Whether you own an online business or a real brick-and-mortar building, income taxes must be filed every year. It’s a real hassle for most business owners and must be done four times a year—not to mention that the IRS says it should “only” take people 52 days to figure their taxes. The best a business person can do is to save all year long for their tax responsibility.
A business owner should contact online services that do business tax filing; type “property tax filing” into Google and hit Search. Make sure to choose one that files business taxes, because not all tax filing services offer business services, and make certain that they’re able to e-file the tax return as well. E-filing is much faster and better than the old snail mail way and anyone getting a refund knows how quick e-filing is.
Find out the assessed value of the property and the building on it. This is the value estimated by the official tax assessor. Combine the estimated value of the land and building to figure the total estimated amount.
See previous years’ tax amounts and figure the difference between them for each year, then use that figure to calculate the tax rate. Local government offices usually have websites with information about estimates for property taxes and access to property tax rates. Contacting local tax authorities to find out what exemptions apply may be the best way to go, since these vary by location.
Figure out what property tax deductions the business qualifies for and then deduct that amount from the total value. Multiply this figure by the estimated property tax rate, and do this for each taxing district that applies.
The property tax amount calculated this way is an estimate and may be different than the amount the IRS calculates. Having figures ready helps a lot. Choose a tax preparer. Let a pro prepare the return, especially if there’s more than one business property.
