Frequently Asked Questions

It will depend on when you signed the application. Applications must be signed on or before July 1st of the assessment year that you are first claiming the credit. If it is signed after July 1st, the credit is applied to the next assessment year.

Please remember that property taxes due are 18 months behind the current assessment year. For example, the current property taxes payable in September 2013 and March 2014 are calculated on the 2012 assessment year and values. If you signed up after July 1, 2012, but on or before July 1, 2013, your credit will be applied to the 2013 assessments on which the taxes will be calculated for the September 2014 and March 2015 payments. If you signed up after July 1, 2013, your credit will be applied to the 2014 assessments, which will be used to for the September 2015 and March 2016 property taxes.

Homestead and military credits were at one time applied for every year. In the mid-1980s, this was changed to a one-time sign-up. However, you do still have to sign up if you move to another house, even if it is next door or across the street.

No, the Assessor raises or lowers the values of property according to the market value of real estate or in the case of agricultural land, according to productivity and CSR.

Assessments are set January 1st of each year, while the tax levies (tax rates) on these assessments are not set until July of the following year. (Example, the assessment notices from April 2013 were for the January 1, 2013 assessment. Tax levies for these values will be set in June of 2014 based on what the different taxing authorities budget in March and April 2014 for the next fiscal year of July 2014 - June 2015.)

The taxing authorities you pay property taxes to are listed at the bottom of your tax statement each year, along with their budget information and a breakdown of how much you are paying to each taxing body.

I would first recommend either looking at your property information on our Marion County Assessor website, or contacting our office, to see if we have everything listed correctly for your property. We will gladly provide a printout on your dwelling and/or buildings and explain how your value was determined. The Marion County Assessor's Beacon website is also a good place to find out how other comparable properties have sold.

If you still disagree with your value, there is an "Informal Agreement" period between April 2nd and April 25th. This process would involve a field appraiser coming out to look at your property to see if the value could possibly be adjusted so a formal protest with the Board of Review could be avoided. If an agreed upon value is reached, the Informal Agreement is signed by the aggrieved taxpayer and the value is changed for the current assessment year. This is merely an option; you may choose to go directly to the Board of Review with a timely filed, formal protest.

If no agreement can be made, or if you choose not to go this route, you may file a petition with the Marion County Board of Review. Petitions are available in the Assessor's Office or online at the county's web site or the Iowa Department of Revenue's web site. Petitions must be filed within the timeframe provided by the Code of Iowa. This is currently April 2nd to April 30th of any given year. The petitions are filed in the Assessor's Office.

The Board of Review will meet during the month of May.  You may decide to have an oral hearing before the Board, or only decide to file your petition and submit any information you think is relevant to your petition.  The Board will notify you by mail of their decision.

If you disagree with their decision, you may appeal within 20 days of the Board's adjournment, or May 31st, whichever is later.  This date is usually May 31st.  You may appeal to either the Property Assessment Appeal Board, or to Marion County District Court.

With the exception of agricultural land, real estate is assessed at current market value.  The current market value for assessments are established every odd-numbered year and based on actual sales from the previous year.  The Assessor's Office looks at all arms-length sales in the County, in a particular town, and of a certain building style to determine assessment for a number of properties at once.

An individual property may sell higher or lower than the assessed value for a number of reasons.  There may have been a change in the property since our office last inspected the property.  The change could have been something that would raise or lower the value.

These changes could include such things as a new garage or addition, a deck, new siding or windows, a garage or deck removed, or the overall condition of the dwelling has depreciated beyond what it would normally.  Sometimes, one may be willing to pay more for a specific feature in a particular property, or the seller may be willing to sell it for less to reduce their worries and maintenance costs.  There are also characteristics of a property which may affect the market value, but are not assessed, such as landscaping or personal property included in the sale.

Assessed values are to be at 100% fair market value. Your assessment should be near what you could expect to sell it for in the current market. As stated above, there could be a number of factors that would affect your sale price compared to your assessed value.

This was due to an Equalization order from the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDOR).  The order was for a 6% increase to all residential property, including dwellings on agricultural property.  This means that the Assessor's valuation in April of 2007 was 6% too low, according to the IDOR analysis.  There is a possibility of equalization orders every odd-numbered year.

Odd-numbered years are reassessment years, and possibly state equalization years, as established by the Code of Iowa.  This means that the Assessor's office reviews all sales of property and compares the sale price with the assessed value at the time of the sale.  This sales analysis is done at the start of the year.  Notices of the new assessment are mailed to property owners by April 1.

The Board of Review considers filed petitions during the month of May.  After the Board of Review is finished, the Assessor then compiles, and submits to the Iowa Department of Revenue, an abstract of assessment and reconciliation report.  This abstract report shows the valuation for the County by classification and location.  The reconciliation report shows the reason for overall changes in valuation from the previous year.  These include revaluation, new construction, building removal, change in classification, or annexation.

After receiving the valuation abstract and reconciliation report, the Department of Revenue performs their own sales analysis, determines the valuation for the year by adjusting the previous year's valuation report, and then compares their results to the current year's valuation report received from the County.  If the total value for each class is within +/- 5%, no equalization orders would be determined to be needed.  If the percentage difference is over or under 5% for a particular class of property, even if it's 5.1%, the Department of Revenue would issue an equalization order of 5%, or more, to the County for that class of property.

You are probably thinking of the Family Farm Tax Credit. This was required to be signed up every year by October 15th until 2001. If you signed up in 2001 or after, you do not have to sign again. However, if you have acquired more agricultural land after you last signed up, you will need to sign an application for the newly acquired land. Applications can be filed anytime. However, those filed after November 1st will be applied to the next year.

Iowa legislators have enacted statutes that determine how a property is classed and assessed. Current statutes state that a property is to be classed according to its current and primary use. A property’s location or zoning does not determine classification for assessment. Agricultural real estate includes woodland, wasteland, and pastureland, but only if held in conjunction with other agricultural real estate.

A house on x number of acres with the primary use of the property is to live there, will be classed as residential. This would include properties with an out building, which might have a horse or two, or a couple of cows, or mow a couple acres to sell hay bales. These uses would be incidental to the primary use of the property as a residence. Agricultural classification of small parcels is appropriate when they are the site of an intensive livestock use which demonstrates intended agricultural profit. Agricultural classification is also appropriate when they are adjacent to and operated as part of a larger farming operation.

This would differ from a house on 40 acres with 30 acres of cropland and 200 hogs. Even though the house is their primary residence, the primary use of the overall property is agricultural.

A building being used as a business will be classed as commercial, even though it may be in a residential area or zoned residential. Again, it depends on the primary use of the property.

If a property has a building being used as a repair shop business, and there isn’t a house, this will be classed as commercial. However, if they discontinue the business and use the property for personal storage or use, then it could be re-classed as residential.

A house would be classed as commercial if used primarily for business purposes, or has 3 or more apartments. However, if someone is using a room or two in the house for a business, i.e. beauty shop, insurance office, etc., and lives the rest of the house, this would be classed as residential.

The only time location and zoning may help determine classification is when there is a vacant lot, which isn’t owned by an adjoining or adjacent building owner.