The Break On Your Tax Bill
ORC 323.152 — the homestead reduction, and ORC 323.153 — the day it is applied for by
The valuation page on this site is about arguing the number the auditor set. This one is about a reduction applied after that number is settled, for owners the chapter names, and it is the most commonly missed thing in the whole tax title, because nobody is enrolled in it automatically.
Who the reduction is for. The reduction in taxable value is for an owner occupying the homestead who is sixty five years of age or older, or who is permanently and totally disabled, or who is the surviving spouse of a person who had been receiving the reduction, subject to the total income limit the section sets.
The figures move every year, on purpose. The tax commissioner adjusts the income threshold and the reduction amounts each September using the gross domestic product deflator. For tax year 2025 the total income threshold is forty thousand dollars and the amount of value exempted from taxation is twenty eight thousand dollars, which replaced a threshold of thirty eight thousand six hundred dollars and an exemption of twenty six thousand two hundred dollars.
The reduction is on taxable value, not on the bill, so what it is worth in money depends on the rate where the house is. Two owners with identical houses in different districts get the same reduction in value and a different reduction in dollars.
The application goes to the county auditor, by the last day of December. The original application, any subsequent application, and any late application are filed with the county auditor on or before the thirty first day of December of the year for which the reduction is sought. The application is on a form the tax commissioner devises and supplies, which requires no more information than is necessary to establish eligibility and the amount.
Each year during February the county auditor mails an original application to the owner, as of the first day of January of that year, of a homestead or manufactured or mobile home that transferred during the preceding calendar year and that qualified for and received the reduction. A house that changed hands is the case the chapter singles out for a fresh application.
| The question | The chapter's answer |
|---|---|
| The questionWho qualifies | The chapter's answerAn owner occupant sixty five or older, permanently and totally disabled, or a qualifying surviving spouse |
| The questionThe income test, tax year 2025 | The chapter's answerTotal income of forty thousand dollars |
| The questionThe reduction, tax year 2025 | The chapter's answerTwenty eight thousand dollars of value exempted |
| The questionWhy the figures change | The chapter's answerThe tax commissioner adjusts them each September using the gross domestic product deflator |
| The questionWhere the application goes | The chapter's answerThe county auditor, on the commissioner's form |
| The questionBy when | The chapter's answerThe thirty first day of December of the year the reduction is sought |
How total income is computed, the separate reduction for disabled veterans and its own larger figure, the reduction for manufactured and mobile homes, the continuing application a recipient files, and what happens where a recipient's circumstances change are not on this page. The county auditor's office administers the reduction and holds the form, and the figures for a year after 2025 are the ones the commissioner has published for that year rather than the ones on this page.
Sources for this section (2)
- ORC 323.152 — Reductions in taxable value for the elderly, disabled and surviving spouses
- ORC 323.153 — Applying for the homestead reduction, and the day the application is filed by
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Talk to a licensed Ohio attorney about your situation.