Section 14.05. Gross rent and rent constituting property taxes accrued.

 

(1)   Purpose. This section clarifies the terms "gross rent" and "rent constituting property taxes accrued" as the terms apply to homestead credit claims.

(2)   Definitions.

(a) "Gross rent" has the meaning specified in s. 71.52 (2) , Stats. Gross rent includes payments by a claimant to the landlord for items normally associated with the occupancy of a homestead, such as a garage or parking space, appliances, furniture or utilities. However, payments for food, medical services or other personal services are expressly excluded under s. 71.52 (2) , Stats. In situations where charges for food and services are subtracted from amounts paid to a landlord, gross rent is commonly referred to as "rent paid for occupancy."

(b) "Rent constituting property taxes accrued" has the meaning specified in s. 71.52 (8) , Stats.

(3)   Rent payments.

(a) Gross rent may be claimed only for the year to which the claim relates, but it may have been paid at any time before the claim is filed.

(b) Property taxes accrued on a claimant's homestead not owned by the claimant or a member of the claimant's household, which are paid by the claimant on behalf of an owner who does not reside in the homestead and who does not claim property taxes accrued under s. 71.54 (2) (c) 2. , Stats., shall be considered gross rent.

(c) Personal property taxes or mobile home parking permit fees assessed under s. 66.0435 (3) (c) , Stats., paid by a claimant for a rented mobile home shall be considered gross rent. In addition, rental paid to a landlord for a mobile home or for land on which a mobile home is located shall be considered gross rent.

(4)   Verification of rent constituting property taxes accrued.

(a) Except as provided in pars. (e) and (f) , if a claimant claims rent constituting property taxes accrued the claimant and the landlord shall complete form I-017, "Rent Certificate," and the claimant shall submit it with schedule H. The department is not precluded from requesting additional documentation to verify rent paid in cases it deems appropriate.

(b) If a claimant pays rent for more than one homestead during a year, a separate rent certificate shall be completed for each homestead for which the claimant wishes to claim a homestead credit, and the claimant shall submit all rent certificates together with a single schedule H.

(c) A landlord shall determine the reasonable value of food, medical services and other personal services such as laundry, transportation, counseling, grooming, recreational and therapeutic services provided to a claimant in addition to occupancy rights and subtract those amounts from total rent indicated on the rent certificate, to determine rent paid for occupancy. The landlord shall also indicate whether heat was included or not included in the rent by checking the appropriate box on the rent certificate.

(d) Under s. 71.55 (2) , Stats., a landlord is prohibited from charging a fee for completing the rent certificate.

(e) If a claimant is unable to obtain a rent certificate from a landlord, proper rent receipts, money order receipts, cancelled checks or cancelled share drafts substantiating amounts paid shall be acceptable evidence of gross rent paid. The claimant shall also include a rent certificate on which all lines except the signature line have been filled in, or a statement providing the same information as that requested on the rent certificate. The statement or rent certificate shall indicate whether heat was included in the rent, and whether food or services as described in par. (c) were provided and if so the estimated value of the food and services provided. The statement or top portion of the rent certificate should be marked with a comment such as " Landlord Refuses to Sign ."

(f) Proper verification of rent constituting property taxes accrued for a claimant who pays property taxes on the homestead on behalf of an owner other than the claimant shall be a copy of the property tax bill and a statement from the claimant, indicating that he or she paid the property taxes on behalf of an owner who did not reside in the homestead.

(5)   Effect of relief and other public assistance.

(a) Under s. 71.54 (2) (a) , Stats., rent constituting property taxes accrued shall be reduced by one-twelfth for each month or portion of a month for which the claimant received either $400 or more of county relief under s. 59.53 (21) , Stats., or any amount of aid to families with dependent children, or "AFDC" under s. 49.19 , Stats., Wisconsin works payments for community service jobs or transitional placements under s. 49.147 (4) or (5) , Stats., or Wisconsin works payments as a caretaker of a newborn child under s. 49.148 (1m) , Stats. However, rent constituting property taxes accrued need not be reduced if the assistance consists solely of foster care payments under s. 49.19 (10) (a) , Stats., non-legally responsible relative, or "NLRR" AFDC payments or kinship care payments.

(b) County relief and other cash public assistance payments that are repaid by the claimant in the same calendar year in which they are received are not considered payments for purposes of computing the one-twelfth reduction of rent constituting property taxes accrued as required by par. (a) .

