In our Spotlight on Business report.

You've only got a couple of days left to get your information up to date.

If you want to receive a property tax benefit, applications for this year's anchor benefit are being automatically filed for about 1.5 million eligible residents who previously received them.

But the deadline is Sunday, September 15th for renters and homeowners whose personal info has changed, these are things like your mailing address or banking details.

For more on all the important dates and how to check your application status, I'm joined by John Reitmeyer, our budget and finance writer.

John, we all in the newsroom always have a lot of questions about anchor property tax relief.

But let's just start with this Sunday.

If you have applied before, but you've had an address change, you've moved, do you need to reapply or can you update your information?

How do you do this?

You want to check.

So, Department of Treasury would have sent out confirmation letters to the people who are in this group.

And you're going to want to check and just make sure that all that personal information is correct.

If it is, you pretty much don't have to do anything.

It's going to happen automatically.

But if you if you are one of these people who moved, or maybe you changed your bank account, you know the interest rates have been pretty good of late.

So maybe you opened a new account to take advantage.

The reason that's important anchor benefits go out either through a check or a direct deposit.

It's not like the old homestead program where they actually lowered.

It was a credit that appeared on your property tax bill.

Right.

This benefit comes either in the mail as a check, or it goes directly to the bank account that you've provided them information for.

If that's changed, you still want to get your benefit.

These are supposed to begin rolling out in November.

So you're going to want to give them either the new address where this check should be going to, or that new bank account that you have opened in since the last time.

So what about if you didn't apply previously, but now you are eligible?

So there's a whole other group.

And that's the group that has until November 30th to apply.

And this group would be you're likely eligible and we should say this program operates with a little bit of a lag from, when you're going to receive a benefit to win.

The qualification is based off of.

So it's based on where you lived and how much money you made during the 2021 tax year.

So you don't have to go back and look from a few years ago, but if you think you're eligible, there are income qualifications and residency qualifications.

If you think that you meet them, Treasury may have sent you an application or information directing you to apply online.

And that's the second group.

So there's that 1.5 million that are automatically enrolled.

And that group just has to check and make sure their personal information is correct, as it appeared in the confirmation letter.

This other group is getting information to apply because, Treasury suspects that they are eligible.

They just need to go through the process of applying to get that benefit.

Okay.

Again, rolling out in November, September 15th, November 30th.

Checks will start going out in November on a rolling basis.

How much is the is the property tax benefit this go around and also remind us why are they using tax filings from 2021 a lot a lot there.

So the reason there's this backlog is there have been times when the program either anchor or before it, homestead has been off schedule because it's all funded in the state budget.

And there are years when the state budget has a lot of money and years where it doesn't have as much money.

And, a gimmick that's been played over the years, going back about a decade now, is when the state budgets a little lean.

They might push anchor into the next quarter or even the next half year.

And so that's happened a number of times now.

And so they're still catching up to prior years.

And then the income standards are all funded out of the budget.

And so the max you can make is 250,000.

And there is a rolling amount.

So if you're at the lower level which is up to 150,000, as a homeowner, you can get 1500 back in anchor benefits.

If you're in that 150 to 250, you can get 1000 back.

Renters get 450 as long as they make up to 150,000 annually, and seniors get an extra 250 on all of those numbers.

So if you're 65 and older, you homeowners would get an extra 250 to their benefit, and, senior renters would get the extra 250 as well.

You should get an extra benefit just for having all those numbers memorized.

John Reitmeyer for us.

John, thanks so much.

And of course, folks can go to our website.

You have an article published today with all the information and links so that folks can apply if they have the phone number to call.

If you need to talk to somebody as well.

There's a thought, a live person.

John.

Right.

Myra, thanks so much.

You're welcome.

Support for the business report is provided by Riverview Jazz, presenting the first annual Jersey City Latin Jazz Festival.

Saturdays, September 14th at Exchange Place Plaza in Jersey city.

Performance schedule and further details for this open to all event can be found online.

And Riverview Jazz North.