A tax lien is now on your property
Split Payments: first half due next week
New Property Tax Exemption
How to lower your property taxes
MyMoney.gov review: useful index
Harris County Property Taxes
Dallas County Property Taxes
Tax Bills Are Heading Your Way
Tarrant County Property Taxes
Homestead Exemption Changes
3 reasons to get a property tax loan
The local services you provide through your property tax
ALL property is taxable…except when it isn’t
Dissatisfied with the ARB’s decision? You have options.
How to Calculate your Property Taxes
Protesting Property Taxes, Step 3: The Hearing
Protesting Property Taxes, Step 2: Prepare for Your Hearing
Protesting Property Taxes, Step 1: File a Notice of Protest
Exemptions
Happy New Year!
Today is the date a tax lien attaches to your property until your taxes are paid. This lien means that, if you don’t pay your taxes, the courts can foreclose and seize your property.
A tax lien is serious business. To get rid of the lien, pay your taxes.
Are you having difficulty paying your property taxes this year? Consider a property tax loan to pay off the lien and avoid fees and extra charges from the taxing authorities.
If you decide to split your property tax payments, November 30 is the last day to pay the first half.
When you split your payments, you get to pay half of the taxes by November 30 and the other half by June 30 of the following year, without any penalty.
The no-penalty aspect is the best part, followed closely by the fact that you’re not facing an enormous lump sum all at once on January 31. The drawback, however, is that you’re paying half of the taxes two months before the January 31 deadline. If you’re strapped for cash, that isn’t always an option.
Contact your tax collection office to see if the split payment option is available for you. They’ll be able to walk through the steps specific to your local area.
If you will have trouble paying your property taxes for 2011 and splitting payments isn’t an ideal option for you, consider getting a property tax loan to ease the burden.
On Tuesday, more than half a million Texas voters chose to grant tax exemption to surviving spouses of disabled veterans.
Proposition 1 transfers the homestead property tax exemption of a totally disabled veterans to their surviving spouse after the veteran’s death. Prior to this, the exemption was lost when the veteran died, essentially giving the surviving spouse a sudden property tax bill along with the funeral costs.
In recognition of the sacrifice of veterans and their spouses, the proposition to give tax exemptions to surviving spouses passed with 83% support.
Property taxes: we all have to pay them. But there is never a need to pay excessive taxes. These two options will ensure you do not pay beyond your share in property taxes: homestead exemptions and protesting your home’s value.
Be sure you’ve claimed your homestead exemption. Claim it once, and it’s yours for the rest of the time you live in that house or your status does not change. Also look at the other available exemptions to see if you qualify.
Look your property up. Run an internet search on “[Your county] property tax search.” The result will likely be a .gov site or have the intials “CAD” in the name, like hcad.org, for Harris County. The site you find should have an option to search through properties in your county, and the results will tell you if you’ve claimed the homestead exemption.
You have until one year after the delinquency date for taxes on your home. File the application for homestead exemption now.
Every citizen has a right to equal and uniform taxation. The craziness in the economy combined with the fact that properties are not appraised every single year makes it likely that your property might be overvalued.
If you think your property is taxed above its value, look at our series on protesting property taxes.
MyMoney.gov is a useful index of articles from 22 different federal entities, in an effort to teach the public about important financial topics, including home ownership.
There’s not much information on this federal site about property taxes, since that is a local tax, but there is plenty of information that will be useful to you as a property owner. Some of the more interesting topics include:
In and of itself, mymoney.gov doesn’t have articles of its own, but it is a useful resource for finding financial information relevant to you on other pages. The Life Events tab at the top lists resources by various events, like home ownership, retirement, and natural disasters. The My Resources tab lists resources by attributes like youth, women, military, and non-profits. The Tools tab takes you to a list of links to tools you might find useful, like calculators (like life expectancy and debt payoff calculators), budgeting worksheets, and checklists.
Harris County has collected its property tax information on a single website, hcad.org. This website is well organized to help you with your property taxes in Harris County. The Resources tab is probably the best place to start browsing. It lists links within its own website to important pages, like information about protests before the ARB, the tax calendar for Harris County, and homeowners exemptions.
Also of interest on the site:
Is your property in Dallas County? The county’s websites provide a wealth of information that you may find useful. The official Dallas County Website, for everyone in Dallas county, covers:
The Dallas Central Appraisal District website has even more information, devoted to property taxes:
Will you be able to pay your bill?
If, like most people, there’s financial insecurity in your home or business, there’s no need to default on your property taxes and suffer the drastic penalties. Consider a property tax loan to cover your complete property tax obligations, including interest and fees.
Is your property in Tarrant County? The county’s two websites–Tarrant Appraisal District and Tarrant County–provide a wealth of information that you may find useful:
You can pay your Tarrant County property taxes online. However, there is a convenience fee charged by credit card companies.
Search for your property tax account. You can see your current property tax statement, pay your taxes online, and see the tax history for your property. My home, for example, started with $2,700 in property taxes and peaked in 2008 with $4,200 in property taxes.
The Tax Estimator Calculator lets you see how your Tarrant county property taxes would change if the value of your house changed, if your exemptions changed, or if you lived in a different city or school district.Payment options. All taxpayers in Tarrant county can choose to play half their taxes before December 1 and the other half by July 1. This is a good option if you are unable to pay the balance by January 31 but do not wish to get a property tax loan.
See the protest process for Tarrant County. While we have a general overview of the protest process on FYPLLC.com, each county has its specific processes.
Tarrant County tax rates for each taxing entity (cities, towns, school districts, college, hospital, and water districts).
When you apply for a homestead exemption, you now must submit documented evidence that you live in your home, namely: a copy of your driver’s license and vehicle registration receipt.
There are alternatives to each. If you don’t have a driver’s license, a state-issued personal identification certificate will do. If you don’t own a vehicle, you can submit a copy of a utility bill in your name for the property.
This new legislation is an effort to prevent illegal exemptions, which increase the tax burden on everyone else.
You will not get a homestead exemption if you do not submit the correct documentation.
If you already have a homestead application, nothing changes for you.
