C.R.S. § 39-3-203 — Property tax exemption - qualifications

(1) For the property tax year commencing January 1, 2002, for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2006, but before January 1, 2009, and for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2012, fifty percent of the first two hundred thousand dollars of actual value of residential real property that as of the assessment date is owner-occupied and is used as the primary residence of the owner-occupier shall be exempt from taxation, and for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2003, but before January 1, 2006, and on or after January 1, 2009, but before January 1, 2012, fifty percent of zero dollars of actual value of residential real property that as of the assessment date is owner-occupied and is used as the primary residence of the owner-occupier shall be exempt from taxation if: (a) (I) The owner-occupier is sixty-five years of age or older as of the assessment date and has owned and occupied such residential real property as his or her primary residence for the ten years preceding the assessment date; or (II) The owner-occupier is the surviving spouse of an owner-occupier who previously qualified for a property tax exemption for the same residential real property under subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (a); and (b) The owner-occupier has completed and filed an exemption application in the manner required by section 39-3-205 and the circumstances that qualify the property for the exemption have not changed since the filing of the application. Under no circumstances shall an exemption be allowed for property taxes assessed during any property tax year prior to the year in which an owner-occupier first files an exemption application. (1.5) (a) For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2007, fifty percent of the first two hundred thousand dollars of actual value of residential real property that as of the assessment date is owner-occupied and is used as the primary residence of an owner-occupier who is a qualifying veteran with a disability shall be exempt from taxation if: (I) The owner-occupier has completed and filed an exemption application in the manner required by section 39-3-205; and (II) The circumstances that qualify the property for the exemption have not changed since the filing of the application. (a.5) For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2015, fifty percent of the first two hundred thousand dollars of actual value of residential real property that as of the assessment date is owner-occupied and is used as the primary residence of an owner-occupier who is the surviving spouse of a qualifying veteran with a disability who previously received an exemption under subsection (1.5)(a) of this section is exempt from taxation. (b) Under no circumstances shall an exemption be allowed for property taxes assessed during any property tax year prior to the year for which an owner-occupier first files an exemption application. (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and subsection (1.5) of this section, if ownership of residential real property that qualified for an exemption as of the assessment date changes after the assessment date, an exemption shall be allowed only if an owner-occupier whose status as an owner-occupier qualified the property for the exemption has filed an exemption application by the deadline for filing exemption applications specified in section 39-3-205 (1). (3) An individual who owns and occupies a dwelling unit in a common interest community, as defined in section 38-33.3-103 (8), C.R.S., as his or her primary residence, or who owns residential real property consisting of multiple-dwelling units and occupies one of the dwelling units as his or her primary residence, shall be allowed an exemption only with respect to the dwelling unit that the individual occupies as his or her primary residence. (4) No more than one exemption per property tax year shall be allowed for a single dwelling unit of residential real property, regardless of how many owner-occupiers use the dwelling unit as their primary residence or whether one or more owner-occupiers qualify for exemptions under both subsections (1) and (1.5) of this section. The full amount of the exemption allowed by subsection (1) or (1.5) of this section shall be allowed with respect to any single dwelling unit of residential real property so long as any owner-occupier of the dwelling unit satisfies the requirements of subsection (1) or (1.5) of this section, and the fact that any other person who does not satisfy said requirements is also an owner of record of the dwelling unit shall not affect the amount of the exemption. (5) For purposes of this part 2, two individuals who are legally married, but who own more than one piece of residential real property, shall be deemed to occupy the same primary residence and may claim no more than one exemption. (6) (a) Notwithstanding the ten-year occupancy requirement set forth in subparagraph (I) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section, an owner-occupier who has not actually owned and occupied residential real property for which the owner-occupier has claimed an exemption under said subsection (1) for the ten years preceding the assessment date shall be deemed to have met the ten-year requirement and shall be allowed an exemption under said subsection (1) with respect to the property if: (I) The owner-occupier would have qualified for the exemption with respect to other residential real property that the owner-occupier owned and occupied as his or her primary residence before moving to the residential real property for which an exemption is claimed but for the fact that the other property was condemned by a governmental entity through an eminent domain proceeding; or (I.5) For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2015, the owner-occupier would have qualified for the exemption with respect to other residential real property that the owner-occupier owned and occupied as his or her primary residence before moving to the residential real property for which an exemption is claimed but for the fact that a natural disaster destroyed the former primary residence or otherwise rendered it uninhabitable; and (II) The owner-occupier has not owned and occupied residential property as his or her primary residence other than the residential real property for which an exemption is claimed since the condemnation occurred. (b) An owner-occupier who claims an exemption with respect to residential real property that he or she has not actually owned and occupied as his or her primary residence for the ten years preceding the assessment date as permitted by paragraph (a) of this subsection (6) shall provide to the assessor with whom the owner-occupier files the exemption application any information that the assessor may reasonably require to verify that the owner-occupier is entitled to an exemption. Source: L. 2001: Entire part added, p. 462, § 1, effective April 25. L. 2003: IP(1) amended, p. 1476, § 1, effective May 1. L. 2007: IP(1), (2), (4), and IP(6)(a) amended and (1.5) added, p. 477, § 3, effective April 15. L. 2009: IP(1) amended, (SB 09-276), ch. 437, p. 2426, § 1, effective June 4. L. 2010: IP(1) amended, (SB 10-190), ch. 311, p. 1461, § 2, effective May 27. L. 2014: (1.5)(a.5) and (6)(a)(I.5) added and (6)(a)(I) amended, (HB 14-1373), ch. 266, p. 1066, § 1, effective May 26. L. 2023: IP(1.5)(a) and (1.5)(a.5) amended, (SB 23-036), ch. 345, p. 2069, § 3, effective June 5; IP(1.5)(a) and (1.5)(a.5) amended, (HB 23-1052), ch. 131, p. 499, § 5, effective January 1, 2025. Editor's note: Subsection (1.5)(a.5) was amended in HB 23-1052, effective January 1, 2025. However, those amendments were superseded by the amendments to subsection (1.5)(a.5) by SB 23-036, effective June 5, 2023. Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 23-1052, see section 1 of chapter 131, Session Laws of Colorado 2023.