Candidate explains homestead tax credits

Miller County Assessor’s Office Chief Deputy Genie Harness acknowledged having two homestead tax credits because one of the houses was recently sold.

The Texarkana Gazette received a complaint about a possible violation of Harness claiming two homestead tax exemptions on two homes.

She is a candidate for Miller County tax collector.

A homestead is defined in Arkansas law as a principal place of residence. The tax credit initially amounted to $300 toward the annual property tax bill, but was raised

by the Legislature in 2007 to $350, according to a recent Associated Press news story.

Anytime you buy or sell a house, the homestead tax credit stays on that year, she said.

“The homestead credits on the two properties are in Thomas (her husband) and my name,” Harness said.

In Arkansas, the homestead credit on a parcel, whether it be “No,” “Fixed,” “Disabled” or “Owner” stays on under the taxable status for the whole year. If the property changes owners, the new owner's status is listed in Future Year Taxable status.

Taxable status is for the current year, which right now is 2014 to be collected in 2015, she said.

Future Year Taxable status, which is for 2015, now will be rolled over into the taxable status January 2015.

“If you look at these parcels on the actDataScout Website, the only field that shows is the taxable status.

“The Future Year Taxable status does not show,” Harness said.

“The parcel number 00615503 at 6912 Turk Road was purchased from Alice Bell 5/23/14 (May 23, 2014). At that time we purchased it, she had a homestead credit with a freeze for the property under the taxable status. Her credit will stay on for this year and then will come off for 2015. Our homestead credit will start for the year 2015 and is under the FY Taxable status,” Harness said.

“The parcel number 00286301 at 2224 Franklin Drive is still in our name, since we have not sold it yet. We had a homestead credit with a freeze on it under the taxable status. The homestead will stay on this property for 2014 and, for the year 2015, will come off shown in the FY Taxable status. If this property sells before the end of the year, our homestead credit would stay on for 2014, and the new owners would start for the year 2015 and would be shown under the FY Taxable status for them,” Harness said.

“We have been doing work on the Turk Road house and just completed this month. We plan on moving to the Turk Road house after the election,” she said.