Exemption for Blind
Local Property Tax Exemptions for Legally Blind Persons
For more information, please contact your local assessors.
DOCUMENTATION
You must provide the assessors with whatever information is reasonably required to establish eligibility. This information may include, but is not limited to:
1. Evidence of domicile and ownership.
2. Proof of legal blindness.
NUMBER OF EXEMPTIONS
With limited exceptions, you may only receive one exemption under M.G.L. c. 59, § 5 for each fiscal year. If you qualify for more than one, you will receive the one that provides the greatest benefit. You may receive an exemption and if qualified, defer all or a part of the balance of the reduced tax.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
You must satisfy tests relating to domicile, ownership and legal blindness. You must meet all eligibility requirements as of July 1 of the tax year. (The fiscal year of cities and towns begins July 1 and ends the following June 30.) If you do not meet all requirements as July 1, you cannot receive all or any portion of the exemption for that tax year.
DOMICILE
You must occupy the property as your domicile. Your domicile is where your principal and legal home is located, your family, social, civic and economic life is centered and you plan to return whenever you are away. You may have more than one residence, but only one domicile.
OWNERSHIP
You must own the property.
1. Your ownership interest must be worth at least $5,000. You may own this interest solely, as a joint owner or as a tenant in common.
2. If you hold a life estate in the domicile, you are the owner.
3. If your domicile is held in a trust, you are the owner only if:
a. You are a trustee or co-trustee of that trust, and
b. You have a sufficient beneficial interest in the domicile.
LEGAL BLINDNESS
With each year’s application, you must submit a current “Certificate of Legal Blindness” or current “identification and certificate of blindness card” from the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind or you may substitute a statement from your doctor or optometrist certifying you are legally blind under G.L. c. 6, section 136.
EXEMPTION CREDIT
If the assessors decide you are eligible and grant an exemption, the amount granted is credited toward and reduces the tax assessed on your domicile for that fiscal year. You will only receive a refund if the entire tax for the year has already been paid at the time the exemption is granted.
SALE OF DOMICILE
If you are selling your domicile, you should make your attorney aware that you receive a property tax exemption that reduces the tax owed for the fiscal year. The sale is a private financial transaction and as a party, you are responsible for seeing that the exemption is properly credited at the closing, through escrow or other arrangements, when the parties make adjustments for local property taxes or charges. Your city or town is not responsible for seeing that you and the buyer allocate the property taxes so you get the benefit of the exemption.