People facing foreclosure because they have not paid their 2006 property taxes may be eligible for an extension of the payment deadline due hardship reasons, says Kay Sisung, Monroe County treasurer.

Many factors are taken into consideration, but a few general guidelines include:

• The property must be the homestead of the person seeking the hardship.
• The total household income should not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty income level.

Whether the property owner is receiving the Principal Residence Exemption on property taxes and whether the property owner is eligible for, and has received, a property tax credit from the State of Michigan (MI1040-CR) also will be taken into account.

Many agencies also may be able to offer one-time assistance. Property owners who think they might qualify for a hardship extension may contact the Ms. Sisung at (734) 240-7365 for appointments to review their cases.

An extension only will postpone the payment of the tax for up to one year, but it still will be due and interest will continue to accrue.

The Conservative Caucus of Monroe County will host a presentation by the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, “How to Appeal Your Property Tax Asssessment,” from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday March 3 at Triumph Academy, 3000 Vivivan Rd., Frenchtown Township.

The speaker is Rose Bogaert, chair of the Wayne County Taxpayers Association. Leon Drolet, chairman of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, is also scheduled to attend.

Those attending will learn the procedures on how to appeal property tax assessments in Michigan. There will be a question and answer session.

This workshop is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The Conservative Caucus of Monroe County is an educational organization “dedicated to honesty and transparency in government.”

For information about the program, call Kathy Powers at (734) 546-2362 or Cheryl Rotole at (734) 289-1733.

If you are looking for the dates when the Monroe County boards of review are meeting, I am putting them in the MonroeTalks calendar database as fast as possible. The legal notices have been runing for the past week in the print edition of The Monroe Evening News.

A snippet:

The first thing homeowners should do when they receive their tax assessments is find the line listing taxable value and double it.

If that figure is about what the home would sell for in today’s market, an assessment appeal is unlikely to reduce the tax bill, said David Nykanen, a real estate attorney with Steinhardt Pesick & Cohen in Birmingham who specializes in property tax appeals. If it isn’t, they may have grounds for an appeal.

“People often confuse ‘I’m paying too much in taxes’ with ‘I’m over assessed,’ ” Nykanen said. “If your property is properly assessed, then your argument is really with the millage rate and not the assessment.”

My husband and I got our assessment letter in the mail yesterday, and the property value is right about what I estimated when I had to fill out my daughter’s college financial aid paperwork. (It’s not a question on the standard Free Application for Federal Student Aid, but it is a question on the CSS Profile application that we, and many other families, also have to fill out).

Our property value dropped quite a bit in 2008 as compared to 2007.

Now the nice thing is, in our case, the tax bill will be lower by about $450 in 2008 because of how the formula worked.

But we will not see a corresponding drop in our mortgage escrow payment until a year from now, after the mortgage company has seen actual billing. The drop in mortgage payment we got in the mail a couple of weeks ago was for the 2007 drop in property taxes.

Confused?

Well, I told you this wasn’t a quick fix to cash flow.

But if you own property in Michigan and want to appeal your assessed value, that season is starting. I got a lot more of the Board of Review hearings for Monroe County posted yesterday when I was in the newsroom – here’s the list so far.

Source: White House blog and a lot of national headlines today.

Now while this will bring an average of $65 a month to eligible families, I’m not making any plans for the additional cash flow until my husband and I receive the paychecks where the new withholding amounts have taken effect.

After all, it’s not “our” money yet.

Sandra Block has this report for USA Today: Taking TurboTax, TaxCut and TaxAct for a test drive:

A snippet:

Many do-it-yourself taxpayers stick with the same software program for years. But in these tight-fisted times, it’s important to weigh the virtues of software programs against the costs. In our annual test drive of tax software, TurboTax was again the winner, offering superior navigation, clearer instructions and more useful import features. But its competitors are worthy of consideration, because they do a competent job at a lower cost. Here’s what we found:

Now, here are some tips from the budget blogger.

• Before you buy software, first look at the IRS freefile system to see whether you can file your taxes on line for free. If you have a relatively simple return, this is worth looking into. I did my daughter’s 2006 taxes on freefile. However, there are a lot of rules and conditions because each preparer that participates has its own guidelines for doing this.
• Along the same lines, if you live in Monroe County, Mich., several local agencies are offering free tax filing workshops at the computer labs at the Monroe County Library System branches and Monroe County Community College. Call the United Way office at 211 (24-hour hotline) or (734) 242-1331 during business hours to get the schedule.
• If you do decide to buy software, make that purchase count as far as possible. Look at the sales fliers for the office supply and general merchandise stores to see what kind of software bundles, rewards points, package deals, etc. you can get with that purchase.
• In some cases, it may make sense to hire someone to do your taxes anyway. So ask about and follow up on any available discounts or rewards points for referrals, new clients, military, college students, etc. Each preparer sets its own rules as to its special offers – there is one in Lambertville that has a discount for unemployed workers.

