Comments (0)

Property Tax Myth

Time spent protesting your property taxes can be very profitable to you. In fact, the average property tax savings for homeowners is 0. However, the uncertainty of how the process works and what results are achievable intimidates many into not attempting to protest their property taxes.

The following steps will provide you insight into the appeal process and put you on your way to a successful appeal:

Either send a written notice of appeal to the ARB for the county in which your home is located or utilize the comptroller’s form. The deadline to file an appeal is May 31st.

Request a House Bill 201 packet. The packet is available at a nominal cost and will include information regarding both market value and unequal appraisal and the appraisal district’s information regarding size, condition and other qualitative and quantitative data for your property. Requesting this packet limits what information the appraisal district can present at the hearing.

Review the appraisal district’s description of your home and confirm that all the information is accurate. If the appraisal district overstates either the quality or quantity of improvements to your property, this is an excellent means to reduce your property taxes for the current years and subsequent years.

By protesting on unequal appraisal, you are claiming the appraisal district assessed your home for more than your neighbor’s home. To present this protest, research around 10 comparable properties that are similar in regard to the quality and quantity of improvements within your neighborhood.

Prepare your own unequal appraisal analysis based on researching assessment comparables on the appraisal district’s website or by written request. Select assessment comparables and summarize the data in a table.

If you feel your property’s assessed value is too high, it’s your right to file a formal protest. You can protest your property value yourself following the guidelines above, or hire a professional consultant to handle your protest for you. Either way, there’s no reason to pay more property taxes than is required by law.

Don’t pay more than your fair share of property taxes. Let O’Connor & Associates reduce your California property tax. Oconnor & Associates can represent you at the Florida property tax .

Comments (0)

Information On Singapore Property Tax

A Singapore Property tax is a tax levied on properties in Singapore. This includes all types of properties such as HDB flats, factories, offices and vacant land. If you or your business owns property, you are liable to pay property tax.

The amount of property tax you have to pay per year is a percentage of the Annual Value of the property which you own. The Annual Value is the estimated yearly rent the property can fetch if it were rented out. The tax rate for owner-occupied residential property is 4% per year. The tax rate for all other properties is 10%.

Property taxes must be paid by 31st January each year. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) will compute the annual tax you need to pay and send you the bill in December. Instructions on how to pay property tax are also included in your bill.

Rebates, Relief, Refunds
In order to help keep taxes affordable, encourage certain types of land development and meet business needs, the Government gives out rebates, reliefs and refunds to property owners. For example, if your property has been continuously vacant for at least 30 days or 1 calendar month because of repairs or the inability to find a tenant, you can claim for a refund of property tax for that period.

Property Tax Exemptions
A building is only exempt from property tax if it is used exclusively:

· as a public place of worship

· as a public school

· for charitable purposes

· for purposes that promote the social development of Singapore

Comments (0)

Understanding Property Taxes in your Real Estate Market

Property tax increases are a popular method used by municipal and county governments to raise revenue, but they can also have a big impact on the local real estate market. For example, a slight tax increase may drive demand for local homes down, a shift many might characterize as “negative.” But a clear understanding of local market conditions can help real estate professionals, buyers, and sellers take advantage of any new tax scenario and get the most for their property investment.

In most cases property taxes are levied as a percentage of a home’s value, or an acceptable representation of the home’s value. Governments generally assess homes at 100 per cent or less of their estimated market value in an attempt to keep taxes affordable. By this method, local real estate trends are kept at arm’s length, and property owners don’t have to worry as much if a neighboring home sells for million. Property taxes often generate the majority of a city or county’s annual operating budget for hospitals, school systems, waterworks, parks, libraries, police, and other expenses.

Cities and counties can use a variety of taxation strategies beyond an outright increase to control revenue, stem urban sprawl, or change the local real estate market. One of the more common strategies for this is land value taxation, which separates the value of a property from its improvement value, applying a gradually lower tax rate as more improvements are made to a property. Using this tax rule, developers can make significant improvements to a property, like building an apartment complex, while still being able to afford the taxes. This method is commonly used to make high density housing more economically feasible in downtown areas. Current-use valuation is another familiar property tax control, whereby properties are valued only according to their current use, and not potential uses – this is often used to protect large undeveloped areas like farms from urban sprawl.

Some property taxes are also limited to a certain cross section of homes, or homes above a certain market value, in order to protect affordable real estate. One example of this was seen in summer 2007 in Ulster County, New York, where a proposed real estate transfer tax was only meant to apply to homes above the median sale value for the area. Values here were destined to shift as buyers searched out properties below the median price range.

Every property tax change is a new marketing opportunity for real estate professionals and their clients. The trick is knowing what to expect from different tax strategies, and how long those effects will last.

Ontario’s current property taxation system requires the value of each taxed home to be assessed. Allegations that the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation has made unfair or erroneous evaluations of the values of homes recently led the Ontario government to freeze property values until after the general election of 2007. In 2006, Ontario PC MPP Tim Hudak proposed a 5% cap on the annual increase in the deemed value of homes. PC leader John Tory has made it clear that the 5% cap is to be a major plank in his party’s 2007 election platform. In this first of a two-part episode of FPTV, Freedom Party of Ontario leader Paul McKeever examines Hudak’s proposal, and explains how it would cause problems without addressing the fundamental problems associated with property taxation.
Video Rating: 4 / 5