Deadline looms for Ind. homeowners

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A deadline is near for homeowners, and missing the deadline could cost hundreds of dollars annually. 

The pink form came in the mail for the first time with tax bills in 2010. Even if your mortgage company pays your taxes, you got one. Fill it out once and you're set.

"If you're like a lot of people that I’ve talked to, they've glanced over it, thrown it away, maybe misplaced it and never turned it in," says Clay Burris, a real estate agent with Century 21 Scheetz.

Burris fears that homeowners may have forgotten to fill out the form — a potentially costly mistake.

"It's worth $45,000 as a deduction, so it’s one of the largest deductions anyone can take," he says. 

That means, forgetting to fill out the form will cost homeowners $450 extra each year in property tax. A state law that went into effect in 2010 makes filling out the verification form mandatory to get the Homestead Deduction.  Hoosiers can only claim the Homestead deduction on one property, their primary residence. And that's the reason behind the change in the law.  It is to make sure people aren't claiming it on more than one property.

This affects every homeowner in every county in Indiana.

"Whether you have a mortgage or not, if you live in the house as a primary residence you should qualify for the homestead exemption," says Burris. 

If you can't remember whether you filled out the form or not, you can call the auditor's office in the county where you live and ask them to check for you. The deadline to get the form filled out is Dec. 31. If you don't have it done by then, expect to hear from the county auditor's office in 2013, letting you know you are in danger of losing your Homestead Mortgage deduction.