Follow up on previous discussions on this topic at my archive keyword taxes.

Every year, the Michigan Department of Treasurer sends a “Notice of Assessment, Taxable Valuation and Property Classification” to property holders. Property taxes for the coming year are calculated based on the taxable value reported on this paperwork.

Michigan property owners should be watching for those forms – mine arrived in the mail in late February last year.

If you think the taxable value listed on the paperwork is too high in comparison to market prices, you can appeal to the Board of Review of your city or township at the appointed dates and times and argue your case.

The legal notices for those public meetings are now showing up in The Monroe Evening News print and e-editions. I am getting them posted in the MonroeTalks calendar as fast as possible. (If your local office isn’t posted yet, check back about Feb. 17 or 18 and I should have most of the notices by then). Most of the hearings take place in early to mid-March. Some of the local boards ask for appointments, others handle reviews on a walk-in basis. If you have any questions on the procedures, call your township or city hall.

A Board of Review hearing is not a “quick fix” situation for cash in your pocket. There is a process to go through. And the impact will be seen on the next round of tax bills to be sent, which happens a little later in the year.

Furthermore, if you pay your taxes through a mortgage escrow account, the mortgage company may want to see one or two actual property tax bills before lowering your monthly payment.

So it could take several months after a successful appeal until you actually see a lower mortgage payment.

One also could argue pretty convincingly that a cut in overall property tax revenue will result in a cut in government services.

But if an appeal on your Michigan property taxes is something you want to pursue, you need to realize there is a very short window of opportunity each year in which you can do that.

And that time frame is coming up very soon.

(Update: sorry, I had to close comments on this post … getting lots of spam!)

But I know people who have already done their filing and our appointment is today. Why?

If you are expecting a refund that you want to get as soon as possible, or if you have a student in college who is applying for financial aid, your tax filing season is in February.

And very often in the days between when you have the final numbers and when the refund check arrives, families come up with all kinds of ideas on where they want to spend that money.

If you are getting a refund this year, here’s what I want you to do with it:

Do at least one thing with that money that will help you save money in the long run.

Do you need some ideas?

• Buy a box, binder or packet to keep your grocery coupons organized. Look up my coupon tips on how to do that.
• Get a Sunday newspaper home delivery subscription so you get the coupon packets. You want to get and clip the grocery coupons as soon as possible because some stores run their sales during the week of coupon release. (If you are one of my local readers, we live in an area where three Sunday newspaper markets overlap. Take advantage of that situation.)
• Pick one grocery or drugstore product that is on sale and / or coupon and / or rebate the week that your refund check arrives and buy three to six months worth of supply. (This is called stockpiling).
• Pay off or pay down a credit card, and then next month you put what you were paying to the first bill on top of the regular payment for the next bill you are trying to pay off. (This is called snowflaking).
• Buy a box of CFL light bulbs and install them in the most appropriate light fixtures, keeping the leftover old fashioned bulbs for fixtures where CFL doesn’t work well. (We don’t like how they work for the porch lights, but most of our indoor fixtures are CFL).
• Buy the spray bottles, cleaning rags, dusting rags and other supplies you need to incorporate eco-friendly cleaning techniques into your home. You can still finish up the cleaning chemicals you have on hand while you try out eco-friendly methods and see which ones work for you.
• Buy a slow-cooker, electric griddle, beginner’s cookbook, coffee pot, new set of pots and pans or whatever you need in the kitchen to make it possible to cook more meals at home.
• Buy a box of blank cards and some festive rubber stamps and inks at the craft stores. Then go find your leftover craft paper, stickers and family photos. You now have everything you need to make handmade cards. I made that shift the year I wrote a check at the store for $35 for all the Mother’s Day cards that needed to be sent in our extended family. (Rubber stamps and inks can be expensive, so just buy a couple at a time. The savings is that those supplies are re-usable for many projects.)
• Buy a box of groceries from the bulk food purchase programs. Angel Food Ministries or Great Food For All are the ones available to my local readers. If you are a skeptic, give these programs a try at least once or twice. They work really well in lieu of, or in addition, to coupon tricks at the grocery stores.

Follow the discussion thread if you like.

She explains some of the scenarios where this might happen.

Keep in mind, some of you still won’t be eligible. According to Sandra’s report, college-age students who are declared as dependents on their parents tax return get nothing because they are dependents – but their parents get nothing because the students are too old.

Julie’s List is a referral and resource list for southeast Michigan residents. Her tax-related links include an on-line program for active-duty military, the AARP’s service for those over 50 (with explanation of what that service can and can’t handle), and a variety of Ann Arbor and Detroit resources.

I’ll send her the links of what I found for Monroe County : )