Owner Occupancy Credit Removal Request Form – Cuyahoga County, OH

The Owner Occupancy Credit Removal Request Form is the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer's form on which a property owner states that a parcel in Cuyahoga County is no longer their primary residence and asks to remove the Homestead Exemption Credit or Owner Occupancy Credit from it.

The Owner Occupancy Credit is a real estate tax reduction available to a homeowner for their principal place of residence. A person can have only one principal place of residence, and the Fiscal Officer's page explains that it determines, among other things, where you are registered to vote and where you declare residency for income tax purposes.

The form identifies the parcel, the owner and the property address, gives the date the property was or will no longer be the primary residence, and sets the effective year of the removal: current year, next year or a prior year. It also records the owner's current primary residence and where the removal confirmation letter should go. A box at the bottom marked "For County Auditor's Use Only" is completed by the county, not by the owner.

This form removes a credit. It is not the application for the credit: the Fiscal Officer publishes a separate application to apply for the Owner Occupancy Credit.

Owners of a Cuyahoga County parcel that has the Homestead Exemption Credit or Owner Occupancy Credit and that was, or will no longer be, their primary residence use this form to request removal.

The Fiscal Officer's page names one common reason: you need to remove the credit in order to apply for a residency-based credit for a new home. In that case the office replies with the form letter you need to apply for your new homestead.

Points that affect who is covered:

• The credit is for a homeowner's principal place of residence, and a person can have only one.
• A married couple is presumed to share one residence, so only one Owner Occupancy Credit can apply to properties owned by spouses, unless they can establish that they reside separately.
• The form is signed by the owner; the sources describe no other signer or representative.

Owners who still live in the property as their principal residence have no reason to file it.

File the request when the property is no longer, or is about to stop being, your primary residence. The form asks for the date as of which the property was or will no longer be the primary residence, and for the effective year of the removal: Current Year, Next Year or Prior Year (with the year written in).

If you are removing the credit to apply for a residency-based credit on a new home, the Fiscal Officer's page says to complete this form first; the office's reply includes the form letter you need for the new homestead application. The credit's qualification test is ownership and occupancy as your principal place of residence as of January 1 of the tax year, so choose the effective year with that date in mind. Neither the form nor the agency page prints a separate filing deadline.

Neither the form nor the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer's Owner Occupancy Credit page names a mailing address, portal or other return channel for the completed request, so confirm how to send it with the office before you do. The contacts they print are:

• Phone: 216-443-7420, Option 5, for Owner Occupancy Credit questions.
• Email: [email protected].
• Fiscal Department (printed on the form): 2079 East Ninth Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44115; phone 216-443-7010; www.cuyahogacounty.us.

The agency page asks you to include your parcel number or address and a short notice requesting that the credit be removed; the form carries a parcel line and a printed request statement. Choose on the form where the removal confirmation letter should be sent: the Cuyahoga County address, your current address or an email address. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the agency's channels.