SLC County Property Taxes (sales, assessors, credit)

[4thesport]

Hello all!

I'm new to this state and am in the process of purchasing a home. I heard that if the home is your main residence then they only charge you 55% of the value. Is this true?

Are the property taxes based on the sale price of the home?

Thanks.

[RedDot]

Yes, there is a 45% deduction. But, it doesn't make much of a difference as the "rate" simply adjusts each year to generate enough revenue to fit the budget. So, either think of it as about .8% of the assessed value, or 1.45% of the 'after-deduction' assessed value (55%). The math works out the same.

Property taxes are not automatically based on sale price. They do review sales but, it can take a year for it to catch up. The house I bought when I came to UT last year had previously sold at the peak around late 2007. As the County had record of that sale, it had only reduced it a bit from that on their books and the owners I had bought from never questioned the amount and had been paying too much. I tried to appeal it last year and get it reduced to the sale price (which was about 40% less than the prior sale price). The County said no way, the deadline to appeal had passed. Coming from CA, where the taxes are automatically reassessed based on sale price, I had no idea I needed to practively appeal. Anyway, for 2010 I was out of luck and had to pay the high price. They had actually INCREASED the value from 2009, so, that the amount I had gotten credit from the seller wasn't enough to pay what I owed for that time under the new value. Meaning, I had to pay the tax on the higher assed value during the time I didn't even own the house. Since there was no way for me to go back to the seller 6 months later. The title company had based the closing statement off the 2009 roll.

Anyway, fast forward to 2011 and my house has now been properly revalued to reflect current market conditions and my 2011 taxes are 40% lower than they were last year. They did this automatically, and I didn't even have to do an appeal.

Hope this helps and best of luck on your pending move!
sdg

[BuckeyezRule]

^^ What RedDot said. FWIW, our property taxes are one of the few things in Utah, for us, from Ohio, that are way cheaper. =)

[skibarbie]

If you own a home in another state, you have to prove this is your MAIN residence. I am not to sure what that proof entails but the Assessors Office will have that information for you.
If it is a 2nd home,you will be paying tax on 100% of the assessed value...

[kwm03160]

You can check out the property taxes on a home by going to the Assessor's website with the address...

Assessor's Office, Salt Lake County, Utah