Vermont will stop taking Renter Credit claims after Oct. 15, and the state says it will not make exceptions. The Department of Taxes puts it flatly on its Renter Credit page: “we do not accept late filings.” With Oct. 15 falling on a Thursday, renters who have not filed have a few days left.
Who can claim the Renter Credit
The credit is for people who rent their home in Vermont. According to the department’s instructions for Form RCC-146, a renter must have been a Vermont resident for all of calendar year 2025, must not have been claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return, and must have rented in Vermont for at least six months of 2025. A claim cannot be filed for someone who has died.
The amount depends on income and on rent. The department’s page says the credit is figured from household income and 10 percent of the federal fair market rent for the county and family size. The department works out the amount from the filed claim.
The landlord’s part
One rule trips up renters who file late in the year. A landlord has to send the state a Landlord Certificate, Form LRC-140, for the claim to count. The department’s landlord page says landlords file that certificate every year by Jan. 31 and that tenants “cannot file for Renter’s Credit” unless the certificate has been submitted.
Renters no longer have to collect a copy themselves. The instructions say “you are no longer required to obtain a landlord certificate from your landlord to apply,” but the landlord must file one “for your application to be honored.” Tenants do not need a copy of the certificate, the landlord page adds. A renter who is unsure whether a landlord filed can ask the department at 802-828-2865 or [email protected].
For a renter on Social Security, a pension or a small paycheck, the question now is whether a claim for 2025 has been sent and what the filing needs.
Vermont’s Oct. 15 cutoff for the Renter Credit is final, and a claim that misses it is not accepted. The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit explains the circuit-breaker credit that includes renters and includes an application log and renewal calendar.
Get the renter-credit guide and filing log in the Relief Kit →
What to have ready
The state asks renters to e-file at myVTax for quicker processing. The form needs a few items. One is the School Property Account Number, called a SPAN, for the rental unit. A renter can look it up or ask the landlord for it. Another is the 2025 federal return, or, for people who did not file one, the income forms they received, such as a W-2, a 1099 or an SSA-1099, which is the statement Social Security sends each January. The form also asks for the number of personal exemptions and for a signature and date.
The instructions say only income that would belong on a federal return counts for someone who did not file one. A renter whose only income is Social Security should read the form’s instructions on which lines apply before leaving anything blank.
Homeowners have a longer window
The Oct. 15 date also matters to Vermont homeowners, but it works differently for them. On its property tax credit page, the department says a homeowner who files the Homestead Declaration by the extended Oct. 15 due date “may still file a Property Tax Credit Claim as late as March 15 of the following year.”
That extra time comes with a cost. A filer using it pays a processing fee of $150, which is deducted from the credit. The page says that after Oct. 15, any property tax credit “will be sent directly to the homeowner and not to the town.”
The same page sets the top amounts. The credit can be as much as $5,600 against the state education property tax and $2,400 against the municipal tax. A table on the page lists a household income cap of $115,400 for tax year 2025. These figures are for homeowners, not renters, and the renter credit has no March 15 extension.
What a missed deadline costs
Renters who miss the date lose the credit for that year, since the state does not take late claims. The Renter Credit page lists an April 15 due date in its table, and Oct. 15, 2026, as the final date a claim is accepted. A renter who filed a return in the spring and skipped the credit still has until Oct. 15.
Anyone who is not sure where their claim stands can check with the Department of Taxes before Thursday. The Department’s Taxpayer Assistance Window is at 133 State Street in Montpelier.
Filing the Renter Credit before Oct. 15
The fastest route is the state’s own site. The RCC-146 instructions walk through each line, and myVTax takes the e-filed claim. Starting with the SPAN is the best first move, since it is the item renters most often have to track down from a landlord or a lease.
It helps to set out the 2025 income papers on one table before sitting down: the federal return if one was filed, or the W-2, 1099 and SSA-1099 forms if not.
After filing, a printout or screenshot of the confirmation is worth keeping. If the department sends a letter asking for more information, a reply that arrives quickly keeps the claim moving. The department’s Renter Credit page is the place to confirm the date before sending anything.
One Thursday ends Vermont’s Renter Credit for 2025
A renter who waits past Oct. 15 loses a credit the state cannot reopen. The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit covers the circuit-breaker credit that includes renters and gives an application log and renewal calendar, so the next filing date is on the page before it passes. The kit runs 64 pages.
Track every renter and property-tax filing date with the Relief Kit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
