Those of you who are avid followers of the Laughlin Law Firm blog (which we know all of you are!) will have noticed that we recently began looking into what counties in the mid-Iowa region are equipped to allow homeowners to apply for their Homestead Tax Credit applications online.
In doing so, we discovered that certain county sites published a requirement that a person must file their application in person. That prohibition seemed off, so we did some extra digging into the Iowa Code and the Iowa Administrative Code. Then, we inquired with the Iowa Department of Revenue and posited that such policies were invalid and inconsistent with state and administrative law. The Department said they would look into it and get back to us.
Sure enough, they did and they agreed. Not only that, they have since taken the initiative to notify all assessors’ offices that they are required to allow both personal and mailed forms of the application! The letter below was their notice to the assessors.
Meanwhile: Here is a link to the uniform Homestead Tax Credit application
We invite you to put it in your closing binder packet to better reflect your services to your clients. Better still, you can rely on us to bring it to the close since we now include that information in our closings.
Either way, now you can confidently advise your clients of their Homestead Tax Credit Application mailing rights and give them one more reason to leave the closing table impressed with you and your services.
