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5 months ago
The state Capitol building in Trenton, New Jersey. (Evelyn Tu for WHYY)
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New Jersey has launched its new ANCHOR property tax relief program. Some Garden State residents will need to take specific action in order to get a direct deposit or check, but many others won’t.
Jacob Foy, the assistant director of the New Jersey Division of Taxation, said the government dispatched approval letters to approximately 1.5 million Garden State homeowners and renters, who received ANCHOR payments last year.
“If nothing has changed, you don’t even have to take any steps, your application will be automatically filed and your ANCHOR rebate will be issued,” he said. “When we can verify that somebody has been already in our system as eligible, and already appears to be at the same property, we began auto-filing on residents’ behalf.”
Foy said if residents filed for an ANCHOR payment last year but their personal information changed, including banking information or where they live, they need to log on to the ANCHOR website and complete a new application by September 15, 2024.
ANCHOR is three years old. Last year, the program reached about 1.8 million New Jerseyans.
This year’s deadline to file a new application is Nov. 30.
He said this year’s ANCHOR payments are unchanged and are based on the 2021 tax year.
Renters will receive $450, and homeowners will get $1,000 or $1,500, depending on income, he said.
Homeowners with annual incomes up to $150,000 are eligible for $1,500, and those making between $150,000 and $250,000 can receive $1,000. All approved ANCHOR applicants who are more than 65 years old will receive an additional $250.
Michael Hayes, an associate professor of public policy and public administration at Rutgers University, Camden, said the ANCHOR program “makes sense.”
“Basically the state government is implicitly subsidizing local governments, by collecting state income taxes and then distributing that out to property owners and renters,” he said.
Hayes pointed out that lowering property taxes in Jersey is not as simple as it might seem.
“That would be really difficult for the state, because the state doesn’t control property taxes, local governments do it. There are 600 municipalities in New Jersey, you would need 600 different programs, that’s probably a really high administrative cost to implement that,” he said.
He said getting this kind of relief “is not going to be a game changer, but it definitely is a meaningful amount.”
Foy said ANCHOR benefits will roll in starting Oct. 1.
He pointed out that processing the application can take up to 90 days and that some people will receive their money faster than others.
“It could have everything to do with the timing that you filed the application, but we also have a verification internally, where we vet all the eligibility before we issue a rebate amount, so that process can take time,” he said.
As part of the online application process, residents may be asked to take additional steps to verify their identity. Foy said that may be “as simple as uploading a photo of a driver’s license, or even the ability to take a simple selfie, as part of the online filing.”
For more information on the program visit www.anchor.nj.gov.
“Included on that hub is all of the necessary eligibility information, filing information and even the benefit amounts for different income levels,” Foy said. “Residents can even check the status of their ANCHOR benefit once they’ve filed their application.”
New Jerseyans can also call the Division of Taxation with ANCHOR-related questions at 1-888-238-1233.
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