Do I have to answer these questions? ...the tax man cometh

You can work with them, or you can have them guess the answers. It is their paycheck they are guessing at........

Your call, but you toss that then you don't have a leg to stand on if your tax assessment comes back high. You had your chance, & you ignored it.

I would say buying from family would relate to you getting a deal on the property, so they would more heavily look at comparable property in the neighborhood that was sold on open market to highest bidder. Whatever you paid is a 'secret, family' deal, and not true market vale then.....

I was handed the same thing a couple months ago when I bought some property, was going to ask the lawyer what the heck for, but looking at it for 2 minutes it was pretty easy to figure out the angle of each question, looking to see if you got a below-market deal or not.

Didn't seem all that complicated to me, took 5 minutes to fill out & in my case all the answers truthfully should (well it's govt so there is no truethful logic at times....) keep my prop taxes lower.

Sure not in my interest to toss it away. Think that would be pretty foolish.

To each their own.

--->Paul

Fordy I am with you. The Gov is to big for it's britches and is simply stealing our money faster than we can make it. A large reducing of Government would do most of us some good.

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"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards"

To determine if you "own" something use the following test: if you can pack it and move it with you then you "own" it, otherwise you merely hold title to it.

With real estate you hold title to a specific piece of ground. This title grants MOSTLY exclusive use of said ground, subject to zoning, covenants, and other restrictions.

Here is a little known thing about "family sales", if you sell a property to a family member and finance the sale then on the IRS form 6252 the sale to a "related party" must be disclosed as the tax rules are different. I have no doubt the tax rules in the OP's state are no different for tax assement, hence the related question.

.............Any disclosure on Form 6252 , is to help the IRS determine , IF , the sales price was at or close too Fair market value !! This is to determine the Amount of Federal Income tax Owed , It has absolutely nothing to do with property taxes as far as the IRS is concerned , although the local taxing authority will gladly peruse your personal tax return should you wish to show IT to them . Nowhere in ANY of the 50 states is anyONE compelled to show their Personal(Federal) Income tax Return to Any state official regarding Property tax issues . Issues involving State Income tax matters are a different matter altogether as state tax returns utilize a lot of the same information and state and federal computers are tied together . , fordy...

Play nice! They really just only want the correct info. The info they get is from the title company after the close of sale.

When I bought my property, there was an old park model trailer on the property. Wheels off. The county wanted to assess me for it (yearly!) as a permanent fixture, so I licensed it for the road as it was much cheaper that way. I have since let the "vehicle" license lapse.

Fortunately, serious tax lawyers and economists have developed alternative proposals for true tax reform. Constructive reform means:

* Increasing fairness by taxing all people at the same low maximum rate while ensuring low-income people, through tax credits or a tax rebate, pay little or no tax.
* Making sure income is only taxed once so people are not taxed again on their productive savings and investment, a serious impediment to economic growth.
* And greatly simplifying the tax code by either not requiring reporting or making it so simple and straightforward it can be reported on a postcard. Two alternative serious proposals, with substantial political constituencies, meet those criteria: the "flat tax" and the national sales tax, better known as the "Fair Tax."

Americans for fair taxation
There are ways.

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Here's another way to lower your propterty tax.

Look at the description of your property. This where the metes and bounds are. Is it accurate? I have filed deeds that had the wrong property description on them. Yes, people pay a lawyer good money for him to NOT rewrite the description when property splits. So, the deed says you own a parcel of land that is 300" x 600'. But, because the property split ten years ago, you actually own a parcel that is 300' x 200'. Your property description is giving you your neighbors property, and their descriptions include your property. If the assessor fails to draw the property lines on a map, he will incorrectly assess a piece of property that is much larger than you actually own. I found that these descrepencies passed through the system (after the high paid lawyer was sloppy) depending on who was doing the assessing at the time the deeds were registered.

Nobody is going to take care of your interests as well as you will.

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Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales

I would send it in saying that you felt you overpaid and want your taxes lowered.

A good rule of thumb... never PO the tax collector. They could reassess and your tax would skyrocket. I wouldn't mail it back, I'd take it in person and talk nicely to them. Before showing them the letter, ask for a copy of the assessment. It should tell you how much the property sold for in the past, and tell you when the tax was last assessed. Gather the info & compare it to your purchase price. You might even get the tax lowered.