Accurate Tax Management

Vacant Contiguous Land Parcels

denise — Sat, 22 May 2010 21:08:22 +0000

This year House Enrolled Act 1324-2010 added a new section to IC 6-1.1-24-6.8 which permits a county to sell certain vacant parcels to contiguous parcel owners as part of the tax sale process. In order to be eligible there are a few criteria that must be met.

The vacant parcel must have:

1. A County lien that resulted from a prior tax sale

2. Be unimproved on the date the parcel is offered for sale.

3. Be legally eligible for construction of a residence.

4. On the date the vacant parcel is offered for sale, be contiguous to at least one parcel that has an occupied residential structure, or a structure used in conjunction with an occupied residential structure, and that is eligible for the homestead standard deduction.

In order to purchase a vacant parcel the owner of a contiguous parcel must file a written application with the County.

Benefits of purchasing the contiguous parcel:

1. At the time of the purchase all delinquent taxes, special assessments, penalties, and interest will be removed from the parcel.

2. A tax exemption will be granted for that parcel for 5 years, or until the first transfer of title to the parcel occurs after the purchase.

Advantage to the County? They no longer have abandoned vacant parcels to maintain.

Cost of a contiguous parcel – $1.00.

Tax Bills Are Due Today!

denise — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:15:54 +0000

The Department of Local Government and Finance (DGLF) have been working diligently with the Assessor’s offices for the past year to ensure that most Counties are back to “on time billing.”

This means that most taxpayers can count once again on their real estate tax bills being due on May 10th and November 10th.

For some of you that still means that you had three tax bills due this year, however the DGLF is keeping a watchful eye over the Counties to insure that they continue to submit the necessary data on time to maintain the two tax bill per year system.

For now it seems to be working. Stay tuned to see if they can maintain the status quo during, and after the mandated 2012 reassessment.

Super Bowl Opportunities for Commercial Real Estate

denise — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:06:21 +0000

Last month I attended the quarterly luncheon for IndyCREW. The speaker was Allison Melangton, the President and CEO of the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee.

While her updates on what is, and what will be happening around Indianapolis over the next couple of years were interesting, one thing that she mentioned really caught my attention.

The Super Bowl is not just a one day event. The events and parties will run about 10 days. Think about the possibilities of having thousands of people in our city for that length of time.

How does that relate to Commercial Real Estate? They have to have space for all of those events and parties. The current event space available isn’t even close to enough space to handle the number of events that will be taking place.

Allison said as the event gets closer they will be looking at ALL available vacant space around the city so they connect the event planners to them. Here is the link to the 2012 Super Bowl site http://www.our2012sb.com/

It may not be a long term lease, but who knows. Your space or your client’s space may be chosen for the 2012 Nike or Victoria Secret party. Not a bad claim to fame as you continue to market the property.

The Pink Paper!

denise — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:42:24 +0000

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the mysterious “pink paper” that was included in the tax bills recently mailed to taxpayers. To complicate it even further there also seems to be a rumor circulating that the forms needed to be filed by April 30th of this year, or homeowners would lose their Homestead Deduction.

Here are the facts around the “pink paper.”

1. The form has a name. It’s the Homestead Verification Form.

2. Home owners have until January 1, 2013 to file the form. If the form is not filed by then they will lose the deduction.

3. It is necessary to re-file for the deduction because there is a statewide database being created to help prevent fraud.

4. You can file the form at any time. If you did not get the form click on this link to find it. http://www.in.gov/dlgf/8455.htm.

5. If you do not have the Homestead Deduction right now – DO NOT WAIT. If you file the form by the end of the year it will affect your 2010 pay 2011 tax bill in a positive way.

Still have questions? Contact us and we’ll try to answer them for you.