How to Apply for the Homestead Exemption in Ohio: Form DTE 105A, the December 31 Deadline, and the Late Application Most People Miss
You will find $25,000, $26,200, $28,000 and $29,000 for the same exemption. All of them were correct at some point. The amount is indexed for inflation every year, and the printed sources have not kept pace with each other. Ohio's own application form, last revised in January 2021, still prints $25,000 on the back. County auditors are currently publishing higher figures.
The enhanced amount for totally disabled veterans splits the same way — $52,300, $56,000 and $58,000 all appear on official pages of different vintages.
We are not going to pick one. The office that actually applies the exemption is your county auditor, and that office knows this year's figure. Ask them when you file. The income limit is the one number the county offices agree on, and it is below.
File form DTE 105A with your county auditor by December 31. You file once. It carries forward every year after that as long as you own and live in the home.
The box that claims last year
Near the top of the form, above the questions, there is a row of checkboxes. One says Current application. The next says Late application for prior year.
If you also qualified last year on the same property but never filed, you can tick the late box and claim that year at the same time. The only condition is that you are filing a current application for the same property.
Nobody mentions this. People discover the exemption three years after turning 65, assume the past is gone, and file only for the year ahead.
One year back is what the form allows. It is worth ticking.
Who can file
Three routes in, and the dates attached to each one are strict.
At least 65 by December 31 of the year you are claiming. Turning 65 in November still counts for that whole year.
Permanently and totally disabled on January 1 of the year claimed. Age does not matter. You attach form DTE 105E, or a certification from an eligible state or federal agency.
The spouse who died must have been receiving the exemption by reason of age or disability in the year of death, and you must have been at least 59 on the date of death. Fifty-eight and the door is closed.
On top of whichever route applies: you must own and occupy the home as your principal place of residence on January 1 of the year you are claiming. For manufactured and mobile homes the dates shift by a year — the form must be in by December 31 of the year before the year claimed.
How the deed has to read
This costs people the exemption and almost nothing explains it. The form asks you to identify the form of ownership, and the list is wider than most people assume.
An individual named on the deed
A purchaser under a land installment contract
A life tenant under a life estate
A mortgagor — the borrower on an outstanding mortgage
A trustee of a trust with the right to live in the property
The settlor of a revocable or irrevocable inter vivos trust holding title, occupying it as a right under the trust
A stockholder in a qualified housing cooperative
Property owned by a corporation, a partnership, a limited liability company or another legal entity does not qualify. If a family put the house into an LLC for some other reason, that decision has a cost here.
If the property sits in a trust, is under a land contract, or you are the mortgagor, the auditor may ask for copies of the trust agreement, contract or mortgage. Bring them the first time rather than the second.
Which income figure counts
Not your gross income, and not your federal figure. Ohio uses modified adjusted gross income — Ohio adjusted gross income plus any business income deducted on Schedule A, line 11 of your Ohio IT 1040. It is measured for you and your spouse, for the year before the year you are claiming.
| Filing in | Limit |
|---|---|
| 2026 — using 2025 income | $41,000 |
| Late claim for 2025 — using 2024 income | $40,000 |
Source: Ohio county auditors — figures published consistently by Stark, Geauga, Warren and Logan county auditor offices for the 2026 application period. The limit is adjusted annually.
One exception matters to long-standing recipients. If you qualified for the exemption in 2013 — 2014 for manufactured homes — there is no income test on you at all. The income test was added afterwards and it was not applied backwards.
If you do not file an Ohio return, the auditor will ask for your federal return. If you file neither, they will ask for evidence of income and deductions and estimate the figure themselves. Not filing a return does not disqualify you.
How to file
DTE 105A, "Homestead Exemption Application for Senior Citizens, Disabled Persons and Surviving Spouses."
Open form DTE 105A →Not the treasurer, not the tax department. The auditor of the county where the home is. Applications go to that office and nowhere else.
Directory of Ohio county auditors →Age, ownership, and that you live there. An Ohio driver's licence or state ID showing the property address does two of the three at once. Add the deed or closing paperwork if the ownership is anything other than your name on the deed.