(6)   Marital property agreements. Under s. 71.52 (8) , Stats., a marital property agreement or unilateral statement under ch. 766 , Stats. , has no effect in computing rent constituting property taxes accrued for a person whose homestead is not the same as the homestead of that person's spouse.

(7)   Non-arm's length rental. Under s. 71.55 (8) , Stats., if a homestead is rented under circumstances deemed by the department to be not at arm's length, it may determine rent constituting property taxes accrued as at arm's length. The department may make this determination when the amount claimed is in excess of fair rental value. However, since under s. 71.52 (2) , Stats., "gross rent" is limited to rental actually paid, the department may not increase the rent constituting property taxes accrued to arm's length rental if the rent paid was at less than fair rental value.

Example: A claimant files a claim with a rent certificate showing rent paid for occupancy of $7,200, or $600 per month. Investigation by the Department of Revenue discloses the rent is too high for the locality and dwelling involved, and the landlord is financially dependent on others for support and is related to the claimant. The department determines that the fair rental value of the claimant's homestead for the year of the claim was $300 per month, or $3,600 for the year. No utilities, food or services were furnished by the landlord.

Allowable rent constituting property taxes accrued is $900, which is 25% of $3,600.

(8)   Exempt housing.

(a) Under s. 71.53 (2) (e) , Stats., no claim for homestead credit may be allowed if a claimant resided for the entire calendar year to which the claim relates in housing which was exempt from taxation under ch. 70 , Stats. , other than housing for which payments in lieu of taxes are made under s. 66.1201 (22) , Stats., except as provided under s. 71.54 (2) (c) 2. , Stats. Under s. 71.54 (2) (c) 2. , Stats., if a claimant moves to tax-exempt housing, a claim for homestead credit may be allowed based upon property taxes accrued on the claimant's former homestead under certain conditions. Those conditions are explained in s. Tax 14.04 (3) (e) .

(b) Under ss. 71.53 (2) (e) and 71.54 (2) (c) 1. , Stats., if a claimant resided for part of the calendar year to which a claim for homestead credit relates, in a homestead which was either subject to taxation under ch. 70 , Stats. , or exempt from taxation under ch. 70 , Stats. , but for which payments in lieu of taxes were made under s. 66.1201 (22) , Stats., the property taxes accrued or rent constituting property taxes accrued or both for that homestead are allowed for that portion of the year.

Example: A claimant files a claim with a rent certificate showing rent paid for occupancy of $7,200, or $600 per month. Investigation by the Department of Revenue discloses the rent is too high for the locality and dwelling involved, and the landlord is financially dependent on others for support and is related to the claimant. The department determines that the fair rental value of the claimant's homestead for the year of the claim was $300 per month, or $3,600 for the year. No utilities, food or services were furnished by the landlord.

Allowable rent constituting property taxes accrued is $900, which is 25% of $3,600.

(c) Payments in lieu of taxes made under s. 66.1201 (22) , Stats., as provided in pars. (a) and (b) , are made by most facilities licensed with the state of Wisconsin as "housing authorities." Rent paid to those housing authorities may be used to determine gross rent and rent constituting property taxes accrued. However, other types of exempted housing which make payments in lieu of taxes do not make the payments under s. 66.1201 (22) , Stats., and therefore rent paid to those types of exempted housing may not be used to determine gross rent and rent constituting property taxes accrued.

(d) Types of tax-exempt housing other than housing authorities include:

1. Federal low-income housing under the housing and urban development, or "H.U.D." program.

2. Student dormitories owned by nonprofit educational institutions.

3. Housing units of religious organizations.

4. Charitable, nonprofit nursing homes.

(9)   Joint occupants of rental units.

(a) Persons sharing living expenses for a rented homestead who are otherwise eligible for the homestead credit and who are not members of the same household, shall each be entitled to claim a portion of the rent paid for occupancy of the homestead. However, the total claims of the joint occupants for rent paid for occupancy may not exceed 100% of the rent paid to the landlord for occupancy, as shown on the rent certificate. The amount of rent paid for occupancy shall be the ratio which the contribution of the claimant or claimant's household to the cost of shared living expenses, such as rent, food, utilities and supplies, bears to the total cost of the shared living expenses.

