Types of Property Taxes You Should Know About

Whether or not you own a property, real estate or otherwise, it pays to be well conversant with the various property taxes people pay. Other than increasing your knowledge, this information will be instrumental when you finally start to pay property taxes since the last thing you want is to run into problems with the authorities for defaulting, not because you didn’t want to pay, but because you didn’t know what to pay, how to pay and where to make the payments.

Presented below is a short preview of the different kinds of property taxes that property owners may be subjected to in the United States.

Personal property tax

These taxes are imposed on movable or temporary property such as office machinery, furnishing, vehicles, telephones and other items which an individual or a company uses to run their business. The tax is determined by the information given to the property assessor each year by the owner of the business. The assessor will schedule with the business owner so that he can be furnished with a comprehensive list of tangible personal property owned by the owner of the business. From this, the assessor will determine the value of the property upon which the tax will be calculated.

Real property tax

This is collected by the local authorities on an annual basis and different states have different time collection schedules. It is the responsibility of the property owner to ensure that they remit their property taxes in good time whether or not they have been issued with a notice to do so. A property appraiser will come when needed to assess the value of the property upon which the tax rates will be confirmed. If the owner of the property feels that they are paying a lot because the property may have been overvalued, they have a right to appeal the valuation so that they don’t pay a lot in the property taxes.

Public Utility Tax

You may also be entitled to pay public utility taxes. These taxes are based on the assessment done by a Division of the State Controller of the Treasury, though the specific body mandated with such evaluations may vary from ne state to another. The kinds of properties assessed for the purposes of public utility taxes include real estate within the state and all personal property used or leased by public utility, railroads, or transportation companies.