The Department of Insurance in the state has now issued a reminder to policyholders about the cut-off date.
Policyholders with homeowners insurance from are being reminded that there is a Citizens Property Insurance deadline that is now rapidly approaching by which an assessment rebate on policy must be claimed if they wish to take advantage of it.
The Louisiana Department of Insurance has sent out a reminder to make sure policyholders complete the necessary steps.
Jim Donelon, the commissioner in the state, has reminded homeowners insurance customers that the deadline for claiming this Citizens Assessment rebate is at the end of this year. This is for the assessment charged on the 2010 policies and the deadline is December 31. This reminder appears to be quite an important one, as there was still 52 percent of the total assessment collected for 2010 (over $50 million) that had not yet been claimed by the time this article was written.
The Citizens assessment is paid every year by homeowners insurance customers regardless of who provides their coverage.
The property insurance bill paid by all policyholders in Louisiana includes this assessment and, therefore, anyone who paid that amount in 2010 remains eligible for the rebate. That said, the chance for eligible people to actually claim their rebate is limited and the time is now rapidly running out. The opportunity expires after a period of four years, which means that when December 31, 2014 comes to an end, claims assessment rebates for 2010 will no longer be available.
Commissioner Donelon explained that “The allotted time to claim assessment rebates for 2006 through 2009 has already expired and along with it, nearly 55 percent of the available assessment rebate.” He also added that over the mentioned period of time, there was $255 million that had gone unclaimed. “I strongly encourage all property insurance policyholders in the state to take the time to claim what is owed to them.”
In order to be able to claim the Citizens homeowners insurance rebate, policyholders must complete a single page form either online or on paper. This is called the Louisiana Department of Revenue (LDR) R-540INS tax form, for residential property policyholders and it should be for the year during which the assessment was paid.
