Citizen Property Tax Guide

The assessor (or the Iowa Department of Revenue for centrally assessed property) determines the assessed value of each property. The assessed value is to be at actual or market value for most property. For more details on the assessment process, contact your local county or city assessor or the Iowa Department of Revenue. https://revenue.iowa.gov/local-government

If a property owner feels their assessed value is not a reflection of actual or market value, they have the right to appeal their assessed value to the local board of review. Taxpayers may contact their local assessor to obtain forms to appeal their assessment. Additionally, forms are available on the Iowa Department of Revenue website https://revenue.iowa.gov/local-government.

Property owners or aggrieved taxpayers may also contact their assessor and request an informal review of the assessment. If a property owner is dissatisfied with the decision of the local board of review, they may appeal to the Property Assessment Appeal Board, or district court. 

Contact your local assessor for questions on your property value.

There are a few programs available to property owners which can reduce their property tax, either by providing a reduction in the value that is able to be taxed or by providing a credit on the amount of property taxes owed. For example, there is a military exemption provided for certain members or former members of the military and there are ag land, family farm and homestead credits. Consult your most recent tax statement to determine if you currently receive such exemption or credit or contact your local assessor for questions on available credits or exemptions.

Tax rate is presented as dollars and cents per thousand dollars of taxable property valuation. 

Once your actual value of property is determined, depending on the class of property there may be an assessment limitation applied to the value to determine what percentage of that value is taxable.

  Taxable Valuation/1000       x   Tax Rate = Property Tax Dollars (Levy)

Property taxes in Iowa go to a variety of local governments. School districts, city governments and county governments make up about 90% of the property tax asking statewide.

Your property taxes could go up if your property value increases. 

Your property taxes could go up if your property value stays the same but the assessment limitation calculation results in a greater percentage of your property value being taxable.

Your property taxes could go up if your overall tax rate increases.

Your neighbor’s property could have a lower value than yours. 

Your neighbor could be in a different taxing district (meaning they are paying taxes to different local governments than you). For example, your neighbor across the street could be in a different school district. Or they could be within a city, and you could be in the rural area and paying township taxes instead of city taxes.

Tax rates are determined by the elected body of the local government. Therefore, concerns with property tax rates and uses can be directed to the local governments where you reside or do business. All local governments are required to hold at least one public hearing prior to adopting their budget and tax rate for the next fiscal year.

Local governments which levy property taxes adopt their budgets by April 30 for the following fiscal year.