By Culberson, Keel H.B. No. 374
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the deferral or abatement of a suit to collect
1-3 delinquent taxes on the homestead of an elderly person.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 33.06, Tax Code, is amended by amending
1-6 Subsections (a), (b), and (d) and adding Subsections (f)-(h) to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 (a) An individual is entitled to defer or abate a suit to
1-9 collect [a] delinquent taxes [tax] if the individual [he] is 65 or
1-10 older and [he] owns and occupies as a residence homestead the
1-11 property on which the taxes [tax] subject to the suit are imposed
1-12 [is delinquent].
1-13 (b) To obtain a deferral, an individual must file with the
1-14 chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the property is
1-15 located an affidavit stating the facts required to be established
1-16 by Subsection (a) [of this section]. The individual may not file
1-17 the affidavit before the date the taxes on the property become
1-18 delinquent if the appraised value of the property exceeds $250,000.
1-19 The individual may file the affidavit before, on, or after the date
1-20 the taxes on the property become delinquent if the appraised value
1-21 of the property does not exceed $250,000. The chief appraiser
1-22 shall notify each taxing unit participating in the district of the
1-23 filing. After an affidavit is filed under this subsection, a
1-24 taxing unit may not file suit to collect delinquent taxes on the
2-1 property until the individual no longer owns and occupies the
2-2 property as a residence homestead.
2-3 (d) A tax lien remains on the property and interest
2-4 continues to accrue during the period collection of taxes is
2-5 deferred as provided by this section. The interest rate during the
2-6 deferral period is eight percent a year instead of the rate
2-7 provided by Section 33.01 [of this code]. A penalty may be imposed
2-8 for each month or portion of a month a delinquent tax remains
2-9 unpaid before the date the affidavit is filed. A penalty may not
2-10 be imposed during a deferral period. The additional penalty
2-11 provided by Section 33.07 [of this code] may be imposed only if the
2-12 taxes for which collection is deferred remain delinquent on or
2-13 after the 91st day after the date the deferral period expires. A
2-14 plea of limitation, laches, or want of prosecution does not apply
2-15 against the taxing unit because of deferral of collection as
2-16 provided by this section.
2-17 (f) Notwithstanding Subsections (b) and (c), if an
2-18 individual dies in a year in which the individual received a
2-19 deferral or abatement under this section and the individual is
2-20 survived by the individual's spouse who was 55 years of age or
2-21 older when the individual died, the deferral or abatement continues
2-22 in effect as long as the property for which the deferral or
2-23 abatement was obtained remains the residence homestead of the
2-24 surviving spouse.
2-25 (g) The clerk of the court in which probate proceedings
2-26 relating to the estate of an individual who was receiving a
2-27 deferral or abatement under this section are pending shall notify
3-1 the chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the
3-2 property for which the deferral or abatement was obtained is
3-3 located that the individual has died if the clerk can determine
3-4 from documents on file in the proceedings that the individual was
3-5 receiving a deferral or abatement under this section.
3-6 (h) If an individual who is receiving a deferral or
3-7 abatement under this section conveys the property for which the
3-8 deferral or abatement was obtained in a transaction conducted by a
3-9 title company, the individual or the individual's designee shall
3-10 notify the chief appraiser for the appraisal district in which the
3-11 property is located that the property has been conveyed. A copy of
3-12 the deed shall be sufficient notice.
3-13 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-19 passage, and it is so enacted.