For real property, on or before December 31 of the year you are claiming. For manufactured or mobile homes, on or before December 31 of the year before the year claimed. Most auditors accept applications year-round, so there is no reason to wait for autumn.
The saving does not show up immediately. It lands on a later bill, because Ohio property taxes are paid in arrears. Your auditor can tell you which bill to look at.
The other forms, and when you need them
| Form | When |
|---|---|
| DTE 105A | The application itself. Everyone files this. |
| DTE 105E | Certificate of Disability, if you are applying on disability rather than age. |
| DTE 105G | If you received the reduction for 2013, or 2014 for manufactured homes. This is the form that carries your exemption from the income test. |
| DTE 105H | The income addendum some auditors ask for when you do not file an Ohio return. |
Source: Ohio Department of Taxation, form DTE 105A and county auditor guidance. Ask your auditor which of these they want — practice varies slightly by county.
What you are signing
The form is signed under penalty of perjury, and it is worth knowing what the declaration actually says. You are affirming that you occupied the property on January 1, that you occupy it now, that the income figure is correct, and one more thing:
That you did not acquire this homestead from a relative or in-law, other than your spouse, for the purpose of qualifying for the exemption. Signing it also authorises the tax commissioner and the county auditor to review your tax and financial records for the limited purpose of checking eligibility.
A conviction for wilfully falsifying the application costs the exemption for three years. This is not a form to guess on — but it is also not a form to be frightened of. Everything it asks, you already know.
Eight things that go wrong
If you also qualified last year on the same property, that year can be claimed on the same form.
It never does. Nothing arrives in the post at 65. You have to file.
The treasurer collects. The auditor grants exemptions. Different office, different building in some counties.
The test is Ohio modified adjusted gross income, which is a smaller number than what lands in the bank.
A trustee with the right to live there qualifies, and so does the settlor occupying under the trust. A corporation or LLC does not.
The exemption does not follow you across town by itself. A new home means a new application.
Anyone who qualified in 2013 is outside the income test. Form DTE 105G is what says so.
There is no grace period written into the deadline. There is only next year, plus the late box.
How the reduction is calculated, what the enhanced veteran amount does, and why the figure on your bill is not the figure on the form.
Ohio Homestead Exemption amounts →| Programme |
| Homestead Exemption — a property tax reduction for owner-occupants aged 65+, disabled, or qualifying surviving spouses |
| Application form |
| DTE 105A (Ohio Department of Taxation) |
| Where to file |
| The auditor of the county where the home is located |
| Find that office |
| County Auditors' Association of Ohio directory |
| Deadline |
| December 31 of the year claimed (real property) |
| Income limit, 2026 applications |
| $41,000 Ohio modified adjusted gross income for 2025, owner and spouse combined |
Related programs
Another bill that can be cut Ohio Medicare Savings Programs: $202.90 a month off the Medicare bill → And the utility bill PIPP Plus: paying a share of income instead of a share of usage → Staying in the house PASSPORT: care at home instead of a nursing home → Same idea, different office How to apply for Medicare premium help in Ohio →Tools you'll need
Sources. Ohio Department of Taxation, form DTE 105A (Rev. 01/21) — the December 31 deadline and the manufactured home variation, the late application provision, the three categories of applicant and their dates, the qualifying and non-qualifying forms of ownership, the definition of total income as Ohio modified adjusted gross income, the 2013 exception, the companion forms, and the terms of the declaration. County auditor offices of Stark, Geauga, Warren and Logan counties — the income limits published for the 2026 and 2025 application periods. County Auditors' Association of Ohio — the directory of county auditor offices.
Verified: August 1, 2026. The exemption amount and the income limit are both adjusted annually, and the state application form carries a 2021 revision date with an older amount printed on it. Confirm the current figures with your county auditor before relying on them.
This page explains a public program. It is not legal, tax or financial advice and it is not an eligibility decision. Only your county auditor can determine whether you qualify.
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