Ten Tips to Lower Your Property Taxes

Paying your property taxes is one of the must-do's for those who own a home. You can't get out of it, you can't put it off if you want to keep your house, and so you have to be able to pay for it. The property taxes come due every year, so you need to come up with options. This article will explore how to reduce your property tax payments, as well as give you an understanding of property taxes in general. Property taxes on any certain home are not hard to determine if you know where to find the information you need to make the calculation. First, you need to know the assessed value of your home according to the county/city in which you live. The home's value is only assessed every few years, so you would normally go by the most recent assessed value. Once you have the home's assessed value, you next need to determine the property tax rate, called the millage rate. If you live in Hagerstown, MD, you have a separate county property tax due each year as well as a city property tax. You would get the rates for each of these, and then multiply the rate times the assessed value. This would give you the annual property tax on your home. You can call the city and/or county tax office to find out the millage rates for your area. Here are some ways to lower your property taxes:

1. Get a property tax credit. You might be able to get a property tax credit for certain things such as being a senior citizen. Contact the local tax office to find out if you might qualify for any of these credits, which would save you money by saving you on your taxes.

2. Itemize deductions on your federal income taxes. If you itemize your deductions, you'll get a property tax credit for the amount you paid in property taxes during the tax year. This will lower the total amount you pay in property taxes overall.

3. Find out if there was a mistake made in your property assessment value. Mistakes are highly possible. For instance, the value of your home may have increased unfairly when the assessor put in that you have three bedrooms instead of two, or that your square footage of your home is 2500 square feet instead of 1500 square feet. You'd have to look at the details of the assessment to find out this information.

4. If you feel your property has declined in value, file an appeal. In general, you have sixty days to file an appeal after the annual assessment is mailed to you each year. In the appeal, you would have to prove that the value of your home was assessed too high. Find similar homes in your community and see what their values are. Otherwise, you'll have to find another way to prove your case. An error could be the cause of the overstated value.

5. If you fail at the appeal, you can file something in court to fight the assessed value of your home. You can hope that the tax board wants to settle, so makes an offer to you of a lesser value so they can save money in attorney fees.

6. Have your home appraised by an independent company, and then offer this to the tax board to show that the value has declined. You could ask for them to reassess the home's value based on this information. Maybe they'll even come back out and reassess the value themselves.

7. Show the local tax office that the value of homes in your area has declined significantly since the last time homes were assessed. If your area only assesses homes once every five years, your home's value could have decreased 20 to 50% since then. The tax office might be willing to work with you to reassess the value of your home. If they won't come to your home, take pictures to show them.

8. Show things that are wrong with your home. Chances are, the tax assessor didn't see the inside of your home or garage when making the decision on the value of your home. Invite them to come over and look inside, and they'll see that the basement isn't finished. Or, they'll see that your roof is leaking, or that you need new floors in half of the rooms in the house. This could lower the assessed value.

If you can't lower your property taxes directly, you can still mitigate the costs and spread out payments:

9. Spread out the payments. You can get on a monthly payment plan to help afford the costs. This way, you don't have to pay the amount up front all at once.

10. To mitigate the costs of property taxes, the government could cap the amount the property tax can increase each year. If it can only increase 3%, you'll pay less than if it can increase 5%. You could write your local congressman and take actions to help these laws get passed in your area.

To eliminate unnecessary charges on your property taxes, you''ll want to pay on time to avoid late fees for starters. Then, make sure there were no mistakes made in your property's assessment value.

Overall, if you want to lower your property taxes, first talk to the local tax office. Show them that the value of homes in your area has declined, and that the assessed value of your home is no longer valid. Show them proof that your home is not in as good of a condition as they thought, with picture proof. If you don't get results, offer to have the home reassessed at your own charge. Then, finally file an appeal, followed by taking the case to court.

You can help Congress act to mitigate property tax costs by enacting legislation that caps the amount property taxes can increase each year on a given property. Make a payment plan, and pay the payments on time. Get tax credits on your income taxes by itemizing deductions.

Your last line of defense in reducing property taxes is to see if you qualify for a tax credit. You can do this through your state government, by filling out an application to see if you meet the financial requirements to get a tax credit, such as one for financial hardship.