Property Tax – Rollback

November 2016 WATCHDOG   (Updated 2019)

More than 20 years ago, Iowa residential property values were rising quickly. To help cushion the impact of high inflation, the Legislature passed an assessment limitation law called “rollback”. The property tax rollback impact for agricultural and residential property can be substantial because they cut the property tax nearly in half.

The Iowa Department of Revenue computes assessment limitation percentages, and county auditors multiply the assessed valuations by the rollback percentage to determine taxable valuations. The assessment limitations are applied according to a class of property:

·       For the agricultural and residential classes of real estate, the taxable valuation for each class is limited to 3% annual statewide growth from revaluation.

·       The assessed valuation for commercial and industrial property is adjusted by 90% to determine the taxable valuation.

For the 2018 assessment year the percentage rates are:

·      Agriculture  56.1324

·      Residential  56.918

·      Multi-residential  75.00

·      Commercial  90.00

·      Industrial  90.00

To probe further - check the Iowa Department of Revenue website https://tax.iowa.gov/equalization-and-rollbacks