26 Jun I’m confused. Why didn’t I get a Senior Freeze check?

Q. We are in our early 70s and finally qualified for the Senior Freeze program. We just missed the income level before. We are still waiting for the $100 check. After reading your recent article, I’m confused about how seniors with income get a $1,000 Senior Freeze benefit. And for Stay NJ, do folks making $500,000 a year really need a $6,500 tax break?
— Homeowner

A. With all of New Jersey’s property tax breaks, it’s understandable that you might be confused. Let’s run through them all, and importantly, how they may be changing.

First, the Senior Freeze. There is no set amount that eligible seniors get. It depends on what their property taxes were when they qualified for the program — known as the base year — and how much their taxes rise each year going forward.

The benefit could be $1,000 or higher over time.

Then there’s the ANCHOR program, which replaced the Homestead Rebate and has no age restrictions. The next benefit year to be paid, for the 2021 tax year, would pay eligible homeowners up to $1,500 and qualifying renters $450, plus an extra $250 for both senior renters and homeowners. The payments are made by direct deposit or check.

Stay NJ could change how all the benefits work because they will be part of a joint application and all three benefits will be part of the calculation.

Stay NJ promises to cut property taxes by 50% of a homeowner’s property tax bill, capped at $6,500. But to get to that amount, the current recommendations say the Treasury Department would first calculate the ANCHOR and Senior Freeze benefits for which homeowners are eligible and then add them together. If the amount is less than 50% of the homeowner’s property tax, maxed out at $6,500, the homeowner would get additional money under the Stay NJ name.

The payment would come as a check or direct deposit in the first year, and as quarterly credits on tax bills in subsequent years.

Still confused? We get it. State lawmakers and the governor are currently negotiating how it would all work and how to pre-fund Stay NJ in this year’s budget.

But payments under Stay NJ won’t start until 2026, so this time next year, negotiations for that year’s budget will determine exactly how the tax cut would be funded.

As for the Stay NJ income cutoff of $500,000, that’s the amount that was agreed to by lawmakers when they passed the tax cut bill last year. Is it fair or right? That’s for you to decide.

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This story was originally published in June 2024.

NJMoneyHelp.com presents certain general financial planning principles and advice, but should never be viewed as a substitute for obtaining advice from a personal professional advisor who understands your unique individual circumstances.