How to Find Property Tax Records

Property tax records are important because they are needed when people are trying to balance escrow accounts and are also used by lenders and home buyers when trying to estimate property tax ahead of a purchase. People can find property tax records at local county courthouses because the records are public information. Many counties in the U.S. also allow people to access public records, including tax records, online.

Instructions

1. Find out which county contains the property you are attempting to find out property tax information for. If you cannot find out by looking at the deed or asking the owner, go online and type the name of the town and the word "county." Browse through the search results and you should find the website for the county that contains the property.

2. Go to the county website and look in the country directory for "property appraiser," or "tax appraiser." If the directory does not have a section for either, then go to the public records search page. On the public record search page, choose "property tax" or "tax assessment" in document type field.

3. Enter the name of the owner of the property address into the property tax search. The search engine will bring up a description of the property and the amount of the current year's property tax. If you scroll down the page you can see the property tax for previous years. Print out the page.

Tips & Warnings

• If you cannot find a county website, you can begin your search at the website of NETR Online (www.netronline.com). It has a map of the U.S. and links to most local government public record directories. You first select the state on the map and then select the relevant country from the list of options.

• Many counties only have records online for the years since they established websites. If you require property tax for years prior to the online records, you must visit the county courthouse public records department in person and request the relevant information.

References

• Alachua County Property Appraiser: Property Search
• Tennessee Real Estate Assessment Data: Search

Resources

• NETRonline: Homepage