Philadelphia Homestead Tax Exemption: Eligibility, Filing, and Savings

The Philadelphia homestead exemption takes $100,000 off your home’s assessed value before property tax is calculated, which saves most owner-occupants about $1,399 a year on their real estate tax bill.¹ Any individual who owns a home in Philadelphia and lives in it as a primary residence can apply, and once you’re approved the discount stays in place for as long as you own and occupy the property.²

How the Savings Are Calculated

Philadelphia’s combined real estate tax rate is 1.3998%, made up of a 0.6159% city rate and a 0.7839% school district rate.³ The Office of Property Assessment sets your assessed value, and the tax rate is then applied to that number.

The exemption subtracts $100,000 from your assessed value before the rate kicks in.⁴ A house assessed at $250,000 is taxed as if it were worth $150,000. Multiply $100,000 by 0.013998 and you get about $1,400 in savings, and that figure is the same no matter what your home is worth. If your property is assessed below $100,000, the exemption reduces your taxable value to zero.

Who Qualifies

Philadelphia Code § 19-1301.2 defines a homestead as a dwelling used as the domicile of an owner who is a “natural person.”⁵ Corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and other business entities cannot claim the exemption. Only individuals can.

You must use the property as your primary residence, which means living there most of the year, and you can only claim one homestead exemption at a time. Condos and co-op units qualify on the same terms, with the exemption applied to the assessed value of your individual unit.⁵

Own a duplex or triplex and live in one of the units? You can still qualify, but the exemption applies only to the share of the property you use as your home.⁵

Pennsylvania law reads “owner” broadly. You count as an owner if you hold a life estate, placed the home in a revocable living trust, are buying under a contract, or inherited the property by will or intestate succession.⁶ Property held in an irrevocable trust does not qualify, because the grantor no longer controls it.

There is no income limit on the homestead exemption.

How To Apply

The fastest way to apply is online through the Philadelphia Tax Center at tax-services.phila.gov. You don’t need an account or password to submit the application.⁴ Look up your address on the property panel and the system will fill in your property details. If a previous owner’s name is still on the record, the online form won’t work; call (215) 686-9200 or file on paper instead.

Paper applications are on the city’s website and go to the Philadelphia Department of Revenue at P.O. Box 52817, Philadelphia, PA 19115.⁷ You’ll need your nine-digit OPA account number, which you can look up by address at property.phila.gov. The form also asks for the Social Security numbers of every owner on the deed so the city can confirm nobody is claiming more than one homestead.

If Your Title Is Tangled

If you live in a home whose title was never formally transferred to you, often the case when a relative died without a will or the estate was never probated, you can still apply. Write “Tangled Title” at the top of a paper application and include a signed Homestead Affidavit along with two forms of ID that show your name and the property address.⁴ Acceptable ID includes a government-issued photo ID, a utility bill from the past six months, voter registration, or a mortgage agreement.

Deadline and When the Exemption Starts

Applications are due by December 1 of the year before the exemption applies. File by December 1, 2025, and your 2026 tax bill reflects the discount. Miss the date and you wait a year.⁶ The December 1 deadline is set by state law specifically for Philadelphia as a city of the first class; other Pennsylvania counties use March 1.

The city processes applications on a rolling basis and mails an approval or denial. You can also check status by searching your OPA account number at property.phila.gov. If nothing has moved after a few weeks, call the Department of Revenue rather than waiting on mail that may have gone astray.

You do not need to reapply. The exemption stays active as long as you own and occupy the home, and if the city changes the exemption amount in a later budget, your discount updates automatically.²

When You Sell or Move Out

Notify the Department of Revenue within 45 days if you sell the property, move out, or otherwise change how the property is used.⁸ Pennsylvania law treats a failure to report the change the same as a false application, so back taxes and penalties can follow.⁶ It often surfaces during a buyer’s title search when the exemption was never removed, so it pays to handle it early. The removal form is on the city’s website and can go in by mail or through the tax center portal.

If You Get Denied

A denial can be appealed to the Board of Revision of Taxes using the appeal form on the city’s property assessment page.⁹ The usual reasons for denial are a mismatch between the deed name and the applicant, a previous owner still listed in the system, or missing documents. Before filing a formal appeal, call (215) 686-9200 and ask what triggered the denial; the fix is sometimes faster than an appeal.

How It Affects Your Mortgage Escrow

If your mortgage servicer collects property taxes through escrow, the lower tax bill won’t cut your monthly payment right away. Under federal rules, your servicer runs an annual escrow analysis and sends you a statement within 30 days of the end of the escrow computation year.¹⁰ When the analysis shows a surplus because your taxes dropped, the servicer either refunds the overage or applies it to reduce your future monthly payment.

The practical order of events: the exemption is approved, the city issues a lower tax bill, the servicer pays that reduced amount from escrow, and the surplus shows up at the next annual analysis. That can mean several months between the exemption starting and your monthly payment falling. To speed things up, ask your servicer to run an off-cycle escrow analysis.

Programs That Can Stack on Top

The homestead exemption has no income limit, so it’s the broadest program, but Philadelphia offers other relief you may be able to combine with it.

Longtime Owner Occupants Program (LOOP). If your assessment jumped 50% or more after the homestead exemption is applied, LOOP may provide a further discount. LOOP has income requirements and a September 30 application deadline each year.¹¹
Senior Citizen Real Estate Tax Freeze. Senior homeowners who meet age and income thresholds can lock their tax bill at its current amount and stop future increases.
Low-Income Real Estate Tax Freeze. Same idea as the senior freeze, but based on income rather than age. Both freezes have a September 30 deadline.¹²

Each has its own form and eligibility rules, but they all share the homestead’s basic requirement: you must own and occupy the property as your primary residence. If you qualify for the homestead exemption, it’s worth checking whether one of these applies too.

1
City of Philadelphia. Homestead Exemption Application
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City of Philadelphia. Get $100K Off Your Home’s Assessed Value With Homestead
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City of Philadelphia. Real Estate Tax
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City of Philadelphia. Get the Homestead Exemption
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American Legal Publishing. Philadelphia Code 19-1301.2 – Homestead Exclusion
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Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 53 – 8584
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City of Philadelphia. Philadelphia Homestead Exemption 2026 Application
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City of Philadelphia. Homestead Exemption Removal/Change Form
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City of Philadelphia. Property Assessment Appeal Documents and Forms
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1024.17 – Escrow Accounts
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City of Philadelphia. Longtime Owner Occupants Program (LOOP) Forms
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City of Philadelphia. Real Estate Tax Freezes