District of Columbia Program Overview

You must meet the following requirements to claim this credit:

• You were a District of Columbia (DC) resident from Jan 1. through Dec. 31, 2025.
• Your residence is not part of a public housing dwelling.
• You rented or owned and lived in your home, apartment, rooming house, cooperative, or condominium in DC during all of 2025.
• Your 2025 federal adjusted gross income (AGI), was $66,000 or less if you are under 70 and $90,000 or less if you are age 70 or older.
• You did not rent from a landlord whose property was either exempt from real property taxes or who paid a percentage of rental income to DC instead of paying a real estate tax.
• You must not be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s federal, state, or DC income tax return unless you reached age 65 on or before December 31, 2025.

File your completed Schedule H with your Personal Income Tax Return. You have three years from the due date to claim the credit. To file for previous years, you must use the form that corresponds to the tax year in question. A link to forms from prior years is included under contact details below.

Standalone Filers:

If you are not required to file a DC individual income tax return because you are below the income tax filing threshold, you can file Schedule H as a standalone return.

Individual Income Tax Credit

• Schedule H (Property Tax Credit Form) and Form D-40 (Individual Income Tax Return)
• If homeowner, DC real property tax bill and amount paid by you for the year
• If renter, lease or other documentation of the amount of rent paid for the year

The Homestead Deduction is limited to residential property. To qualify:

• An application must be on file with the Office of Tax and Revenue.
• The property must be occupied by the owner/applicant and contain no more than five dwelling units (including the unit occupied by the owner).
• The property must be the principal residence (domicile) of the owner/applicant.
• Once the application is approved and filed, the exemption applies to all future tax years if the applicant does not move and remains eligible.

If a Homestead Exemption application is filed between October 1 to March 31, the property will receive the Homestead benefit for the entire tax year (and for all tax years in the future). If an approved application is filed from April 1 to September 30, the property will receive the benefit on the second-half tax bill.

• Homestead, Senior Citizen and Disabled Property Tax Relief Application
• District driver’s license/identification

To qualify for Senior Citizen Tax Relief, you must meet the following requirements:

• Have at least 50% ownership of the property.
• Must reside in the property.
• Must be 65 or older.
• To qualify for tax year 2026, the total household federal adjusted gross income from 2024 must have been less than $163,500. This includes all persons residing in the household, excluding tenants paying fair market rent under a written lease.

To qualify for Disabled Tax Relief, you must meet the following requirements:

• Have at least 50% ownership of the property.
• Must reside in the property.
• Must be certified in the Social Security Administration (SSA) as a permanently and totally disabled or be receiving District or Federal disability payments.
• To qualify for tax year 2026, the total household federal adjusted gross income from 2024 must have been less than $163,500. This includes all persons residing in the household, excluding tenants paying fair market rent under a written lease.

Senior Citizen or Disabled Property Owners may file an application immediately if they are age 65 or older or disabled. If the property owner lives in a cooperative housing association, the cooperative will supply and collect the applications.

• Homestead, Senior Citizen and Disabled Property Tax Relief Application
• District driver’s license/identification
• If disabled, SSA certification of permanent and total disability disability payments OR Evidence of the person’s SSI, SSD, Federal, DC or railroad retirement