Senate Bill sb1642e1

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    CS for SB 1642                                 First Engrossed



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to homestead exemption;

  3         amending s. 196.031, F.S.; providing that a

  4         person who is receiving or claiming the benefit

  5         of an ad valorem tax exemption or a tax credit

  6         that requires permanent residency in another

  7         state for eligibility is not eligible for

  8         homestead exemption; providing an exception;

  9         amending s. 196.1975, F.S., relating to

10         exemptions for nonprofit homes for the aged;

11         specifying that the exemption applicable to

12         such homes the residents of which meet certain

13         income limitations applies to individual units

14         or apartments of such homes; providing for

15         application of a residency affidavit

16         requirement to applicants for such an

17         exemption; clarifying provisions relating to

18         qualification for the alternative exemption

19         provided by that section for those portions of

20         a home in which the residents do not meet the

21         income limitations; providing that s. 196.195,

22         F.S., relating to requirements and criteria for

23         determining the profit or nonprofit status of

24         an applicant for exemption, and s. 196.196,

25         F.S., relating to criteria for determining

26         whether property is entitled to a charitable,

27         religious, scientific, or literary exemption,

28         do not apply to that section; providing an

29         effective date.

30

31  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:


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    CS for SB 1642                                 First Engrossed



  1         Section 1.  Subsection (6) is added to section 196.031,

  2  Florida Statutes, to read:

  3         196.031  Exemption of homesteads.--

  4         (6)  A person who is receiving or claiming the benefit

  5  of an ad valorem tax exemption or a tax credit in another

  6  state where permanent residency is required as a basis for the

  7  granting of that ad valorem tax exemption or tax credit is not

  8  entitled to the homestead exemption provided by this section.

  9  This subsection does not apply to a person who has the legal

10  or equitable title to real estate in Florida and maintains

11  thereon the permanent residence of another legally or

12  naturally dependent upon the owner.

13         Section 2.  Section 196.1975, Florida Statutes, is

14  amended to read:

15         196.1975  Exemption for property used by nonprofit

16  homes for the aged.--Nonprofit homes for the aged are exempt

17  to the extent that they meet the following criteria:

18         (1)  The applicant must be a corporation not for profit

19  pursuant to chapter 617 or a Florida limited partnership, the

20  sole general partner of which is a corporation not for profit

21  pursuant to chapter 617, and the corporation not for profit

22  must have been exempt as of January 1 of the year for which

23  exemption from ad valorem property taxes is requested from

24  federal income taxation by having qualified as an exempt

25  charitable organization under the provisions of s. 501(c)(3)

26  of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 or of the corresponding

27  section of a subsequently enacted federal revenue act.

28         (2)  A facility will not qualify as a "home for the

29  aged" unless at least 75 percent of the occupants are over the

30  age of 62 years or totally and permanently disabled.  For

31  homes for the aged which are exempt from paying income taxes


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    CS for SB 1642                                 First Engrossed



  1  to the United States as specified in subsection (1), licensing

  2  by the Agency for Health Care Administration is required for

  3  ad valorem tax exemption hereunder only if the home:

  4         (a)  Furnishes medical facilities or nursing services

  5  to its residents, or

  6         (b)  Qualifies as an assisted living facility under

  7  part III of chapter 400.

  8         (3)  Those portions of the home for the aged which are

  9  devoted exclusively to the conduct of religious services or

10  the rendering of nursing or medical services are exempt from

11  ad valorem taxation.

12         (4)(a)  After removing the assessed value exempted in

13  subsection (3), units or apartments in homes for the aged

14  shall be exempt only to the extent that residency in the

15  existing unit or apartment of the applicant home is reserved

16  for or restricted to or the unit or apartment is occupied by

17  persons who have resided in the applicant home and in good

18  faith made this state their permanent residence as of January

19  1 of the year in which exemption is claimed and who also meet

20  the requirements set forth in one of the following

21  subparagraphs:

22         1.  Persons who have gross incomes of not more than

23  $7,200 per year and who are 62 years of age or older.

24         2.  Couples, one of whom must be 62 years of age or

25  older, having a combined gross income of not more than $8,000

26  per year, or the surviving spouse thereof, who lived with the

27  deceased at the time of the deceased's death in a home for the

28  aged.

29         3.  Persons who are totally and permanently disabled

30  and who have gross incomes of not more than $7,200 per year.

