House Bill hb0621

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 621

        By Representative Fiorentino






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to ad valorem tax exemption;

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

  4         exemptions for nonprofit homes for the aged;

  5         specifying that the exemption applicable to

  6         such homes the residents of which meet certain

  7         income limitations applies to individual units

  8         or apartments of such homes; providing for

  9         application of a residency affidavit

10         requirement to applicants for such an

11         exemption; clarifying provisions relating to

12         qualification for the alternative exemption

13         provided by that section for those portions of

14         a home in which the residents do not meet the

15         income limitations; providing that s. 196.195,

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

17         determining the profit or nonprofit status of

18         an applicant for exemption, and s. 196.196,

19         F.S., relating to criteria for determining

20         whether property is entitled to a charitable,

21         religious, scientific, or literary exemption,

22         do not apply to that section; providing an

23         effective date.

24

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

26

27         Section 1.  Section 196.1975, Florida Statutes, is

28  amended to read:

29         196.1975  Exemption for property used by nonprofit

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

31  to the extent that they meet the following criteria:

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 621

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

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

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

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

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

  6  exemption from ad valorem property taxes is requested from

  7  federal income taxation by having qualified as an exempt

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

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

10  section of a subsequently enacted federal revenue act.

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

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

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

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

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

16  by the Agency for Health Care Administration is required for

17  ad valorem tax exemption hereunder only if the home:

18         (a)  Furnishes medical facilities or nursing services

19  to its residents, or

20         (b)  Qualifies as an assisted living facility under

21  part III of chapter 400.

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

23  devoted exclusively to the conduct of religious services or

24  the rendering of nursing or medical services are exempt from

25  ad valorem taxation.

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

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

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

29  existing unit or apartment of the applicant home is reserved

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

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

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 621

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  1  faith made this state their permanent residence as of January

  2  1 of the year in which exemption is claimed and who also meet

  3  the requirements set forth in one of the following

  4  subparagraphs:

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

  6  $7,200 per year and who are 62 years of age or older.

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

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

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

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

11  aged.

12         3.  Persons who are totally and permanently disabled

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

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

15  permanently disabled, having a combined gross income of not

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

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

18  death in a home for the aged.

19

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

21  permanently disabled veterans, provided they meet the

22  requirements of s. 196.081.

23         (b)  The maximum income limitations permitted in this

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

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

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

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

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

29  of the monthly consumer price index figures for the stated

30  12-month period, relative to the United States as a whole,

31  issued by the United States Department of Labor.

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  1         (5)  Nonprofit housing projects that which are financed

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

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

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

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

  6  to the income limitations established by that department are

  7  shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation.

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

  9  includes social security benefits payable to the person or

10  couple or assigned to an organization designated specifically

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

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

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

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

15  VII, State Constitution, and the remaining subsections

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

17  of granting such exemption to homes for the aged.

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

19  those instances in which a home restricts occupancy to persons

20  meeting the income requirements specified in this section.

21  Those portions of a such property failing to meet those

22  requirements shall qualify for an alternative exemption as

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

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

25  to or occupied by persons meeting the income requirements

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

27  exempt from taxation.

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

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

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

31  corporation or leased by such corporation from a health

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 621

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

  2  industrial development authority pursuant to part III of

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

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

  5  from all ad valorem taxation, except for assessments for

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

  7  valuation of such property for each apartment or unit:

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

  9  purposes for which it was organized; and

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

11  which exemption from ad valorem property taxation is

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

13  makes the same his or her permanent home.

14         (b)  Each corporation home applying for an exemption

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

16  must file with the annual application for exemption an

17  affidavit from each person who occupies a unit or apartment

18  for which an exemption under either of those paragraphs that

19  paragraph is claimed stating that the person resides therein

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

21  permanent residence.

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

23  however designated, which are financed through the sale of

24  health facilities authority bonds or bonds of any other public

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

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

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

28  taxation only in accordance with the provisions of this

29  section.

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

31  purposes may be valued and placed upon the tax rolls

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 621

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  1  separately from any portion entitled to exemption pursuant to

  2  this chapter.

  3         (12)  When it becomes necessary for the property

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

  5  include in such valuation the proportionate share of the

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

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

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

  9  exempted by subsection (8).

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

11  section.

12         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

13  law and shall apply to the tax year 2001 and thereafter.

14

15            *****************************************

16                          SENATE SUMMARY

17    Clarifies provisions that provide ad valorem tax
      exemptions for nonprofit homes for the aged. Specifies
18    that the exemption applicable to such homes, the
      residents of which meet certain income limitations,
19    applies to individual units or apartments of such homes.
      Provides for application of a residency affidavit
20    requirement to applicants for such an exemption.
      Clarifies provisions relating to qualification for an
21    alternative exemption for those portions of a home in
      which the residents do not meet the income limitations.
22    Provides that s. 196.195, F.S., which provides
      requirements and criteria for determining the profit or
23    nonprofit status of an application for exemption, and s.
      196.196, F.S., which provides criteria for determining
24    whether property is entitled to a charitable, religious,
      scientific, or literary exemption, do not apply to the
25    exemptions for nonprofit homes for the aged.

26

27

28

29

30

31

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