How To Lower Your Property Taxes

About 25% of America's cities have tax rates higher than 2% (the highest rate is 4% in Newark, New Jersey.)  This means that over 25-50 years, these people pay the same amount in property taxes that they paid for their house!

To lower your property taxes, consider the following options:

• Find out what property tax breaks are available in your area: there could be tax breaks for veterans, seniors, low-income families, the disabled, long-time residents, owner-occupied homes, and so forth.  The assessor's office would have this type of information.
  
  
• When you file your federal tax return, don't forget to deduct your property tax expenses for houses, cars and boats.
  
  
• Move someplace where property taxes are lower.  You can use the Lifestyle Optimizer and City Reports at Homefair.com to check property tax rates in almost any city.
  
  
• When you receive a notice from the assessor that your property taxes have risen, and if you think their assessment is wrong, protest it within 30 days.  The assessor's notices may be deceptive, because local governments often juggle some numbers to try to minimize protests.  Often they do this by assessing your home at a low value (to make you think your home is under-assessed), and then they charge a high tax rate on assessments.  The only sure way to determine whether you are being overtaxed is to compare your assessment to other property assessments and actual home sales in your neighborhood.

Here's a quick-and-dirty guide to appealing your property tax assessment:

	How To Lower Your Property Taxes   Time to complete:   5-8 hours of research and paperwork Money you'll spend:   A filing fee for your application to review your assessment, perhaps $25 What you'll get:   You may save thousands, if you play your cards right. Step-by-step instructions:  Survey your property.  Find out the legal identification of your lot and the dimensions of your land (you may have a land survey in your records.)  Then use a tape measure to measure the outside dimensions of your house.  Note whether the second story is smaller (assessors sometimes mistakenly list them as the same.) Search the neighborhood for homes similar to your own home.  Look for homes that are similar in age, size, architecture and condition to your own.  A real estate agent who knows your neighborhood will often be able to help you look up records of comparable homes. Visit the tax assessor's office to see your property record card, something the assessor uses to estimate a home's actual value.  Note anything that's wrong, and try to remember things about your home that would decrease its value.  Check to see whether the assessor added it up correctly. Review the record cards for houses you think are comparable.  Note which houses are assessed less than yours. If you think you can show that an assessment is incorrect, meet with the assessor to ask for a correction.  If that doesn't work, ask for the paperwork and guidance you'll need to file a formal appeal.  Further Reading: Read this article on Tax-Saving Tips for Homeowners if you want to learn about some more ideas. Tax And Accounting Sites Directory, listing a large number of online tax sites. Tax Magazines to help you save on taxes, 90-day risk-free trials available. Save a Fortune on Your Homeowners Property Tax!, which gives step-by-step instructions to pocket huge savings after successfully challenging your property tax bill.

More pages in this section:
	1. Less withholding
	2. Lump deductions
	3. Misc expenses
	4. Free tax program
	5. Education breaks
	6. Sales taxes
You are here...	7. Property taxes
(...	8. Family loopholes
	9. Retirement plan
	10. Estate taxes
	11. Personal Taxes Links
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