(1) To qualify under the homestead exemption provision of the Constitution, each person claiming the exemption shall file an application with the property valuation administrator of the county in which the applicant resides, on forms prescribed by the department. The assessed value of property on which homestead exemption is claimed shall not be increased because of valuation expressed on the application form filed with the property valuation administrator, and whenever it becomes known that the valuation of property subject to the homestead tax exemption has been increased because of valuation expressed on the application form, adjustment shall be made the following year so that the total tax paid by the taxpayer is the same as if the increase had not been made.
(2) (a) Every person filing an application for exemption under the homestead exemption provision must be sixty-five (65) years of age or older during the year for which application is made or must have been classified as totally disabled under a program authorized or administered by an agency of the United States government or by any retirement system either within or without the Commonwealth of Kentucky on January 1 of the year in which application is made.
(b) Every person filing an application for exemption under the homestead exemption provision must own and maintain the property for which the exemption is sought as his personal residence.
(c) Every person filing an application for exemption under the disability provision of the homestead exemption must have received disability payments pursuant to the disability and must maintain the disability classification for the entirety of the particular taxation period.
(d) 1. Every person filing for the homestead exemption who is totally disabled and is less than sixty-five (65) years of age must apply for the homestead exemption on an annual basis, except as provided by subparagraph 2. of this paragraph.
2. a. A service-connected totally disabled veteran of the United States
Armed Forces; or
b. A totally and permanently disabled individual found disabled under:
i. The applicable rules of the Social Security Administration;
ii. The applicable rules of the Kentucky Retirement Systems; or iii. Any other provision of the Kentucky Revised Statutes;
shall document the disability at the time of application for the homestead exemption and shall not be required to apply for the homestead exemption on an annual basis.
(e) 1. Only one (1) exemption per residential unit shall be allowed even though the resident may be sixty-five (65) years of age and also totally disabled, and regardless of the number of residents sixty-five (65) years of age or older occupying the unit.
2. The sixty-five hundred dollars ($6,500) exemption provided in Section
170 of the Constitution of Kentucky shall be construed to mean sixty- five hundred dollars ($6,500) in terms of the purchasing power of the dollar in 1972.
3. Every two (2) years thereafter, if the cost of living index of the United States Department of Labor has changed as much as one percent (1%), the maximum exemption shall be adjusted accordingly.
(f) The real property may be held by legal or equitable title, by the entireties, jointly, in common, as a condominium, or indirectly by the stock ownership or membership representing the owner‘s or member’s proprietary interest in a corporation owning a fee or a leasehold initially in excess of ninety-eight (98) years. The exemption shall apply only to the value of the real property assessable to the owner or, in case of ownership through stock or membership in a corporation, the value of the proportion which his interest in the corporation bears to the assessed value of the property.
(g) A mobile home, recreational vehicle, when classified as real property as provided for in KRS § 132.751, or a manufactured house shall qualify as a residential unit for purposes of the homestead exemption provision.
(h) When title to property which is exempted, either in whole or in part, under the homestead exemption is transferred, the owner, administrator, executor, trustee, guardian, conservator, curator, or agent shall report such transfer to the property valuation administrator.
(3) Notwithstanding any statutory provisions to the contrary, the provisions of this section shall apply to the assessment and taxation of property under the homestead exemption provision for state, county, city, or special district purposes.
(4) (a) The homestead exemption for disabled persons shall terminate whenever those persons no longer meet the total disability classification at the end of the taxation period for which the homestead exemption has been granted. In no case shall the exemption be prorated for persons who maintained the total disability classification at the end of the taxation period.
(b) Any totally disabled person granted the homestead exemption under the disability provision shall report any change in disability classification to the property valuation administrator in the county in which the homestead exemption is authorized.
(c) Any person making application and qualifying for the homestead exemption before payment of his property tax bills for the year in question shall be entitled to a full or partial exoneration, as the case may be, of the property tax due to reflect the taxable assessment after allowance for the homestead exemption.
(d) Any person making application and qualifying for the homestead exemption after property tax bills have been paid shall be entitled to a refund of the property taxes applicable to the value of the homestead exemption.
(5) In this section, “taxation period” means the period from January 1 through
December 31 of the year in which application is made, unless the person maintaining the classification dies before December 31, in which case “taxation period” means the period from January 1 to the date of death.
Effective: June 8, 2011
History: Amended 2011 Ky. Acts ch. 22, sec. 1, effective June 8, 2011. — Amended
2008 Ky. Acts ch. 4, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2008. — Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch.
85, sec. 220, effective June 20, 2005. — Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 149, sec. 1, effective July 14, 2000. — Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 338, sec. 14, effective July
14, 1992. — Repealed and reenacted 1990 Ky. Acts ch. 476, Pt. V, sec. 335, effective
July 13, 1990. — Amended 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 42, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982; ch.
141, sec. 60, effective July 1, 1982; and 395, sec. 7, effective July 15, 1982. — Amended 1976 Ky. Acts ch. 315, sec. 2. — Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 140, sec. 1; and ch. 314, sec. 1. — Created 1972 Ky. Acts ch. 285, sec. 4.
Legislative Research Commission Note (6/8/2011). 2011 Ky. Acts ch. 22, sec. 2, provides that the changes made to this statute in that Act apply to property assessed on or after January 1, 2012.
Note: 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 396, sec. 65 would have amended this section effective July 1,
1982. However, 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 396 was repealed by 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 141, sec.
146, also effective July 1, 1982.