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Want A Thriving Business? Avoid Income Tax Consultants!

Property taxes really are a substantial expense for Texas homeowners, averaging about $3,600 annually. To reduce this expense, house owners should annually review and consider appealing property taxes. While there is no guarantee that an appeal is going to be successful, a recently available survey conducted by O'Connor & Associates indicates that 70% of property tax appeals are successful.

Since the mortgage lender typically disperses payments, property taxes usually are a stealth tax. Although the homeowner writes a check mark, including taxes and insurance monthly, the exact property tax component is not evident. The property tax component can be quite evident if the homeowner is inspired to fund a deficit inside the escrow account.

Although 70% of property tax appeals are successful, only 7% of house owners appeal each year. Research indicates five primary reasons homeowners don't appeal:

1 The process seems overwhelming and they don't know the best way to appeal,

2 They usually do not think an appeal will probably be successful,

3 They think their home's assessed value is below market value and there is no basis for appealing,

4 They don't understand they can appeal on unequal appraisal,

5 They are busy and don't want to schedule time, in the presumption that "you can't fight city hall".

Why appeal?

Consider an appeal for the $150,000 house where the house taxes are reduced by 5%. This would reduce the assessed value by $7,500 and the property taxes by $225, based on a 3% tax rate. Since the typical appeal hearing takes under one hour, they are meaningful savings to the time involved. Regularly appealing your property taxes will minimize the worthiness, which means you are assessed for below much of your neighbors. Most of the home tax appeals are resolved with the informal hearing, which may be the 1st step inside process.

How to appeal

The first step to appealing annually is usually to send a written notice on the appraisal review board (ARB) for that county through which your property is located. Even in the event you have not received a notice of assessed value from the appraisal district, file a notice of appeal by May 31st for that following reasons:

1 The notice of assessed value could get lost within the mail,

2 A notice of assessed value just isn't necessary unless your assessed value increases by $1,000, and

3 You should appeal annually

You can file a notice of appeal by utilizing the Comptroller's form sold at or by sending instructions on the ARB. The letter for the ARB simply must identify the house being appealed and the grounds for your appeal. You should always appeal on both monatary amount and unequal appraisal. Since the appraisal district staff is extremely busy during late May and early June, sending any data on the worthiness of your home tax is most likely a waste of time. At the same time you signal your notice of appeal for the ARB, send a "House Bill 201" request on the chief appraiser in the appraisal district. The House Bill 201 request will offer you a level of information in a modest price.

Reasons for obtaining House Bill 201 information

Since most householders are not familiar with House Bill 201, you may be wondering what it's and when it became available. House Bill 201 may be the expression used by property tax consultants to explain provision 41.461 with the Texas Property Tax Code. This section reads as follows:

at least 14 days before hearing with a protest, the main appraiser shall: ? inform the exact property owner the owner or agent of the owner may inspect and could get yourself a copy in the data, schedules, formulas, and all sorts of more information the primary appraiser offers to introduce in the hearing to create any matter at issue.

The property tax code further provides the main appraiser the right to charge up to $15 per residence, or more to $25 for every commercial homeowner for this information. However, you'll find limits on the cost per page an appraisal district can charge. Practically speaking, the maximum charge is $1 to $2 for the residence. In Harris County, most owners can print these records in the appraisal district's web page once an appeal has become filed with all the "I file" system.

This section with the tax code was added 1991, but some appraisal districts have experimented with ignore this of the exact property tax code for many years plus some still do. After discussing this of the Texas Property Tax Code with a radio show in 2005, several listeners called back a week or two later to report certain appraisal districts were claiming being unaware of this section. When O'Connor & Associates sent House Bill 201 requests to appraisal districts in 2005, some called us and said "what can you mean you would like our information, we want to use your information on the hearing to prove our value." While these examples seem quaint and cute, it can be surprising that fifteen years after taxpayer friendly legislation has been passed, that appraisal districts remain ignoring homeowners and tax consultants who ask because of this information.

There are in least seven reasons to utilize House Bill 201 to discover the information the appraisal district make use of at the hearing:

1 It is a great method to obtain information regarding both monatary amount and unequal appraisal for your property tax appeal,

2 You get the appraisal district's information regarding the size and style, condition as well as other qualitative and quantitative data for the house,

3 The information can be obtained for the nominal cost,

4 It works to be aware what information your adversary will probably be able to use on the hearing,

5 Making the request limits what information the appraisal district can present with the hearing. If you usually do not request their information prior for the hearing, they can use any information open to them with the hearing. However, if you request the appraisal district information by using a House Bill 201 request, they might don't use anything but information previously made available to you,

6 If they do not offer you info on rate or unequal appraisal within the House Bill 201 request, won by you by default at the ARB hearing, and

7 In many cases, the appraisal district House Bill 201 information clearly supports less value.

Preparing for that hearing

When you receive the appraisal district House Bill 201 information, start by reviewing the appraisal district's description in your home and get yourself these questions:

1 Is 4 seasons built accurate?

2 Are the qualities and amenities accurate?

If the appraisal district overstates either the number or quality of improvements to your home, this is an excellent ways to reduce your home taxes both for the current year and subsequent years.

Filing a 2525c Appeal

If the appraisal district has overstated the dimensions of the house by more than 5% to 10%, even should you didn't file a property tax appeal in prior years, you should think about filing a 2525c appeal. This will permit you to reduce the assessed worth of your home for your current year as well as for prior years.