All home owners pay property taxes to their respective area corporations or boards. These taxes are used in the maintenance of roads and to keep municipal services running. This includes law enforcement, public transport and waste management.
Here are some tax tips which all home owners will find useful.
1. Be Careful With Modifications
Make sure that you get in touch with your tax consultant before undertaking any structural changes in your home. Adding new modifications or fixtures will increase the value of your property but they will also increase your property tax bill.
2. Get your Property Tax Information
It’s always a good idea to have an official document or tax card showing all of your property tax details. You can get one from the office of your local board or area corporation. It usually has all the information of your assessed property and will tell you the size of your plot, floor area of your home, number of fixtures and even type of fixtures.
Any changes made in the original construction should also be mentioned in the document. If you find any errors in the information then be sure to get in touch with your property tax assessor. They will inspect your home and will make corrections in the official records.
3. Keep Things Simple
If an assessor has scheduled a visit at your home then remember to keep decorations and ornaments at a minimum. This is because less attractive home gets assessed at a lower value as compared to a more glammed up home.
Also try to avoid displaying shiny or expensive appliances in your home before or during the assessors visit.
4. Accompany Your Assessor
When the assessor comes around be sure to guide him/her and accompany him/her throughout the visit.
Don’t let the assessor wander the house unattended. Without guidance they might only focus on the high-end furniture or items which can lead them to make high value assessments of the property.
5. Research Neighboring Houses
A good way to find discrepancies in your property assessment is to do some research on your neighbors. What is their assessed value?
Suppose your home has four bedrooms and is assessed to have a value of $190,000. But you find out that your neighbor, who has a four bedroom house with a garage, has an assessed value of $180,000. You can bring this difference to your assessor’s attention who might then take steps to find out the reasons for this difference.
Any questions or concerns? The team at Syed A. Raza Professional Corporation is experienced in all tax matters related to your home or business property. Get in touch for a free consultation.