Item 15 - Report here the amount of reasonable fixed charges for room and board or rent paid by the persons listed in Item 14. If none are paid, then the total gross income of such residents must be shown in Item 18, Column 3 (All Others)

The Tax Credit law specifically requires an applicant to report the gross income of all non-dependent persons residing in the household who are not paying room and board or reasonable fixed charges [Section 9-104(a)(3)]. The law's purpose is that if a Tax Credit applicant can afford to let someone else (even a relative) who is earning his/her own wages live in the home free of charge, then the applicant does not need as large a property tax credit as someone else with no other person to share the expenses of maintaining the home. This provision may encourage parents who have not been receiving room and board from children earning their own wages to start receiving it in the future. For example, it is much better in terms of eligibility for the applicant to report $20 per week room and board for a total of $1,040 a year than have the $10,000 gross income of a non-dependent son or daughter added to the applicant's total income. Local Tax Credit personnel should use the gross income of other non-dependent persons if the applicant is not in fact reporting that these persons are paying room and board. If the applicant refuses to furnish either the room and board or the gross incomes of the other persons, then the application cannot be processed any further. (Utilize Form Letter HTC-9 in this regard.)

In cases where the applicant has a caretaker or nurse also living in the home, the value of this service will be equal to minimum yearly room and board charged (i.e. $1,040) and shall be added to the applicant's income.

The Tax Credit law also states that the amount of room and board reported must be "reasonable." By administrative regulation, the Department has established that a fixed charge reported by an applicant will be deemed reasonable if it equals one of the following amounts

1. A minimum weekly standard established each year by the Department.
2. Ten percent of the non-dependent occupant's gross income;
3. Ten percent of the applicant's combined gross income;
4. The aggregate of all individual expenses paid by the occupant to assist in the maintenance of the dwelling house;
5. An amount the local Supervisor of Assessments or Tax Credit Administrator finds sufficient in cases of extreme hardship.

An applicant who does not state initially on the application form the amount of a reasonable fixed charge received from a person shall execute a sworn affidavit [See COMAR 18.07.01.02(e)(1) & (2)].