Property tax
- By Jack Landry
- Published 04/12/2010
- Auditing
- Unrated
Property tax
A little known fact about property tax is that most people who protest the assessment on their property tax bill receive $500 to $1000 in tax savings yearly. However, many people do not apply for this discount because they do not understand how the property tax works.
The most basic idea of the property tax is that it is calculated by multiplying the homeowner's assessment by the local property tax rate. Then, subtract any tax deductions that the homeowner is eligible for from that value.
Professional tax assessors can review your property tax statement and catch any errors that may be present. They understand how difficult taxes can be for a person who does not work with the tax systems every day.
They also understand how difficult it is for an average person with a problem to make a complaint and be listened to. There is paperwork for crunching numbers, but there is no paper work for making a stand.
In order to make a stand about the mistake in your tax assessment, you need to start the same way everything else starts. You need to do the proper research to understand the property tax system and to know how to fill out the paperwork stating your complaint.
The best places to start learning about the property tax assessment are to obtain a homeowner's property record card from the assessor's office and several quotes on comparable home sales. These are the top two pieces of evidence needed to state a claim.
For the most part, people with these two pieces of information succeed in making their complaint get heard at the local tax assessor's office without having to take their complaint to higher authorities.
When evaluation your property tax assessment there are many mistakes that you should be aware of and look for. The first mistake to look for is a clerical error of mistyped house dimensions or land dimensions.
The second mistake you can look for is the lack of depreciation on adverse-onsite conditions, no depreciation at all, or minimal depreciation on a very old home. Be sure to check all mathematical processes for errors.
If you do not understand the math, find someone you can trust to help you check the results. It is very common in math related problems to make a miscalculation.
Fourth, look for missing depreciation values for off-site variables that affect your home. These things may include such things as factories and landfill producing toxic fumes.
Fifth, review the improvement made to your home. Make sure that they have not placed a macadam driveway in place of your stone driveway, or an inexpensive bathtub instead of an expensive name brand bathtub.
These things can make a huge difference in your property tax assessments. If you are still working on improving certain areas of your home make sure that they have incorrectly listed finished when those things are still being worked on.
Then, make sure that the proper age of your home is listed correctly. Lastly, check to make sure that the correct number of stories is listed for your home.
There are two different types of mistakes made on assessments. The first mistake is called an unequal assessment.
An unequal assessment is an assessment that establishes your property and home at a higher proportion of the market value than equivalent properties and homes. The second type of mistake is called a low assessment.
Many times homeowners believe they are paying a lower assessment ratio than they should have been assessed for because they succeed in getting a high sale price. However, if your assessment is low, it is likely that many other assessments are low as well.
As a result, the assessment is not any lower, and you may be getting the bad end of the deal. There is a lot of money to be saved on property taxes if one of these simple mistakes is caught.
The most basic idea of the property tax is that it is calculated by multiplying the homeowner's assessment by the local property tax rate. Then, subtract any tax deductions that the homeowner is eligible for from that value.
Professional tax assessors can review your property tax statement and catch any errors that may be present. They understand how difficult taxes can be for a person who does not work with the tax systems every day.
They also understand how difficult it is for an average person with a problem to make a complaint and be listened to. There is paperwork for crunching numbers, but there is no paper work for making a stand.
In order to make a stand about the mistake in your tax assessment, you need to start the same way everything else starts. You need to do the proper research to understand the property tax system and to know how to fill out the paperwork stating your complaint.
The best places to start learning about the property tax assessment are to obtain a homeowner's property record card from the assessor's office and several quotes on comparable home sales. These are the top two pieces of evidence needed to state a claim.
For the most part, people with these two pieces of information succeed in making their complaint get heard at the local tax assessor's office without having to take their complaint to higher authorities.
When evaluation your property tax assessment there are many mistakes that you should be aware of and look for. The first mistake to look for is a clerical error of mistyped house dimensions or land dimensions.
The second mistake you can look for is the lack of depreciation on adverse-onsite conditions, no depreciation at all, or minimal depreciation on a very old home. Be sure to check all mathematical processes for errors.
If you do not understand the math, find someone you can trust to help you check the results. It is very common in math related problems to make a miscalculation.
Fourth, look for missing depreciation values for off-site variables that affect your home. These things may include such things as factories and landfill producing toxic fumes.
Fifth, review the improvement made to your home. Make sure that they have not placed a macadam driveway in place of your stone driveway, or an inexpensive bathtub instead of an expensive name brand bathtub.
These things can make a huge difference in your property tax assessments. If you are still working on improving certain areas of your home make sure that they have incorrectly listed finished when those things are still being worked on.
Then, make sure that the proper age of your home is listed correctly. Lastly, check to make sure that the correct number of stories is listed for your home.
There are two different types of mistakes made on assessments. The first mistake is called an unequal assessment.
An unequal assessment is an assessment that establishes your property and home at a higher proportion of the market value than equivalent properties and homes. The second type of mistake is called a low assessment.
Many times homeowners believe they are paying a lower assessment ratio than they should have been assessed for because they succeed in getting a high sale price. However, if your assessment is low, it is likely that many other assessments are low as well.
As a result, the assessment is not any lower, and you may be getting the bad end of the deal. There is a lot of money to be saved on property taxes if one of these simple mistakes is caught.
Jack Landry
Jack R. Landry has worked since 1988 as a tax attorney. He has written hundreds of articles about finding a Bakersfield tax attorney. Contact Info: Jack R. Landry JackRLandry@gmail.com http://www.TaxCrisisInstitute.com
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