The credit is now limited to Connecticut residents who paid qualifying property tax on their residence and/or motor vehicle AND one or more of the following statements apply:
- You or your spouse is 65 years of age or older by the end of the taxable year.
- You claim one or more dependents on your federal tax return.
The maximum property tax credit allowed is
$200 per return regardless of filing status. This credit can be used to offset only your 2017 income tax. You may not carry this credit forward and it is not refundable. See
Page 19 of 2017 Form CT-1040
To enter this credit in TurboTax:
- Click Start next to the Connecticut State return
- Proceed with the opening screens and income section
- Click Done with Income
- Click Start next to Property Tax Credit on the next set of items
- Click Continue after entering you Primary Residence Property Tax Information (if applicable)
- Click Yes to Taxes Paid on Motor Vehicles (if you don’t see it, see notes below)
- Enter required information
If you aren’t seeing the credit on your screen, then there could be two issues:
(1) The CT property tax credit is limited to $200 per return. Since this credit applies to both residences and motor vehicles, if you have already reached the maximum CT property tax due to your residence, then the motor vehicle section will not appear.
(2) There have been some changes to this credit that now more strictly limit who can claim the credit (see the information above). So, if you don’t meet those criteria, then you also won’t see the credit. The phase-out threshold level has also reverted back to 2016 levels.
However, you may also be able to claim a federal deduction for personal property tax paid for this item since this tax applies to personal property you own, is based on its value and is charged on an annual basis. But, in order to claim the deduction, you will have to be itemizing your deductions to get any tax benefit. You can find this section in TurboTax under the Federal section -> choose Deductions and Credits -> scroll down to Cars and Other Things you Own -> select Car Registration Fees and proceed with the entries.
