Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: New Hampshire’s deferral has no income test at all, just a 65-or-older age gate and five years of ownership, charges a flat 5% interest, and its lien is explicitly subordinate to any prior mortgage; the opposite of Maine’s or Wyoming’s senior-lien language.
What New Hampshire’s deferral requires, and what it does not test
RSA 72:38-a opens to homeowners 65 or older, or disabled under the federal Social Security disability standard, who have owned the homestead at least five consecutive years if claiming on age (one year if claiming on disability) and currently live there. The statute contains no income test at all; that describes a separate program, the elderly exemption under RSA 72:39-a/b, not this deferral. The only financial ceiling is on the deferral itself: total deferrals on a property cannot exceed 85% of its equity value.
A flat 5% rate, and a lien that is explicitly behind your mortgage
Deferred tax accrues at a flat 5% annual interest, set directly in the statute rather than tied to any other rate. New Hampshire is one of the few states in this family to answer the mortgage-priority question explicitly, and it answers it the opposite way from Maine or Wyoming: a tax deferral is subject to any prior liens on the property, and if the property carries a mortgage, the owner must get the mortgage holder’s approval before the town will grant the deferral at all; and that approval does not give the town’s lien any preferential position. The mortgage stays senior by design.
When it comes due, and how to apply
On the homeowner’s death, heirs have nine months from the date of death to redeem the deferred amount in full before the town pursues ordinary tax-collection remedies; on a sale or conveyance, the deferred tax and interest are due within nine months of that transfer. A permanent application is filed by March 1 following the annual tax notice, under penalty of perjury, and the assessing officials must record the deferral notice at the county registry of deeds within 30 days. Anyone relocating must amend the filing by December 1, and some municipalities still require an annual refiling.
New Hampshire’s broader senior property-tax picture, covering exemptions, freezes and circuit-breaker credits, not just the deferral: property tax breaks for seniors in New Hampshire.
How every state’s programme compares: property tax relief for seniors by state. What a deferral means in general, and who it catches out: the property-tax deferral lien trap.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature, revisor, or revenue agency this session. General information, not tax or legal advice; rates, caps and thresholds change most years and a county or state agency retains the final say on your own application.