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Published March 22, 2022
How Will Price Increases Affect Property Taxes?
Home prices are on the rise. Will that affect your property taxes?
We recently spoke with a client who had just filed for their homestead exemption. If you did not know, once you are 65 years old or older; and have been a South Carolina resident for at least a year, you can apply for the exemption. This property tax exemption allows you to take $50,000 off your home’s assessed value. However, helping our client figure out if he would be able to qualify for the Homestead Exemption led us to a conversation about how the increasing home prices will impact his property taxes. People want to know..."Will my taxes go up?"
In short, yes, you can expect property taxes to increase across the board at the next reassessment. Here are some things to keep in mind when it comes to property taxes:
In South Carolina, property taxes are paid in arrears. Property taxes notices for real property (real estate) are usually mailed in October and due no later than January 15th. This tax bill is for the year that just ended. For example, your 2022 tax notice for your home will be mailed in October 2022 and due no later than January 15th of 2023.
“Remember that you can challenge the tax reassessment on your home.”
South Carolina does a reassessment every five years. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule: 1) if the property was sold, or 2) if you’ve made major improvements to your home. Either of these two circumstances will trigger a reassessment of the property at the current fair market value. In the case of a property being sold, the new property tax assessment will be set at the sales price. Also, the 5 year reassessments are not concluded in the same year within the state, so homes in Greenville County will not be reassessed at the same year as in Spartanburg, for example. This staggered approach may mean that shifts in the market may impact a particular county's reassessment value differently than the neighboring county. However, it does tend to balance out in the end.
Property taxes are lower in South Carolina. Part of the reason so many people are moving to our area is our low property tax rates. Each county has a slightly different rate; however, the average for all of South Carolina is 0.55% while the national average is 1.07%. Within our coverage area, Greenville's property tax rate is at 0.69%, Spartanburg is at 0.64%, Anderson is at 0.57%, Pickens is at 0.47%, and Oconee is at 0.45%.
So what happens if you get your tax bill and find that it has increased by quite a bit? Well, first of all, South Carolina law prohibits a property tax assessment value from increasing more than 15% within the 5 year reassessment period. This does not apply to the sale of a home, remember that the tax assessed value will be reset the year following the sale at the closed purchase price...unless the price goes down (that's not happening in this market). Also, each county has an appeals process which enables a property owner to challenge the reassessment. If you have any questions about your property taxes or feel like your property taxes have spiked and are too high, give us a call or send us an email. We will help you determine if you have enough information to make a case with the county and hopefully get your taxes lowered.
