Financial Investing

Every homeowner has a responsibility to pay property taxes. They are based upon the assessed value of your home, not its appraised value. Assessed and appraised values are two different things. The appraised value of your home represents the price you might get if you put your home up for sale in today’s market. The assessed value of your home represents its value as applicable to taxation.

Most states use mils to measure the property tax. A mil is equal to $1 for every $1000 when comparing a home’s assessed value to its appraised value. Therefore, if you own a house worth $100,000 and your property is taxed at 3.5 mils, you owe $3.50 for every $1000 of value in your home. By this equation, your property tax would be $350. Some mortgage lenders escrow for these taxes on a per month basis. If you are not escrowing yours through a lender, your local government will bill you quarterly for your assessed property tax.

There is a property tax relief available to veterans in most areas. Not all municipalities participate in this relief. You would have to contact your local municipality to determine if such relief is available for veterans where you reside.

Property tax relief can be obtained in many ways, such as exemptions, frozen assessment rates, abatement, refunds, or direct rebates on property tax. New York has several different types of property tax relief available for veterans. A veteran in South Carolina will get an exemption against the first $50,000 of their home’s assessment value. A disabled vet in Maryland receives total exemption from paying any property taxes.

So, if you are a veteran seeking relief on property taxes you should contact your state, your municipality and your local veteran’s group to find out if you might qualify for property tax relief on your home.

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