How to Calculate Home Property Taxes

You must pay local property taxes as a homeowner.

Property taxes are levied on land and buildings based on their value. They are typically levied by state and local governments, including school districts, as a major source of income. These taxes make up more than 30 percent of state and local revenues, according to the Money-Zine website. To calculate your home property taxes, you need to know the value of your home, the assessment rate and the tax rate.

Instructions

1. Check with your county appraiser to determine the value of your home.

2. Multiply your home's appraised value by the assessment rate for your area. For example, if your area uses an 80 percent assessment rate and your home is appraised at $290,000, you would multiply $290,000 by .80 to get $232,000. This is the taxable value of your home.

3. Add the property tax rates for all the property taxes your home is subject to. For example, if your county imposes a 0.8 percent tax and your school district imposes a 0.4 percent tax, your total tax rate would be 1.2 percent.

4. Multiply the taxable value of your home by your total tax rate to calculate your total home property tax. Finishing the example, you would multiply 0.012 by $232,000 to find your property tax bill would be $2,784.

References

• New York Office of Real Property Services: How the Property Tax Works
• Money-Zine: Property Taxes Explained