TAXING Times in Indianapolis – Property Taxes, That is!

An email on Friday revealed the answer to the question many have been asking. When will the tax bills go out? Today the Indianapolis Star confirmed the property tax bills for Hendricks County will be mailed out this week.

The time bomb – they will receive two bills; the spring bill and the fall bill will go out at the same time and all of 2008 taxes will have to be paid by November of this year. Johnson County residents will face the same fate. Marion County has not yet posted when they will have taxes certified for 2008.

Hendricks County Spring Bill is due 9/18/2009 and the fall bill is due 11/20/2009. Johnson Counties’ due dates are 9/10/2009 and 11/10/2009.

My search statistics prove homeowners are concerned about the tax issues. Search queries over the past few weeks indicate it is a hot topic. 3 of the top 5 searches on my Indianapolis Real Estate Blog are:

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This is just for the last two weeks!

Other search queries in the last two weeks:

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Counties across Indiana are cash strapped with tax bills falling behind since the reassessment ordered in mid 2007; after all the bills do have to be paid and services provided.

Most homeowners are anticipating the news with trepidation. Now that they know they will have a full year of taxes due within the next three months, they have every right to be. I know – I know, the taxes had to be paid anyway, so we might as well get it over with. It’s not quite that easy for some people.

Since the tax fiasco started in July 2007, homeowners aren’t the only ones who can’t keep up with the status of taxes owed. Homeowners who have a mortgage generally have their taxes kept in reserve, to be paid when the bill is submitted to their lender. Trouble is, lenders don’t know that the C-bill that went out in 2008 was for 2006 and only a make up bill or the bill we paid in July was a reconciliation bill for 2007. They pay what is submitted and since they are only allowed to keep a certain percentage in reserve, they send the overage back to the homeowner. I wrote about this here a while back. My daughter received another credit for her taxes in June when the reconciliation bill went out.

Many homeowners have no clue exactly what the taxes are on their home or which year is currently due. They pay their mortgage and expect the money for taxes will be there when the tax bill comes in. If their mortgage company sent them a check for overages in their account and they didn’t stash it away for such a time as this, they will see a huge increase in their monthly payment.

So what happens to the payment of a homeowner who doesn’t have enough in reserves to pay a full years taxes in the next few months?