Tarrant County taxes but I live in Denton County? (Fort Worth: sale, real estate)

[pot_roast]

Title pretty much sums it up. I live in Denton County. I do not live in Tarrant County. My mortgage paperwork says that I will owe nearly $3,000 for Tarrant County taxes. I called Countrywide and they called the Denton County tax office and were told that it's for Tarrant County schools and hospitals.

But.. I don't live in Tarrant County. At all. Our kid goes to school in Denton County. We're already paying taxes here for the school district.

Am I going to wind up paying Denton County property taxes *AND* nearly $3,000 in Tarrant County taxes as well? My property taxes in Denton County are going to be several thousand dollars as it is.

[loves2read]

where is your house registered--can you find your address at Tarrant Appraisal District

there are some areas of Denton/Tarrant county that are contested by both--some people have been paying taxes to both entities for a while I think because there is on-going lawsuit about who actually owns what...
ask your neighbors who they pay
is this a new house for you--what did your mortgage/title policy say about taxes--it should be mentioned in there...
it is possible for a school district to be in both Denton and Tarrant County
but you should only pay for where your house specifically is located...

[pot_roast]

I'm registered in Denton County. I cannot find my address on the TAD website. They say that the appraisal district is now the county borders.
Yeah, it's a new house. I have to find that paperwork and look through it.. good idea!
It's for the Northwest ISD. Our address is in Justin, TX. (We're north of Hwy 114, west of Hwy 156)

Thanks!

[rcrdoeva]

I just checked online for you got my curiousity and there it was, one for Denton and Tarrant. I live in Tarrant and my bank is Chase. Now I am really curious about this for I live off of I-35W and heritage blvd. There is no way we are that close to Denton. I am calling tomorrow to find out what is going on!

[loves2read]

it is not so much that you are paying tax bills for two entities--but whether or not you're are paying MORE tax or double tax
if your tax bill should be 8000 and the county tax would be 4500 and you are paying 3000 to Tarrant and 1500 to Denton then that is separate but not overpaid
if county tax is 3000 and you are paying 3000 to Tarrant AND to Denton then you are obviously paying twice what you are supposed to...
you need to call someone with Tarrant county since your address is not listed in their web directory--that is Tarrant county's list of taxable entities---even if new streets are not found on Google maps they are listed in there as soon as the developer actually cuts the roads and does the minimal necessary to have a street address...

link to Denton does say that the TX legislature has moved all tax authorities to county lines
http://www.dentoncad.com/
for some developments like Avery Ranch the street addresses are there but not the 09 taxes nor the 08

www.tad.org is for Tarrant co
you can search by subsivision as well as specific address or by name

the problem could be that these are actually "back taxes" that originated when the land was under two taxing authorities maybe...
maybe the prior owner did not pay what was owed?
have no clue
did you have a real estate agent help you with your purchase or buy from builder/developer?
was this a new house with you are first real occupant or was it a re-sale house from prior owner?
those answers might have impact on this problem

[pot_roast]

It's a new house. We're the first owners and it was built in June of 2008. We bought it through the builder/developer themselves.

I'm going to call the Tarrant Cty people as well.

[loves2read]

what do you neighbors say
people should have gotten their tax statements--we have already paid ours...

I bet part of this is problem with the developer who probably passed along some of the 07 taxes
when did you close this house?

[NewTexans]

great info and help "loves2read!"

from my limited experience: also, sometimes the County Appraisal District may be a bit tardy in actually placing a "completed" or "brand new" home on the official tax rolls as a "completed house." this can be for any number of reasons:

sometimes the builder conveniently "forgets" to tell the County Tax Appraisers he's done building the house, and it gets carried as an "uncompleted" or worse yet "raw land" value on the rolls.

most of the time this is because the builder under some contractual clause must pay "current taxes."

Then, when it's "officially" found out the home has been "up and running" the Appraisal District might have gone back and re-assessed you for when the home was 100% completed. they now have no one to asses but you! builder is out of the picture at this point.

could just be a mistake or oversight. you'd be surprised!

as indicated, start looking thru all you paperwork:

sales agreement
listing agreement with realtor
disclosure statements
builder's contract

and go over it with a fine-tooth comb, looking for wording: "...and taxes will be paid by..."

also, call the Bank or Title Agency who 'closed" the deal. ask to talk to the "Closing Agent" and pick their brain. They are usually quite helpful.
find out how this happened.

get all your papers + ducks in order and start calling people!

all appraisals now are "actual county border lines" as loves2read said. Big difference!

[loves2read]

Personally I would not trust CountryWide to find out what the problem is--definitely talk to your neighbors--find your paperwork and take it to TAD--there may be an office closer than the courthouse downtown--the title policy for the house SHOULD have said about any back taxes that were owed but if the builder/developer used their own title company maybe all info was not presented accurately--do I sound critical and paranoid??? it used to be that people paid enough with their mortgage payments to cover their insurance and their taxes but mortgage companies just screwed that extra money up and sometimes found a use for it besides paying YOUR taxes and insurance--now law says you can pay all three on your own--mortgage, taxes, insurance...

we close on 3 yr old home in Hurst tomorrow (or today)...
the taxes for the 10 mo the sellers lived there--they gave back to us with reduction in what we are paying--and we pay the final two when we will own it...
they should have received their tax notice but did not pay because they knew they were selling and guess hoped they would close before december/january...I don't know how long it might take Tarrant Co to change title to our name and send us the bill
the sellers' evaluation has not changed since house was listed with TAD when they took out mortgage--they bought lot and contracted the build with local builder--house was never in his name
TAD now shows house at less than we bought the house for--we hope it does not go up due to the sale--
supposed the document to be filed with say "for $1 and other consideration)...TAD could check the MLS listing but that is only a list price--not selling --or even the real estate appraisal that we had done.

I think your builder pulled a fast one on you and the fact that he rolled his taxes over to you is in the wording of the legal bill of sale and they certainly did not point it out to you...
not trying to make you feel bad but did you have an attorney review those purchase/sale agreement? or title policy?
did YOU get an appraisal of the house from someone YOU hired before you completed the sale to make sure the house was worth what they were asking?

[TravisFranklin]

Property located west of 156 on HWY 114 is in Northwest ISD. When they say the appraisal district boundaries are set at the county lines, that is only for appraised value, has nothing to do with taxes or who collects them If you live in Tarrant County, but Northwest ISD (collected by Denton County) you will get a bill from Denton County for Northwest ISD and another bill from Tarrant County. School district and city boundaries still overlap county lines and usually have one collecting entity (which has nothing to do with the appraisal district at all).

The boundary dispute between Denton and Tarrant counties was resolved for 2007 taxes. This was an actual tract of land both counties claimed that stretched along HWY 114 between Westlake and Trophy Club. It was nowhere near Harriet Creek by NW High school. The city of Fort Worth annexed a lot of land around the Texas Motor Speedway, they may have nabbed Harriet Creek, but I don't think so.

If you have a Tarrant County tax bill, check the entities. If 2007 taxes are still due, you owe a chunk of change in penalty and should have heard from their attorney firm (Linebarger or Perdue Brandon) by now.

Property in Heritage Trace should not get a Denton County bill unless they are collecting for the little water district over there. Again, check the entities on the bill.

Regards
Travis - (Former tax assessor/collector)