If you qualify for a Clause 41A tax deferral, you enter into an agreement with your local assessor to defer payment of all or part of your taxes plus eight percent interest up to fifty percent of your interest in the property valuation.

Taxes in every year may be deferred until you reach a point where the unpaid taxes plus interest due are equal to fifty percent of your interest in the property at full and fair cash value. When that point is reached, although you may no longer defer payment on current and future taxes, the unpaid taxes and interest to date together with interest which will continue to accrue on the unpaid taxes may remain unpaid until the property is sold or until one's death. Upon one's death the deferral may be continued by your surviving spouse, if he/she qualifies, or the taxes may be paid by your heirs or your estate. You can, of course, repay total deferred taxes at any time before then. Upon your death, if your surviving spouse does not continue to defer, or if the property is sold prior to your death, the interest rate goes up to sixteen percent, and the taxes must be paid in order to release the lien that was placed on the property while there were unpaid deferred taxes. If the taxes are not paid within six months of death or sale, the local treasurer may seek to foreclose the lien on the property if the deferred amount remains unpaid.

Eligibility Requirements

Age and Status
You are single, or if married, your spouse is not an owner. You must be 70 years or older by July 1 of the year in which application is made. You and your spouse are joint owners. Either spouse must be 70 years or older by July 1 of the year in which application is made. You, age 70 or older, or you and your spouse, either of whom is 70 years or older by July 1 of the year in which application is made, own property jointly with other person(s). You are a single person who is a joint owner sharing ownership with other person(s). You must be 70 years or older by July 1 of the year in which application is made.

Ownership and Occupancy
Applicant(s) must have owned and occupied as your domicile any real property in Massachusetts (including present property) for five years. Massachusetts must have been your domicile for the preceding ten years.

Real Estate and Personal Property
Not applicable.

Income Eligibility
From all sources in calendar year preceding year in which application is made, not to exceed $20,000. A community may adopt a higher maximum qualifying gross receipts amount but such amount shall not exceed $40.000.

Surviving Spouse Deferral
A surviving spouse inheriting property must have occupied it or other real property for five years. The surviving spouse who otherwise qualifies may choose to continue to defer taxes. However, the total of taxes deferred by both spouses together with interest thereon may not exceed fifty percent of their interest in the property valuation.

Payment of a deceased spouse's deferred taxes shall not be required during the life of a surviving spouse of any age who inherits the property and who enters into a tax deferral and recovery agreement.

If you or your spouse own property jointly with other individuals you may apply for the deferral. The deferred taxes with interest at eight percent in this case are not to exceed one half of the full and fair cash value of the proportion of this property owned by you or you and your spouse.

Clauses 41A and 41C
How to Apply for a Tax Exemption or Deferral
Contact your local Board of Assessors for an application form. You must apply each year for an exemption or deferral. Generally, you can receive only one exemption, so submit the application for the exemption which will provide the greatest benefit. However, since Clause 41A is a deferral of taxes, you may use a Clause 41A deferral in conjunction with an exemption for which you qualify.

Applications under Clause 41A and Clause 41C must be filed with your local Board of Assessors on or before December 15 in each year. If the actual, not preliminary, property tax bill is mailed after September 15, you have three months from the date the bill is first mailed in which to apply. In the year of local acceptance of Clause 41C the community allows an additional 45 days from the date of acceptance to apply unless a later date for applying is allowed by another statute.

In addition to your local Board of Assessors, your local Council on Aging may be able to help you fill out the forms. Some councils employ tax specialists to provide such assistance.

Joint Ownership
If two or more people own property each can apply, and if the person is qualified, each will be entitled to his or her exemption. Consult your local Board of Assessors.

The information above is editted from the Citizen Information Service website.
William Francis Galvin
Secretary of the Commonwealth