Older and Disabled Pennsylvanians Earning Up to $48,110 Have Until Dec. 31 to Apply for a Property Tax or Rent Rebate Starting at $380

Pennsylvania’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program is still taking applications for 2025 rebates, and the deadline is Dec. 31, 2026. The program is open to older and disabled residents with household income of $48,110 or less, and the standard rebate runs from $380 to $1,000. Homeowners and renters apply under the same income limit, according to the state Department of Revenue.

That is a lot of money left on the table for anyone who has not filed. The state has already sent out one big wave of payments, and it has said the application has to be redone every year.

Who qualifies for the Pennsylvania rebate?

The Department of Revenue lists three groups: Pennsylvanians 65 and older, widows and widowers 50 and older, and people with disabilities 18 and older. Each also has to fall at or under the income ceiling of $48,110 a year, and the program covers both homeowners and renters.

The Revenue Department’s program page lists a single income limit for everyone. It does not set a lower cap for renters or a higher one for homeowners. What differs is the paperwork. Homeowners send in receipted property tax bills for the year being claimed, while renters send a landlord rent certificate, known as the PA-1000 RC, according to the state’s how-to-apply page.

The income limit is higher than it was a year ago. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said in a June 30 announcement that the cap rose by more than $1,500 and is now tied to cost-of-living adjustments. The same announcement described the expansion as bipartisan and the first in nearly 20 years.

How much is the rebate, and is $380 really the floor?

For the standard rebate, yes. The Revenue Department’s table pays a maximum based on 2025 income, and the lowest tier is $380.

• $0 to $8,550 in income: up to $1,000
• $8,551 to $16,040: up to $770
• $16,041 to $19,240: up to $460
• $19,241 to $48,110: up to $380

Those are maximums for each income band, so a rebate can come in lower if the property tax or rent paid is small. A second layer sits on top for some households. Homeowners with income of $32,070 or less whose property taxes are more than 15% of their income, along with residents of Philadelphia, Scranton or Pittsburgh, can get a supplement of $190 to $500, according to the Revenue Department. That is calculated automatically and brings the top possible total to $1,500.

The top standard amount used to be lower. The maximum standard rebate rose to $1,000 from $650 in the expansion, the administration said, as WBNG also reported.

What has Pennsylvania already paid out this year?

The first wave of 2026 payments began July 1. Pennsylvania announced $226.4 million for nearly 376,000 people covering 2025 property taxes or rent, according to the governor’s office. Payments go by direct deposit when bank information was given on the application and by mailed check otherwise.

The year before, the expanded program delivered $315 million to more than 513,000 people, a 64% increase over the year before the expansion, according to the Revenue Department. Nearly 167,000 first-time filers have received a rebate since the changes took effect.

Those totals suggest a large share of eligible households are still catching up. Late filers are not shut out, because the filing window was extended to the last day of the year.

Revenue Secretary Pat Browne put the rule plainly in the June announcement: the program requires eligible Pennsylvanians to submit an application every year. A rebate received in July does not carry over, so anyone who got one for 2024 still has to file again for 2025.

How does an eligible household apply before Dec. 31?

The fastest route is online through myPATH, which the Revenue Department calls the fastest and most secure option. It is free, comes in English and Spanish, and gives instant confirmation, according to the June 30 announcement. A paper claim form can be mailed to the Department of Revenue, Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program, P.O. Box 280503, Harrisburg, PA 17128-0503. Applications postmarked by Dec. 31 will be accepted for processing.

First-time filers also have to include proof of age or permanent disability. In-person help is available at Revenue district offices, local Area Agencies on Aging, senior centers and state legislators’ offices, and the state recommends calling ahead for an appointment. A location search tool lists them, and applying is free. The program’s help line is 1-888-222-9190.

Anyone who already filed can check the status in the Where’s My Rebate tool, which asks for a Social Security number, the claim year and a date of birth. The Department of Revenue says it will never ask for bank account information over the phone, so a call that does is a scam.

The state’s normal timeline gives a sense of what to expect after filing. Receipt notification calls go out in April and approval calls in June, with payments starting July 1, according to the program page. An application filed in the fall of 2026 falls outside that calendar, so processing and payment for late filers may take longer than the July wave did.

For households near the top of the income range, the stakes are modest but real: $380 can cover a month of groceries or a winter fuel bill. Those who earn less could be owed as much as $1,000 or, with the supplement, more. New Jersey has a similar deadline story in its ANCHOR property tax relief program, and Colorado runs a comparable senior rebate.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Kumar Appaiah – CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons