Homeowners can save thousands of dollars by utilizing exemptions available to them.
The homestead exemption is a widely-available but under-utilized tax exemption that homeowners in the CSRA can take advantage of as early as 2022.
The homestead exemption is state-wide, but each county has slightly different rules and regulations that define the particulars of each category.
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For Richmond County, the regular homestead exemption, or S1, is available to all homeowners that occupy a residence as of Jan. 1 of the applicable tax year regardless of age or income level. The savings amount to $5,000 off the assessed value of county, $5,000 off school and $2,000 off state.
A partial school exemption, or S3, is for applicants 62 or older whose net income of the applicant and spouse does not exceed $10,000. The savings there are $5,000 off the assessed value on county, $10,000 off school, school bond and $2,000 off state.
There are other exemptions specifically for disabled veterans, local disability and more.
“In our world — the tax world — we don’t often get the chance to give money back,” said Chris Johnson, chief deputy tax commissioner for Richmond County. “Most people are not aware of all the potential exemptions.”
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Johnson said that oftentimes, people are eligible for substantial exemptions and all it takes is educating oneself and applying.
“My dad, who was 83 at the time and is 91 now, had been eligible for a significant exemption for almost 20 years and was still paying school taxes he didn’t have to be paying,” Johnson said. “Once I got here and started learning about the exemptions, I couldn’t believe how much money he could have been saving had we known sooner.”
Johnson said that when tax office personnel give seminars or send out flyers in tax bills, they are continually trying to educate about the exemptions that most people don’t know about. Even if everybody that was eligible applied for a homestead exemption in the next taxable year, Johnson said it wouldn’t cause any sort of hardship for the county.
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“It’s our expectation that people will know and will take advantage of these exemptions, people just don’t all know about them,” he said.
This website (https://www.arctax.com/151/Exemption-Summary) gives a description of each type of exemption and information on how to apply. If someone is eligible for one of these exemptions on Jan. 1, applications are due on or before on April 1 to have the exemptions apply for that year’s taxes.
Call the Richmond County Tax Commissioner’s Office at (706) 821-2391 for any additional questions.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com.
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