The state legislature passed the Taxpayer Relief Act in June of 2006. The law applies only to school districts (not counties, townships, or boroughs). Key features of the law include: Requiring a public referendum to raise taxes beyond an annual limit Expansion of the Senior Citizens Property Tax and Rent Rebate program Specifying the formula
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A common question among tax collectors is whether they are required to submit payment detail with their monthly reports. The short answer is “probably not.” As always, the devil is in the details. But the manual says I have to?!?! When I was borough secretary, I would receive “Right-to-Know” requests from data collection companies quoting
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The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) produces a Tax Collector Manual for PA tax collectors. As of this writing, the manual is available from their website at the following URL: https://dced.pa.gov/download/tax-collectors-manual/. Unfortunately, the state website’s URLs are constantly changing. The above link could go dead at any time. For that reason, I’m
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Pennsylvania offers a program to reduce property taxes on one’s primary residence. It is known as the Homestead Property Exclusion. Chapter 85 (Assessments of Persons and Property) of Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) of the Pennsylvania Code details the program. Refer to Subchapter F (Homestead Property Exclusion) within the PDF below for more information.
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You can’t save every record forever. But you can’t just get rid of stuff you don’t want whenever you feel like it. To maintain your sanity, you should follow Pennsylvania’s record disposition schedule. And to stay out of legal trouble, you also need to follow the proper steps before destroying any records.
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What is a millage rate? A millage rate is the amount per $1,000 of assessed value that taxing districts use to calculate local property taxes. For example, a home assessed at $100,000 in a district which levies a 5 mil real estate tax will owe $500 in taxes: Millage Rate vs a Simple
Many taxpayers assume that their home’s assessed value should match its current market value. However, this is rarely the case. Instead, the county assessment office determines assessed values as of a “base year.”
The State Tax Equalization Board (STEB) and the Tax Equalization Division (TED) calculate the Common Level Ratio (CLR) annually for each county. The Board reviews recent property sales to facilitate apples-to-apples comparisons of assessed values across the commonwealth.
If you recently purchased a home in Pennsylvania and its assessed value was changed as a result of the sale, you are likely the victim of a spot reassessment. Spot reassessments are illegal in Pennsylvania.
This is the 6th and final part of the Tax Claim Life Cycle series. Following the Judicial Sale, any remaining properties are moved to the Repository List. For a property to reach this point, it likely has very little value. The goal is for the taxing districts to cut their losses and try to get