Spouses of Fallen Law Enforcement Officers & Rescue Workers Property Tax Credit Application – Anne Arundel County, MD

The Spouses of Fallen Law Enforcement Officers & Rescue Workers Property Tax Credit Application is the Anne Arundel County Office of Finance form used to apply for the county tax credit that the county describes as available for the spouses of fallen law enforcement officers and rescue workers.

It is one of the local property tax credits Anne Arundel County has enacted for owners of real property located in the county. Each of these credits reduces your liability for County property taxes. That liability is figured from the value assessed by the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation and from the County property tax rate, which the County Executive and County Council set each tax year through the budget process.

The county's tax-credit page lists this application next to several neighboring ones, and they are separate documents: the Disabled Law Enforcement Officers and Rescue Workers Property Tax Credit Application, the Public Safety Officer Tax Credit Applications and the Disabled Veterans Property Tax Credit Applications each cover a different group.

A credit cannot exceed what you actually owe. If your County tax liability is smaller than the credit, the credit reduces it to $0. Credits do not apply to the Solid Waste service charge, the Waterway Protection and Restoration Fund (WPRF) fee, State of Maryland property taxes or City of Annapolis property taxes.

The main group is spouses of fallen law enforcement officers and rescue workers who own real property in Anne Arundel County and want the county's credit applied against their County property tax bill. The county page describes the credit only by its title, so check the application itself and the County Code section that authorizes the credit for the exact eligibility conditions.

Points the county page attaches to its credits in general:

• A credit lowers only your Anne Arundel County property taxes, and never by more than your actual liability.
• Some credits cannot be combined with other credits. The county tells applicants to review the application and the County Code to see whether a restriction applies.
• If you receive the Homestead Property Tax Credit, your liability is already reduced, and that can affect the other county credits you receive.
• If a mortgage company pays your taxes through escrow, contact it to learn how the credit affects your escrow.

Officers and workers who are disabled, public safety officers and disabled veterans use their own applications, not this one.

Each Anne Arundel County property tax credit has its own deadline, set in the County Code section that authorizes it, and the deadline is printed on the matching application. Read the date on this application first. Your application must be received by that date to be timely. The county says its office has no authority to waive or extend these deadlines. (The county gives April 1 for the Public Safety Officer credit as an example of a printed deadline; it is not this credit's date.)

If you mail the application less than 14 days before the deadline, the county suggests a traceable form of delivery, because it is not responsible for mail delays. Once the application is approved, the county sends a letter or email. If the application is incomplete or raises questions, the county contacts you. Because a credit cannot exceed your liability, the county notes that you may wish to apply for different credits in different tax years to receive the full benefit.

Submit the completed application to the Anne Arundel County Office of Finance, following the delivery instructions printed on the application. The county's tax-credit page refers to mailing applications and to contacting the Tax Credit Department; it gives no separate address for this form.

• Office of Finance: 44 Calvert Street, Room 110, Annapolis, MD 21401. Hours are 8:00am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.
• By mail: if you mail it less than 14 days before the deadline, use a traceable delivery service.
• Confirmation of receipt: the county may confirm receipt by email as a courtesy if you give an email address on the application. If you hear nothing, call the Tax Credit Department at (410) 222-1748.
• Questions and status: call (410) 222-1748 to ask about the status of your application or any other question.

If you have already paid your property taxes when a credit is granted, the county processes the refund automatically; you do not need to request it. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the channels above.