Example: X, Y, and Z are 3 unrelated joint occupants of a rental unit who share expenses as follows: - See PDF for table

Since X paid 60% of the shared living expenses, X's share of rent paid for occupancy is 60% of $5,400, or $3,240. Likewise, rent paid for occupancy for Y is 25% of $5,400, or $1,350, and for Z it is 15% of $5,400, or $810. Total rent paid for occupancy for all 3 claimants is $5,400, as shown on the rent for occupancy line.

(b) If a claimant described in par. (a) is entitled to more or less rent paid for occupancy than is shown on the rent certificate completed by the landlord for the claimant, the claimant shall in addition to the certificate attach a statement to the homestead credit claim showing the computation of claimed rent paid for occupancy and identifying the other occupants of the homestead with whom rent and living expenses were shared during the year to which the claim relates by giving the name, current address at the time of filing the claim, if known, and social security number, if known.

(10)   Rent paid for land. Under s. 71.52 (2) , Stats., the portion of s. 71.52 (7) , Stats., pertaining to property taxes accrued on land as described in s. Tax 14.04 (10) also applies to gross rent paid for land.

(11)   Multipurpose and multidwelling buildings. Under s. 71.52 (2) , Stats., the portion of s. 71.52 (7) , Stats., pertaining to property taxes accrued on multipurpose and multidwelling buildings as described in s. Tax 14.04 (11) also applies to gross rent paid for a multipurpose or multidwelling building of which the homestead is a part.

(12)   Sharecroppers. "Rent constituting property taxes accrued" of a person sharing the costs or proceeds or both from the operations of a farm with the owner of the farm property in consideration for use of the homestead, land, machinery or equipment equals 25% of the owner's share of the net proceeds applicable to occupancy of the homestead, or 20% if heat is included in the cost of the rent.

Example: A sharecropper resides on and operates a 120 acre dairy farm. The landlord and the sharecropper share equally the gross receipts from crop sales, $10,000, the gross milk receipts, $40,000, and the cost of seed and feed, $20,000. The landlord furnishes the land, buildings and machinery, for which annual allowable depreciation is $6,000. The landlord pays for the heat. In this situation, rent constituting property taxes accrued for the sharecropper equals 20% of the owner's share of the proceeds less the value of the nonoccupancy items furnished by the landlord, as follows: - See PDF for table

(13)   Low-income housing.

(a) Indirect payments of rent, such as a subsidy payment from a governmental agency for low-income housing, are not includable in determining gross rent.

(b) A landlord may receive both payments from a claimant and subsidy payments from a governmental agency for rental of the claimant's homestead. If the allocation of the subsidy payments to food, medical services or other personal services as described in s. 71.52 (2) , Stats., furnished by the landlord is not specified under the terms of an agreement with the governmental agency, the portion of the rent paid for occupancy eligible for the homestead credit shall be the total rent paid for occupancy multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the amount paid by the claimant and the denominator of which is the total amount paid including governmental subsidies.

Example: A total of $5,400 is paid to a claimant's landlord for the year on behalf of the claimant, $1,800 by the claimant and $3,600 by a governmental agency. The value of food provided in $600 and no services are provided.

Qualifying rent paid for occupancy is $1,600, computed as follows: $4,800 × [$1,800 ÷ $5,400]. The $4,800 is the total amount paid, $5,400, less the $600 for food. The $1,800 is the amount the claimant paid and the $5,400 is the total amount paid.

(c) If an agreement with the agency paying the subsidy specifies how the subsidy is to be applied, the agreement shall be controlling in the determination of the claimant's rent paid for occupancy.

(14)   Nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

(a) Any one of the following methods may be used by residents of nursing homes or long-term care facilities to determine rent paid for occupancy:

1. A standard rate of $100 per week but not more than the actual rent paid.

2. The percentage of building occupancy expenses method. Under this method, the ratio that a nursing home's or a long-term care facility's building occupancy expenses for a year bears to gross income received in that year, both directly from residents and indirectly from governmental aid, is determined. This ratio is applied to a resident's total direct payments for a year for which a homestead credit claim is filed, yielding the portion of the payments constituting rent paid for occupancy. This ratio shall be determined from the most recent income and expense data available at the time a rent certificate is prepared, preferably using data from the same year for which the homestead credit is claimed. The building occupancy expenses claimed shall be limited to the expenses attributable to real estate and furnishings only, such as property taxes, interest, lease or rent expenses, depreciation, upkeep and repairs and utilities.

