If you own a home, there is a high chance that you are paying more in property taxes than you should be. So it makes sense that you would want to learn how to reduce such taxes, specifically your own.

The amount of property taxes you owe in the United States or Canada is supposed to depend on the market value of the property. In an ideal world, the value of a given property would be black and white, in other words, perfectly easy to pinpoint.

However, the reality is that there are many variables that affect a property’s true market value, and the appraisal process is fraught with potential for errors by property tax appraisers. Learning how to reduce estate taxes on your property is first a matter of identifying the mistakes that have been made and then challenging them.

Historically, there have always been a large number of homeowners who have fallen victim to these inaccurate appraisals. However, with the large-scale turmoil in the US and Canadian real estate markets of late, this disparity is even more apparent.

The bottom line is that if you are a property owner, you need to understand how to reduce real estate taxes on your property and keep tabs on this value year after year. (Unless, of course, you’re happy to donate additional tax dollars to your municipality each year.)

Once you suspect that your property is incorrectly appraised, the next step in reducing your property taxes is to determine what the current market value of your property really is. You then need to compare this to the appraised value on current records.

You can determine the market value of your property yourself by comparing the official appraisal values ​​of homes similar to yours, adjusting these appraisals for obvious differences that may affect value.

For example, if a house that is identical to yours in terms of style, age, living area, build quality, etc., is situated on lakefront property and yours adjoins a hog farm, you would expect it to be will be evaluated differently. You will need to adjust the value of your home relative to comparable homes accordingly.

If you know of a real estate broker who could help you, chances are they know of similar properties, including recent sales of properties similar to yours. This information can be used to support your case for a property tax abatement.

If you determine that your property is, in fact, assessed too high, you should present your findings to the local tax assessor (sometimes a board of assessors) at the town, city, or county taxing authority. It is always best to stick to the main point, ie you believe that there are other properties very similar to yours that are being evaluated much lower than your property.

Be professional and don’t let your emotions get the best of you. Simply present your findings and request that your property value be adjusted to reflect these findings.

Be sure to find out what the property tax schedule is for the taxing authority, to make sure you are filing your tax abatement request in a timely manner. Otherwise, even the best arguments will be useless, for the current fiscal year anyway. If you miss the deadline, you’ll want to make sure you file your application in time to challenge next year’s property tax assessment.

Learning how to reduce property taxes on your property is not difficult and can save you hundreds and even thousands of dollars in unnecessary tax overpayments each year.