Rebates won’t come until 2013, but Philadelphia wants you to fill out homestead forms

Philadelphia homeowners won’t need homestead rebates this year since Mayor Nutter’s property tax overhaul will not kick in until next summer. The city is still urging people to sign up for the tax break.

Philadelphia Finance Director Rob Dubow says the forms are available to sign up for the homestead rebate.  The rebate won’t be applied to tax bills until all homes and businesses are assessed to reflect current market values.

“We’ll be sending out letters probably around Labor Day, they can wait for those letters,” said Dubow. “Things will be easier since they will be filled in already.  As the deadline was originally July 31st, we’ll move that back.  We don’t know when the deadline will be, but it will probably be sometime in the late fall.”

Dubow says the rebate will exempt the first $30,000 of home value from the property tax.  It only applies to owner-occupied houses, not rentals.  And unlike some tax breaks, you don’t have to re-apply for this one every year.