Manufactured Homes
Real Estate Taxes on Manufactured Homes: Ten Percent
and Two & One Half Percent Rollbacks, and Homestead
Exemption, by County, Distributed during Calendar Year 2008
(for Tax Year 2008)
In Ohio, manufactured and mobile homes are subject to one of
three different possible property tax treatments: the
manufactured home tax using a depreciation schedule; the
manufactured home tax that is like the real property
tax; or the real property tax. Table PD-2 pertains to the
last method of taxation: i.e., manufactured homes that are
taxed as real property. (Refer to Table HE-2 for data on
homestead exemptions granted to owners of manufactured homes
that are taxed under the two other methods of taxation.)
A manufactured home that acquired situs in Ohio on or after
January 1, 2000, or was transferred on or after that same
date, must be included on the real property tax list if it
meets three conditions. The three conditions are: (a) the
home is affixed to a permanent foundation; (b) the home is
located on land owned by the owner of the home; and (c) the
certificate of title was inactivated by the clerk of court of
common pleas that issued it (once the first two conditions
are met, the owner must surrender title to the county
auditor, who delivers it to the clerk to be inactivated). In
addition, a manufactured home that acquired situs in Ohio
before January 1, 2000, or was last transferred before that
same date, is included on the real property tax list if it
meets the same conditions listed above and if several other
requirements are met, including the filing of an election by
the owner to have the home taxed as real property.
Current state law (Revised Code Section 319.302) requires
each county auditor to reduce all real property taxes charged
by 10 percent. In addition, Section 323.152(B) requires the
county auditor to further reduce the real property tax on
owner-occupied property by 2.5 percent. Lastly, real property
homestead exemption property tax reductions are granted to
homeowners who are at least 65 years of age; permanently and
totally disabled; or to surviving spouses at least 59 years
of age if the deceased had previously received the
exemption.
Prior to tax year 2007, eligibility for the homestead
exemption was limited to taxpayers who earned $26,200 or
less, with benefits tiered according to income.
However, starting with the 2007 tax year (taxes due 2008),
income tests and tiered benefits no longer apply (although
homeowners that received a higher credit under the program
that existed in tax year 2006 will continue to receive that
year’s credit). Instead, each qualified homeowner received a
credit equal to the taxes that would otherwise be charged on
up to $25,000 of the true value (meaning, $8,750 in taxable
value) of the homestead. In effect, the homestead exemption
shields up to $25,000 of the true value of an eligible
homestead from property taxation.
Local governments are fully reimbursed from the state general
revenue fund for these tax reductions. The Department of
Education reimburses the schools for their share of the tax
reductions and the Tax Commissioner reimburses the counties,
townships, municipalities, and special taxing districts for
their shares of the tax reductions. The county auditor also
receives 2 percent of the amount reimbursed under Section
323.152 as payment for administering the homestead exemption
and 2.5 percent rollback.
Table PD-2 indicates that during calendar year 2008, the
Departments of Taxation and Education together reimbursed
local governments a total of $8.4 million including $2.6
million for the 10 percent rollback, $5.3 million for the
homestead exemption (including $126,531 for late-filers), and
$0.4 million for the 2.5 percent rollback (including $446 for
late-filers). Additionally, $115,678 was paid by the
Departments of Taxation and Education to county auditors for
administering the homestead exemption ($106,916) and 2.5
percent rollback ($8,762). These administration payments are
excluded from the table.