Delaware County, Indiana

Property taxes represent a property owner's portion of the local government's spending in a given year. Property taxes in Indiana are paid in arrears, meaning the taxes paid in the current year represent the taxes owed for the previous year. Taxes in Indiana are due annually in two installments - May 10 and November 10.

 

A property's assessed value is the basis for property taxes. Annually local assessing officials assess the value of real property on March 1 based on "market value in use" (the value of a property based on its actual use). County officials add all of the assessed values of property in a county together and subtract the applicable deductions to determine the county's net assessed value. The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance sets the total amount of money government units in a county can spend in a year based on projected revenues for the county. This total allowed expenditure is divided by the net assessed value to determine the tax rate. Most simply, this can be explained as:

 

 

The net tax rate is multiplied by the assessed value after all deductions are subtracted from each property. The county auditor then applies the state homestead credit and property tax replacement credit to arrive at the amount the property owner will pay in taxes to the county.

 

Property owners can estimate the property taxes for new construction by adding the cost of the land and improvements together and multiplying by the tax rate.

 

Property taxes in Indiana are administered at the local level with oversight by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. More than 99 percent of the revenue generated by property taxes remains in the community in which they are collected.