31


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    CS for SB 1642                                 First Engrossed



  1         4.  Couples, one or both of whom are totally and

  2  permanently disabled, having a combined gross income of not

  3  more than $8,000 per year, or the surviving spouse thereof,

  4  who lived with the deceased at the time of the deceased's

  5  death in a home for the aged.

  6

  7  However, the income limitations do not apply to totally and

  8  permanently disabled veterans, provided they meet the

  9  requirements of s. 196.081.

10         (b)  The maximum income limitations permitted in this

11  subsection shall be adjusted, effective January 1, 1977, and

12  on each succeeding year, by the percentage change in the

13  average cost-of-living index in the period January 1 through

14  December 31 of the immediate prior year compared with the same

15  period for the year prior to that.  The index is the average

16  of the monthly consumer price index figures for the stated

17  12-month period, relative to the United States as a whole,

18  issued by the United States Department of Labor.

19         (5)  Nonprofit housing projects that which are financed

20  by a mortgage loan made or insured by the United States

21  Department of Housing and Urban Development under s. 202, s.

22  202 with a s. 8 subsidy, s. 221(d)(3) or (4), or s. 236 of the

23  National Housing Act, as amended, and that which are subject

24  to the income limitations established by that department are

25  shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation.

26         (6)  For the purposes of this section, gross income

27  includes social security benefits payable to the person or

28  couple or assigned to an organization designated specifically

29  for the support or benefit of that person or couple.

30         (7)  It is hereby declared to be the intent of the

31  Legislature that subsection (3) implements the ad valorem tax


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    CS for SB 1642                                 First Engrossed



  1  exemption authorized in the third sentence of s. 3(a), Art.

  2  VII, State Constitution, and the remaining subsections

  3  implement s. 6(e), Art. VII, State Constitution, for purposes

  4  of granting such exemption to homes for the aged.

  5         (8)  Physical occupancy on January 1 is not required in

  6  those instances in which a home restricts occupancy to persons

  7  meeting the income requirements specified in this section.

  8  Those portions of a such property failing to meet those

  9  requirements shall qualify for an alternative exemption as

10  provided in subsection (9). In a home in which at least 25

11  percent of the units or apartments of the home are restricted

12  to or occupied by persons meeting the income requirements

13  specified in this section, the common areas of that home are

14  exempt from taxation.

15         (9)(a)  Each unit or apartment of a home for the aged

16  not exempted in subsection (3) or subsection (4), which is

17  operated by a not for profit corporation and is owned by such

18  corporation or leased by such corporation from a health

19  facilities authority pursuant to part III of chapter 154 or an

20  industrial development authority pursuant to part III of

21  chapter 159, and which property is used by such home for the

22  aged for the purposes for which it was organized, is exempt

23  from all ad valorem taxation, except for assessments for

24  special benefits, to the extent of $25,000 of assessed

25  valuation of such property for each apartment or unit:

26         1.  Which is used by such home for the aged for the

27  purposes for which it was organized; and

28         2.  Which is occupied, on January 1 of the year in

29  which exemption from ad valorem property taxation is

30  requested, by a person who resides therein and in good faith

31  makes the same his or her permanent home.


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    CS for SB 1642                                 First Engrossed



  1         (b)  Each corporation home applying for an exemption

  2  under paragraph (a) of this subsection or paragraph (4)(a)

  3  must file with the annual application for exemption an

  4  affidavit from each person who occupies a unit or apartment

  5  for which an exemption under either of those paragraphs that

  6  paragraph is claimed stating that the person resides therein

  7  and in good faith makes that unit or apartment his or her

  8  permanent residence.

  9         (10)  Homes for the aged, or life care communities,

10  however designated, which are financed through the sale of

11  health facilities authority bonds or bonds of any other public

12  entity, whether on a sale-leaseback basis, a sale-repurchase

13  basis, or other financing arrangement, or which are financed

14  without public-entity bonds, are exempt from ad valorem

15  taxation only in accordance with the provisions of this

16  section.

17         (11)  Any portion of such property used for nonexempt

18  purposes may be valued and placed upon the tax rolls

19  separately from any portion entitled to exemption pursuant to

20  this chapter.

21         (12)  When it becomes necessary for the property

22  appraiser to determine the value of a unit, he or she shall

23  include in such valuation the proportionate share of the

24  common areas, including the land, fairly attributable to such

25  unit, based upon the value of such unit in relation to all

26  other units in the home, unless the common areas are otherwise

27  exempted by subsection (8).

28         (13)  Sections 196.195 and 196.196 do not apply to this

29  section.

30         Section 3.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2002.

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