Property Tax Appeal

Real estate insurance and real estate property taxes are usually rolled into your monthly mortgage payment. Thus the amount you pay every month is affected by your property taxes. Your local county auditor will periodically make an assessment of your home’s value for tax purposes. That number will then be used to determine how much you owe each year in real estate taxes. The trouble for many people is that the auditor’s opinion of your home may be too high. Homes purchased from 2004 to 2008 during the real estate refinancing boom are extra susceptible to this problem since they may have declined significantly in value since purchase.

If your county’s real estate tax rate is 2.5%, and your home has been assessed for tax purposes to be $100,000.00 more than homes in your area have been recently selling for, then you are paying an extra $2,500.00 per year in taxes. There is a legal process for fixing this. You can file a complaint against valuation. There will then be a hearing where you can present evidence supporting a lower tax value for your home.

Those who hire a real estate appraiser and an attorney with some experience in these matters stand the best chance of getting a reduction.

Below is a listing of Ohio Counties with deadlines for filing a complaint concerning the tax valuation of real property as well as the form complaint for doing so. All complaints are current as of March 2011.

March 31 – Delaware County Property Tax Valuation Complaint Form

March 31 – Fairfield County Property Tax Valuation Complaint Form

March 31 – Franklin County Property Valuation Complaint Form

March 31 – Knox County Property Tax Valuation Complaint Form

March 31 – Hocking County Property Tax Valuation Complaint Form

March 31 – Licking County Property Tax Valuation Complaint Form

March 31 – Madison County Property Tax Valuation Complaint Form

March 31 – Perry County Property Tax Valuation Complaint Form

March 31 – Union County Board of Revision Complaint Against the Valuation of Real Property (DTE Form 1)

Central Ohio Attorneys working in the area of property tax valuation disputes:

Andrew J. Ruzicho II, Esq.
614-447-2365
118 Graceland Blvd. #307
Columbus, Oh 43214

Eric E. Willison, Esq.
614 580-4316
625 City Park Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43206