Example: The following formula may be used to compute a resident's rent paid for occupancy; the worksheet is filled in as an example of how to compute the percentage: - See PDF for table

The percentage rate determined above is to be multiplied by the total rent collected as entered on the rent certificate prepared for a resident filing a homestead credit claim, and the amount so determined is to be entered on the rent certificate as rent paid for occupancy. Assuming a resident's total direct payments for the year were $36,000, rent paid for occupancy would be $4,500, which is 12.5% of $36,000.

3. Any other appropriate method, subject to prior approval by the department.

(b)

1. Under s. 71.53 (2) (f) , Stats., a resident living in a nursing home and receiving medical assistance under s. 49.45 , Stats., at the time of filing a homestead credit claim is not eligible for the homestead credit.

2. A person living in a nursing home who received medical assistance under s. 49.45 , Stats., during the year to which the claim relates but is not receiving the medical assistance at the time of filing a homestead credit claim may claim the homestead credit if otherwise eligible. In this situation, amounts paid by medical assistance are not includable in determining rent paid for occupancy.

(c) If a fixed charge is made upon admission to a nursing home or long-term care facility entitling a person to occupancy for the balance of the person's life and additional monthly charges are solely for current maintenance and services, only the initial charge for occupancy shall be "gross rent." The terms of the agreement between the occupant and the nursing home or long-term care facility shall establish the year or years in which the rent paid for occupancy shall be deemed to be paid. If the rent paid is refundable in part should the occupant leave the home or if the rental payment is held in a trust by the home for the occupant, the initial payment will not be deemed to be paid entirely in one year but shall be prorated.

History: Cr. Register, February, 1990, No. 410 , eff. 3-1-90; am. (3) (c) and (8) (a), renum. (8) (b) and (c) to be (8) (c) and (d) and am. (c), cr. (8) (b), Register, January, 1991, No. 421 , eff. 2-1-91; r. and recr. (2) and (5), r. (3) (b) and (13) (a) 1. to 3., renum. (3) (c) and (d) to be (3) (b) and (c), (13) (a) (intro.) and (b) to be (13) (b) and (c), (14) (b) to be (14) (b) 1., am. (3) (b), (4) (a) to (c), (e), (7), (8) (a) to (d) (intro.), 1., to 3., (9) (a), (12), (13) (a), (b), (14) (a) 1. and 2., cr. (13) (a) and (14) (b) 2., Register, July, 2000, No. 535 , eff. 8-1-00; corrections in (3) (c), (8) (a), (b) and (c) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register September 2006 No. 609 .

Note

The computation of rent constituting property taxes accrued of a claimant who becomes married or divorced during a claim year or occupies a separate dwelling from his or her spouse for any part of a claim year is described in s. Tax 14.06 . Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Section Tax 14.05 interprets ss. 71.52 (2) and (8) , 71.53 (2) (e) and (f) , 71.54 (2) (a) and (c) and 71.55 (2) and (8) , Stats. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Section 71.54 (2) (a) (intro.), Stats., was amended by 1995 Wis. Act 27 , effective July 28, 1995, to reference "relief from any county under s. 59.07 (154)," Stats. (s. 59.07 (154), Stats., was renumbered s. 59.53 (21), Stats., by 1995 Wis. Act 201 , effective September 1, 1996). Section 71.54 (2) (a) (intro.), Stats., was again amended, by 1995 Wis. Act 289 , effective July 1, 1996, to provide for a one-twelfth reduction of rent constituting property taxes accrued for months a claimant received Wisconsin works under s. 49.147 (4) or (5), Stats. Prior to the enactment of 1995 Wis. Acts 27 and 289 , the county relief reference was to "general relief from any municipality or county," and there was no reference to Wisconsin works because that program did not exist. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Section 71.54 (2) (a) (intro.) , Stats., was amended by 1999 Wis. Act 9 , effective for 2000 homestead credit claims filed in calendar year 2001 and thereafter, to require a one-twelfth reduction of rent constituting property taxes accrued for months a claimant received Wisconsin works payments as a caretaker of a newborn child under s. 49.148 (1m) , Stats. Under the statutes in effect immediately prior to the enactment of 1999 Wis. Act 9 , the reduction was not required for receipt of those payments. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 The standard rate of $100 per week for rent paid for occupancy by residents of nursing homes or long-term care facilities became effective with rent paid for calendar year 2000. For rent paid for calendar years 1999 and prior, the standard rate was $40 per week. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1