The Iowa Department of Revenue and local governments are rolling out the new Business Property Tax Credit the Legislature approved this year (Senate File 295).
Commercial property owners can take advantage of the Business Property Tax Credit at www.iowa.gov/tax/locgov/13PTReform.html. There you’ll find an application, answers to common questions and a place to submit your own inquiries. For the first year, $50 million is available to commercial property owners, with applications for the credit on this year’s property taxes being accepted through January 15, 2014.
Throughout the overhaul of Iowa’s property tax system, Senate Democrats were committed to ensuring our small businesses got a boost. That’s why the reforms we approved reduce commercial property taxes for all Iowa businesses and help small businesses the most.
Over the years, Iowa’s property tax system had become a barrier to new job creation and business expansion. Commercial property owners were paying taxes on 100 percent of the assessed value of their property—about twice what residential property owners pay.
With SF 295, we made Iowa’s property tax system more equitable for small companies with a commercial property tax cut that starts from the bottom up. Most of the benefit goes to local small business owners, the biggest job creators in our communities.
When the $125 million tax cut is fully phased in after three years, almost two-thirds of Iowa commercial properties—those valued at $145,000 or less—will be taxed at the same rate as residential properties. Bigger businesses also will get a break on the first $145,000 of their property.
One of the best things about this plan is that it protects Iowans from a “tax shift” that could increase their residential property taxes because the state will reimburse local governments for the money they are no longer collecting in local commercial property taxes.