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The interface is fairly straightforward. Start
by entering a value in the first box, then selecting the county,
city, and school. If the property is in an unincorporated portion
of the county, choose No City. If the property is outside the county,
choose No County. If a property is not in a county, city, school,
or special district, you probably bought it from my Uncle Lester.
Next,
choose an appropriate set of exemptions. All jurisdictions honor
the disabled veterans exemptions. All school districts are required
to honor a minimum set of exemptions for general homestead ($15,000),
Over 65 ($10,000), and disabled persons ($10,000), but a few offer
additional exemptions. Other jurisdictions are not required to honor
general homestead, Over 65, or disabled person exemptions, but many
do. The tables provided with TaxEstimator contain information regarding
all exemptions honored by all jurisdictions in the counties for
which tables are provided. See below on
how to display the tables for a county.
When
you have selected an appropriate set of exemptions, click on the
"Calculate" button.
The total tax estimate is calculated and displayed
under the Total Tax tab. You may view details of the county, city,
and school tax calculations by clicking on the appropriate tab.
The Special District tax calculation, however, is a summary of all
the applicable special districts, calculated independently, and
represented as a single tax amount. You may view the list of applicable
special districts (and change the selection of special districts)
through the "Advanced Config" menu option (or by pressing
Ctrl+C).
Which should bring you to the following screen
(content varies by county).
The
jurisdictions shown in bold are generally applicable to every property
in the county. However, they may be de-selected by unchecking the
box to the left of the jurisdiction name. Additional jurisdictions
may be applied in the calculation by checking their box. The "Restore
Defaults" button restores all special district settings to
their original condition. Click the "Finish" button when
you are ready to return to the main TaxEstimator screen.
You
may load tax rates for other counties (or other years) by clicking
on the "File|Open Tax Rate File" menu entry, or by pressing
Ctrl+O.
You will be presented a standard Windows File Open
dialog box which will allow you to navigate to any tax rate tables
you may have. Several are supplied with TaxEstimator.
Double-click
on the desired new table or click on the table name and then on
the "Open" button to load the new table.
After
a table is loaded, you may display the complete list of all jurisdictions
and tax rates contained in the table by Selecting "List table
contents" from the file menu or by pressing Ctrl-L.
Your list should look something like this (content
varies by county).
The default sequence is by jurisdiction name, but
you may sort either jurisdiction name or tax rate by clicking on
the column header. Clicking the column header a second time reverses
the order. Click on "Done" when ready to return to the
TaxEstimator.
That
it. That's all there is. I hope this has been helpful. |
