Rhode Island Homestead Exemption: Amount, Filing & Savings
Rhode Island has no single statewide homestead exemption from property tax. Its statewide “Homestead estate exemption,” R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-26-4.1, automatically shields up to $500,000 of a principal residence from creditors, subject to the exceptions the statute lists. Property-tax homestead exemptions are adopted city by city and claimed through the local assessor.
The state itself runs one tax-relief program, the Property Tax Relief credit on Form RI-1040H, and it is limited to people 65 or older or receiving Social Security disability. Senior, veteran and disability exemptions in chapter 44-3 exist too, with amounts that vary by city or town. For rates and assessment, see the Rhode Island property tax guide.
The property-tax homestead exemption is a city or town decision
The state’s tax-classification statute, § 44-5-11.8, lets “any city or town” adopt a classification plan by ordinance once it completes a revaluation or update, and says of the residential class: “A homestead exemption provision is also authorized within this class.” In place of the exemption, a municipality may “divide this class into non-owner and owner-occupied property and adopt separate tax rates.” Section 44-5-11.15 lets a city or town already authorized to enact a homestead exemption extend it, by ordinance, “to any owner occupied premises in that city or town.”
On top of that, chapter 44-5 carries sections written for one municipality each. Sections titled as a homestead exemption exist for Glocester (§ 44-5-11.13), North Providence (§ 44-5-60), Johnston (§ 44-5-60.1), Cranston (§ 44-5-62), East Greenwich (§ 44-5-65), East Providence (§ 44-5-70), Woonsocket (§ 44-5-75), Newport (§ 44-5-78), West Greenwich (§ 44-5-80), Cumberland (§ 44-5-82), Narragansett (§ 44-5-85), South Kingstown (§ 44-5-89), Charlestown (§ 44-5-90) and, since April 2026, Little Compton (§ 44-5-79.1). A section authorizes a council to act; the exemption actually on your bill is whatever the current local ordinance sets.
Three examples, three different designs
- Cranston, § 44-5-62. The city council may “annually fix the amount, if any,” of the exemption, “not to exceed thirty percent (30%) of the assessed value.” It covers property “used exclusively for residential purposes, and improved with a dwelling containing less than five (5) units,” or mixed residential and commercial property, where the percentage is prorated by residential square footage. The council sets eligibility rules “by resolution or ordinance” and may prorate the exemption when title passes to a buyer who is entitled to it.
- Providence, § 44-5-11.18. A homestead exemption is authorized within Classes 1A (one dwelling unit) and 1B (two to five units), and “in lieu of a homestead exemption” the city may split those classes into owner-occupied and non-owner property with separate rates. The city tax assessor’s page links owners to an “Owner Occupied Certification” at assessor.providenceri.gov.
- Little Compton, § 44-5-79.1 (P.L. 2026, ch. 11, enacted April 10, 2026). The first-year exemption is “ten percent (10%) of the mean assessed value of all taxable real properties in the town”; later, the financial town meeting may set it between 5% and 15%. Owners who live in the home and are registered to vote in town “shall automatically qualify” without an application. Other resident owners apply on the assessor’s forms with a Rhode Island driver’s license or other official ID and a utility bill. Under (d) a resident may also apply for a second dwelling in town, and under (e) a home leased for at least twelve months to a full-time resident can qualify “so long as the rental payments remain at the same amount” when the next twelve-month lease starts.
None of the sections quoted above prints an application date. Get the form, the document list and the deadline from the assessor of the city or town where the house sits.
RI-1040H: the state credit for owners 65+ or on Social Security disability
Chapter 44-33, the Property Tax Relief act, exists “to provide relief, through a system of tax credits and refunds … to elderly and/or disabled persons who own or rent their homes.” A claimant must be 65 or older and/or disabled, which § 44-33-3 defines as “receiving a social security disability benefit,” and domiciled in Rhode Island “for the entire calendar year.” Only one claimant per household per year can be paid.
For tax year 2025 (the Division of Taxation‘s 2025 Form RI-1040H, revised 09/2025), total household income had to be “$40,730.00 or less,” and “the maximum amount of credit allowable … for calendar year 2025 is $700.00.” The credit is the property tax you paid minus a share of household income: 3%, 4%, 5% or 6% depending on the income band and household size. If it exceeds your income tax, the rest is refunded under § 44-33-5. Homeowners attach a copy of the 2025 property tax bill, and you must be current on property taxes for 2025 “and all prior years.”
The 2025 claim was due April 15, 2026. The form states that an extension for the RI-1040 “does NOT extend the time to file Form RI-1040H,” and § 44-33-6 bars any claim not “actually filed with and in the possession of the division of taxation on or before April 15” of the year after the taxes accrued. The only relief valve is § 44-33-18: “In case of sickness, absence, or other disability, or if, in his or her judgment, good cause exists,” the tax administrator may extend the time by up to six months. A claim covers one year’s taxes, so a new form is filed every year.
