern over the estimated cost of the program.
