The Homestead Property Tax Credit – Something Everyone Needs to Know

Previously I walked through the Senior Citizens’ Real Property Tax Credit, the program already running for our homeowners 62 and older. Now it’s time to talk about Homestead Property Tax Credit that applies to every homeowner in Platte. It’s also the one with the most confusion attached to it, so let’s lay it out plainly.

What the Homestead credit is

The Homestead Property Tax Credit comes from Missouri Senate Bill 3, which the legislature passed in 2025 (you’ll find it in the statutes as RSMo 137.1055).

The senior credit freezes your bill. The Homestead credit works differently. It caps how fast your bill can grow. Once it’s in place, the tax on your primary residence can’t climb more than 5% a year. If inflation runs higher than 5%, the cap matches inflation instead. And here’s a detail that matters a great deal: the law sets the baseline as the 2024 tax year, the same for every homeowner. It is not whatever year the county happens to switch the program on.

A few things to understand up front. This is a cap, not a freeze and not a cut. It does not lower your current bill; it limits how much it can climb going forward. The credit applies only to your primary residence, the home you actually live in. Rental property, agricultural land, commercial property, personal property like vehicles, and second homes do not qualify. A few familiar exceptions still apply on top of the cap, including voter-approved levies, new construction, and annexation.

Who qualifies

The Homestead credit is broader than the senior credit in one important way: there is no age requirement. Any qualifying homeowner counts.

To qualify, you must own your home, or hold a legal or equitable interest in it on a written instrument. You must also pay the real estate taxes on it. And it must be your primary residence; the law allows only one primary residence per taxpayer. That’s it. You do not have to be 62, and you do not have to be retired.

The rule that trips everyone up

You can qualify for both programs, but you can only receive the benefit of one. State law does not let you stack the senior credit and the Homestead credit on the same property.

So an eligible senior has a choice to make. In a year when your assessed value jumps sharply, the senior freeze usually wins. It holds your bill flat instead of letting it grow up to 5%. For a younger homeowner who isn’t eligible for the senior program, the Homestead cap is the protection you’ve got. The practical takeaway: if you’re 62 or older, look at both and take whichever saves you more. If you’re not yet 62, the Homestead credit is your tool.

Do you even have to apply?

This surprises people, so read it twice.  SB 3 does not require homeowners to apply for it at all. Instead, the law puts the duty on the county. The statute says the county “shall apply such credit” when it calculates your tax. The County Collector then notes the amount on your statement of tax due. In plain terms: the county puts the credit on your bill. You don’t chase it.

The statute does let the county adopt reasonable procedures to run the program. But it draws a hard line. The county may not adopt any procedure that limits who counts as an eligible taxpayer. So if the county bolts on a complicated application that knocks eligible homeowners out for failing to file, that conflicts with the law itself.

The practical wrinkle

There is one real catch. To put the credit on your bill, the county needs to know which home is your primary residence and what you paid in 2024. Right now the Assessor’s office does not even record which property is your primary residence. So the county may ask you to confirm that once. That is reasonable. A yearly application hoop is not. I’ll update this post as the county finalizes its approach.

What to expect and a VERY important item to be aware of

The county’s current plan is to start applying the credit with the 2027 tax year. That means relief shows up later than many people assumed when they voted in April. Here’s the good news from the statute: the law measures your cap against your 2024 tax bill. So the baseline never creeps higher the longer the county waits. The 2024 number holds for everyone. The bad news is just as real. Every year the county waits to apply the credit is a year you pay the full, uncredited bill. The relief you’ve earned just sits there while the clock runs.

Also worth knowing, something that has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the county getting this right. There are active lawsuits challenging whether SB 3 is constitutional, on claims that the law treats some counties differently from others. If the courts strike it down, they could delay or undo the program no matter how Platte County voted. I’ll keep an eye on that and keep you posted. The vote was clear. Now the county has to defend it and deliver it.

Why timing matters, and why I’m pushing to roll this out now

Here’s the part that should have every homeowner’s attention. The law already did the hard parts for us. It set the baseline at the 2024 tax year, and it ordered the county to apply the credit and show it on your bill. What’s left is execution, and execution is exactly where relief tends to get lost.

Consider what’s happening to assessments. This year, the State Tax Commission originally ordered a 15% across-the-board increase in residential values. Local pushback brought that number down to 6.835%, but it is still a significant jump, and the pressure for more isn’t going away. Because the credit measures against 2024, those increases are precisely what the cap is meant to hold back. Yet as it stands, the county’s plan is to wait until the 2027 tax year to start applying it. I think that is too slow. Every year of delay is another year homeowners pay the full, un-capped bill on relief they are legally owed from 2024 forward.

Where I stand

I am ask the Clerk, Collector and Assessor to implement the Homestead credit at the earliest point the law allows, not the latest. I am asking them to make it a priority.

The statute puts the duty on those County Officers to apply this credit – not to place it on the back burner. Nearly 80% of Platte County said yes to capping property tax growth. They did not vote for that relief to arrive a year or two too late to matter, and they did not vote to fill out paperwork to claim something the county is already obligated to put on their bill.

If you have questions as the process rolls out, contact me or any sitting commissioner. The more of us paying attention, the harder it is for this to stall.

If you missed Part 1 on the senior credit, go back and read it, especially if you have a parent or neighbor who’s 62 or older. And share this one with any Platte County homeowner who voted yes in April and is wondering when the relief actually arrives.