Your 2026 property taxes go on the 2026 form, due April 15, 2027. Its income limit and maximum credit are not the 2025 figures: § 44-33-9 adjusts both each year by CPI-U, rounds up to the nearest $5, and says neither may fall below the prior year.
Chapter 44-3: veteran, Gold Star, over-65 and disability exemptions
Section 44-3-4 sets a veterans’ exemption “except in” a long list of named towns that have their own amounts or ordinances, and § 44-3-5 covers Gold Star parents. Section 44-3-13 and several town-specific sections numbered after it (for example § 44-3-13.1 West Warwick, § 44-3-13.2 Cumberland, § 44-3-13.6 Jamestown and § 44-3-13.9 North Kingstown) authorize over-65 exemptions town by town. Section 44-3-15 lets a council “provide by ordinance” a freeze of the tax rate and valuation for a head of household who is “one hundred percent (100%) disabled and unable to work as of the date of the disability.” Section 44-3-16(a) lets a council “provide, by ordinance,” a freeze of the tax rate and valuation on an owner-occupied single or two-family home for a person 65 or older, or totally and permanently disabled regardless of age, whose income from all sources does not exceed $4,000 a year, with higher ceilings written in for Johnston and Cranston. West Warwick, Exeter, Coventry and Bristol are left out of subsection (a), but each has its own program in a later subsection of § 44-3-16. Under § 44-3-16(a) the owner must give the assessors evidence of eligibility on or before the last day for filing sworn statements for the year claimed; that evidence stands as long as the owner’s legal residence is unchanged. P.L. 2026, ch. 271, enacted June 26, 2026, changed Cranston’s over-65 exemption in § 44-3-13(c) so that it is “calculated as a tax credit not to exceed five hundred forty-eight dollars and fifty-one cents ($548.51) per annum,” adjusted every three years after a revaluation, with any increase capped at the CPI. Ask your assessor which of these your town has adopted and what it pays this year.
The $500,000 creditor shield in § 9-26-4.1
This part is about debt, not tax. Section 9-26-4.1 creates an estate of homestead “to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000)” in land and buildings, or personal property, used as a residence. An owner qualifies, and so does a person who “rightfully possesses the premises by lease, as a life tenant, as a beneficiary of a revocable or irrevocable trust or otherwise,” if he or she occupies or intends to occupy the home as a principal residence. It is “automatic by operation of law,” with no declaration, deed statement or other document, and “it shall not be necessary to record a declaration of homestead.” The text in force was last amended by P.L. 2016, ch. 515.
The estate is exempt from attachment, levy and sale for debts, except in these seven cases, quoted in full:
- “Sale for taxes, sewer liens, water liens, lighting district assessments, and fire district assessments;”
- “For a debt contracted prior to the acquisition of the estate of homestead;”
- “For a debt contracted for the purchase of the home;”
- “Upon an order issued by the family court to enforce its judgment that a spouse pay a certain amount weekly or otherwise for the support of a spouse or minor children;”
- “Where a building or buildings are situated on land not owned by the owner of a homestead estate are attached, levied upon or sold for the ground rent of the lot upon which the building or buildings are situated;”
- “For a debt due to, or a lien in favor of, the department of human services and/or the state of Rhode Island for reimbursement of medical assistance, as provided for in § 40-8-15;”
- “For a debt heretofore or hereafter owing to a federally insured deposit-taking institution or a person regulated or licensed under title 19.”
Subsection (b) adds that the section does not apply to “any debt owing to a regulated institution, a debt secured by a mortgage or other voluntary lien on a home, or a mechanics’ lien” under chapter 28 of title 34. Only one individual may acquire the estate in a home “for the benefit of his or her family,” and a family gets it on only one principal residence. A mortgage signed by all the owners of the home at the time it was executed outranks the homestead; one signed by fewer than all outranks only the signers’ homestead and that of their non-titled spouses and minor children.
Frequently Asked Questions
I bought a house in Cranston mid-year. Do I get the homestead exemption for this tax year?
That is Cranston’s call: § 44-5-62(b) lets the city council prorate the exemption when title passes from someone not entitled to it to someone who is. Whether it does, and by what date you must apply, is in the city’s ordinance and rules; other towns answer this under their own sections.
Do I have to record anything to protect my equity from creditors?
No. Section 9-26-4.1 makes the $500,000 homestead automatic and says a declaration of homestead need not be recorded. It still does not stop the seven listed debts, a mortgage or other voluntary lien, a debt to a regulated institution, or a mechanics’ lien.
I turn 65 in 2026. When can I claim the RI-1040H credit?
On the 2026 form, due April 15, 2027, which covers 2026 taxes. The age test is taken at year-end: the 2025 form asked whether you were 65 or disabled “as of December 31, 2025.” You also need full-year Rhode Island domicile and household income at or below the 2026 limit.
My house is held in a living trust. Is it still protected?
For creditor purposes, yes: § 9-26-4.1 names “a beneficiary of a revocable or irrevocable trust” who occupies the home as a principal residence. For a town’s tax exemption, the ordinance of that city or town decides who counts as an owner.