Reconfirming eligibility for residential tax exemption

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

As home owner who lives in the home I own, I get an exemption saving me about 20% on my property tax. I just got a letter from the Board of Assessors saying that "the Board is requiring those taxpayers who have been receiving the exemption for the longest peiord of time to refile an application for fiscal year 2014.

I started filling out the form, and then my spidey sense started tingling. Although there are no obvious errors or misstatements, there's a level of enthusiasm that I associate more with scams than the city of Somerville. There's an exclamation point at the end of the sentence that says how much I saved in property tax in 2013, and there's a bolded, underlined DO NOT IGNORE!! at the top of the page. There's also a vague sense of threat, in sentences like "Failure to return you application and documention wihtin 30 days of the date of this letter will require the board to remove the exemption for FY2014. You are strongly advised to file now and not delay, (we will send no additional letter)." Most worryingly, they ask for a copy of my 2013 MA tax return.

Has anyone else received something like this? I plan to call 311 on Monday for more information, but figured it might be worthwhile to post here, as it's likely other community members will be receiving similar letters.

EDIT: Thanks to everyone who chimed in. It sounds like it's legit. I'm still planning to call Tuesday (thanks Ron for the reminder that Monday is a holiday), both to confirm and also to suggest to them that they may want to tone down the urgency to avoid sounding like a phishing expedition.

Comments

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

What address are you supposed to send it to? If it's actually the Board of Assessors, how could it be a scam?

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

The address is 93 Highland Ave, which is, in fact, City Hall. OTOH, like many of my neighbors, I put most of my mail in my mailbox to be picked up at delivery time, so someone could know to be on the lookout for it.

I realize this may just be ridiculous paranoia, but I figured better to err on the side of caution, identity theft being the PitA that it is.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

I don't know one way or another, but I do know that when i applied for the residential tax exemption in cambridge, i did have to provide the year's tax returns to verify that I filed as living at that address.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Then put it in a blue mailbox instead?

[ceo]

The letter explicitly says to redact your SSN and any financial information from the documents, which seems like an ineffective method of identity theft.

[ron_newman]

If you remove all "financial information" from a tax return, what is left that could be at all useful to the city tax assessors?

[ceo]

They only care about the tax return as proof that you lived at that address. (They request one other proof of residency in the form of a utility bill or car registration.) And your tax return doesn't tell them how much your house is worth; assessing that is the, er, assessors' job.

[ron_newman]

City Hall will be closed on Monday for Patriots' Day; you'll need to wait until Tuesday to call.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I can't ever recall being asked for a copy of my tax returns by anyone but the entity I owed them to. That's a little worrisome and I would definitely call them if I received such a letter to make sure it was legit.

[ron_newman]

This is the city's official documentation and form for Residential Exemption. It says:

To confirm your residency, you must submit a copy of your
calendar year 2012 State of Massachusetts Resident income tax return, (not
Federal). The form must be a copy of the return filed showing your name and the
address in question on the front side and your signature or your accountant’s signature at
the bottom of the page. You do not need to submit copies of other schedules and should
feel free to withhold your financial information and social security number.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Thanks Ron, what I was saying was a bit different. I have a residential exemption, and don't remember providing quite this paperwork to get it in the first place. Proving you live somewhere is usually done with a bill.

[laryu.livejournal.com]

I received one of these letters as well. Although crudely written, it does appear to be legit.