N.C. tax break for home builders approved
Charlotte Business Journal - by Lee Weisbecker Triangle Business Journal
North Carolina lawmakers have passed a bill allowing home builders to defer for up to three years paying county and municipal property taxes on their unsold new homes.
Qualifying for the exemption are homes that have been issued a certificate of occupancy but remain unoccupied.
The anti-recession measure will take effect for tax years beginning after July 1, 2010. The bill awaits the signature of Gov. Beverly Perdue.
N.C. General Assembly fiscal researchers asked tax officials in all of the state’s 100 counties for an estimate of the dollar value of housing stock that would qualify under the bill. Forty-five responded, estimating $3.1 billion in unsold inventory.
Extrapolating from that figure, the researchers calculated the amount of deferred taxes would hit $30 million to $35 million in fiscal 2010.
With market conditions expected to improve by fiscal 2011, the deferred property-tax volume is expected to decline to $7 million to $12 million.
Properties qualifying in the final year, fiscal 2012-13, will remain eligible for the exemption through 2015.
After the deferral period ends, the property taxes will come due.
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