6 tips to lower your property taxes

Taxes in Summit County are based on an eighteen month period beginning two years prior to the evaluation time, which is every two years. It is possible, if property values have gone up considerably, for people to end up with a large increase in their taxes. You are notified of your valuation before you actually get your tax bill. The time to protest is when you get the valuation, even though you may not know how much your taxes will be at that time.

Here are a few tips:

1. Contact a Realtor or go to the county website http://co.summit.co.us to find similar property sales in your neighborhood. Be sure you are using the same time period the county is using.
2. Build a house on your lot! Vacant land is assessed at a much higher rate than improved property. You will be surprised at how little your taxes go up when you build the home on the land.
3. Verify what the county has for size and the number of bedrooms and baths. It has been my experience that the county records are often incorrect.
4. If you miss the protest time period, protest anyway. They don’t have to reevaluate, but they often do.
5. When you get a pink form to fill out from the county asking about furniture and furnishings, fill it out and send it back. The form is used to determine what they will charge you for personal property tax. The tax is only charged on property that is rented, either short term or long term. If you do not rent the property, fill the form out and tell them so and be sure to send it back. If they don’t get the form they will assume the property is rented and tax you on the furniture.
6. This tip only works if you are over 65 and the property is your primary residence, but you can use it to start planning! According to information sent out by the Summit County Assessors office, in 2000 the voters amended the Colorado Constitution and created a property tax exemption for two groups of people: a) qualifying seniors, and b) the surviving spouses of seniors who previously qualified. The three basic requirements are: 1)the qualifying senior must be at least 65 years old on January 1 of the year in which he/she qualifies; 2) the qualifying senior must be the owner of record, and must have been the owner of record for at least ten consecutive years prior to January 1; 3) the qualifying senior must occupy the property as his/her primary residence, and must have done so for at least ten consecutive years prior to January 1.For those who qualify, 50 percent of the first $200,000 of actual value of the property is exempted. The state will pay the exempeted property tax. The exemption is effective January 1, 2002, and the exemption affects property taxes billed in 2003. If you own multiple residences, only one can be designated as your primary residence. For questions contact Denise Steiskal, the Summit County Assessor at assessor@co.summit.co.us.