Property Taxes Are Still a Concern in Indiana

Recently, I had a reader contact me asking questions pertaining to filing a property tax appeal.

I began to think that the question he asked may be question that other readers may have, but were afraid to ask.

His question was pertaining to how to obtain the parcel or key number if you live in other counties besides the ones highlighted in the video series below:

Property Tax Appeal Review (Video 1 of Section 1)

Indiana Property Tax Appeal (Part 2)

You can search for the parcel number and the basic information needed to fill out your appeal form by visiting http://beacon.schneidercorp.com.   On this site you will be able to find the parcel number for all 92 counties in Indiana.

The parcel number is an eighteen digit number it is used by all 92 counties.The parcel number itself is significant.  How, you ask?  The 18-digit State Key PIN is made up of the following parts: (2 digit County Code; 45 for Lake County) – (2 digit Township Number) – (2 digit Section Number) – (3 digit Quadrant Number) – (3 digit Parcel Number) . (3 digit Class Number; usually 000 for Noble County) – (3 digit Tax District Number).  For example, the following PIN, 45-08-28-202-029.000-004, is in: Calumet Twp (08), Section 28 (28), 202 Quadrant (202), parcel number 029 (029), class number of 000 (000), and Calumet township taxing district (004).Each county has a two digit number that represents that county.

I hope this helps you file your appeals.

What Is Assessed Value and How Does It Influence My Property Tax

Originally posted 2008-12-23 15:35:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

In Indiana, the property tax that is paid on a home, land, building, business machine, or product for sale is determined by the assessed value that the assessor assigns to the asset.  Once the assessed value is determined the amount of property taxes paid on that value is determined by the tax rate for the city in which the property is located.

The tax rate is a very important part of the equation because the tax rate is determined by the budget the town officials believe is needed to run the city.  Items that are needed to run a city vary, but most city rely on property taxes to provide the following items to the citizens of that city:

• police
• fire safety
• library
• school
• health care department
• trash pick up

Some cities have all of these items on the property taxes making the cost to run the city very high.

Now, that the basis of what is included in the property taxes have been discussed.  Let’s look at the changes due to re-assessment of property taxes in Indiana.  In December 1998,  the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the assessment value that was being used was unconstitutional, and the state needed to convert to market value.   Market value is thought to be more uniformed and fair.  It also satisfy the Supreme Court.   However, the change would cause an unfair change in property taxes adjustment to the homeowner.  The homeowner would see an increase of up to 33% and the business owner taxes would see a decrease of up to 18%.

In an effort, to reduce the burden that the reassessment was having on the homeowner, the Indiana General Assembly develop a bill to protect the homeowner.  The bill was to increase the sales tax to offset the property tax burden.  However, the bill did not solve the entire problem, and now the state is considering an uniformed flat rate of one percent of assessed value for homeowner, two percent of assessed value for landlord or investor, and three percent of assessed value for business owners.

Real Estate Investor Related Articles

Protecting Your Investments – This article discusses the business entities that are available that are available for investors to protect their personal assets when buying and holding properties.

Property Tax Related Articles

Indiana Property Tax Appeal (Part 2) -Filing a property tax appeal can be difficult.  This article gives links to the forms needed to file the appeal and a video tutorial on filling the forms out.

Related articles on property taxes

• Talk turns to tax hikes (theolympian.com)
• States and Towns Lean on Taxpayers (online.wsj.com)

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