Indiana homeowners 65 and older who want the Over 65 property tax credit have until January 15 to file for it with their county auditor. The credit is $150 off the property tax bill, and a companion Over 65 circuit breaker credit can cap how fast the bill climbs. Both use one application, and a missed date pushes the benefit a full year.
What the Over 65 credit pays and who gets it
The state’s Over 65 Credit and Over 65 Circuit Breaker Credit application, State Form 43708, puts the Over 65 Credit at $150. An applicant must be at least 65 on or before December 31 of the year before the credit is claimed and must live on the property. A surviving, unremarried spouse can qualify at 60 or older if the late spouse was at least 65 at death.
Income is the second test. Adjusted gross income is measured for the calendar year two years before the year taxes are first due and payable, so a bill payable in 2027 looks at 2025 income. The form lists $60,000 on a single return and $70,000 on a joint return, or for joint tenants and tenants in common.
Shared ownership trims the credit. If the property is held by joint tenants or tenants in common and not all of them are at least 65, the $150 is reduced by a fraction. The reduction does not apply when the only owners are the applicant and a spouse.
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The circuit breaker credit puts a ceiling on the bill
The second credit works differently. The form defines the Over 65 Circuit Breaker Credit as the tax liability minus the product of the prior year’s tax liability multiplied by 1.02. In plain terms, it covers any increase beyond 2 percent over the previous year’s bill.
A simple case shows the effect. If one year’s bill is $2,000, the limit for the next year is $2,040, and a $2,400 bill would receive a $360 credit. Those figures are illustrations, not Indiana averages, but the arithmetic follows the form’s formula.
The circuit breaker has a residency rule of its own. The applicant must have qualified for the homestead standard deduction in the preceding year and must qualify for it on the same homestead in the current year. A homeowner who moved or lost the standard deduction can lose the breaker even while still eligible for the $150.
The income limits for the breaker move each year. The form says the $60,000 and $70,000 amounts are adjusted annually by the Social Security cost-of-living increase. In an April 2026 memo to county auditors, Department of Local Government Finance Commissioner Jason Cockerill set the Pay 2027 thresholds at $61,680 for single taxpayers and $71,960 for married taxpayers.
Those numbers are the old bases raised by the 2.8 percent cost-of-living increase for 2026. Auditors were told to use them, so a household near the line should check its adjusted gross income against the new figures, not the old ones. Households that earn above them do not qualify for the breaker.
Where and when to file
The form must be completed, signed and filed or postmarked by January 15 of the year in which the property taxes are first due and payable. It goes to the county auditor where the property sits, in person or by mail. For bills payable in 2027, that date is January 15, 2027.
The Department of Local Government Finance’s deductions and credits page explains what the deadline buys. Deductions and credits applied for before the annual deadline are applied to the next year’s tax bill, and it gives the example that an application filed on or before January 15, 2026 shows up on the 2025 bill payable in 2026.
The same page says county auditors are the best point of contact for questions about deductions, credits and eligibility. Auditors keep the applications, so a homeowner unsure whether a prior filing is on record should ask there.
The deadline is the decision
The two credits answer different problems. The $150 is a flat amount that does not change with the size of the bill, while the circuit breaker pays only when a bill rises by more than 2 percent. A homeowner whose bill holds steady may get nothing from the breaker, and one whose bill jumps can get far more than $150.
The form carries both credits in its title, so one filing puts the household in front of the auditor for each. That matters most for surviving spouses between 60 and 64, who can qualify for the $150 credit when the late spouse was at least 65, and for owners who share a title with a relative under 65.
A late filing does not cost the $150 forever, but it does cost a bill. A homeowner who misses January 15 sees the credit applied a year later, and anyone depending on the circuit breaker feels any increase in the meantime.
Households should therefore gather three things before January: proof of age, the prior-year income figures for the right year and the property’s ownership details. Those answer the three questions the form asks. Whether this household is under the income line is the one question each owner has to settle before filing.
Is the Over 65 form in before January 15?
Indiana homeowners who miss the January 15 filing date wait a full bill cycle for the $150 credit, and a household that guesses wrong about the income line can file for a benefit it does not get. The circuit breaker adds a second set of rules about the homestead deduction that are easy to miss.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit lays out the 5 kinds of property-tax relief, explains the circuit-breaker credit that includes renters and provides an application log and renewal calendar. That log keeps the Indiana deadline and every other yearly filing in one place.
Track each property-tax deadline with the relief kit’s application log and renewal calendar →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
