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Sheet IA · 2026 rules

Iowa Property Tax Calculator

Section 441.21 distinguishes actual valuation from the percentage of actual value used for taxable assessment. Its assessment-limitation provisions treat residential and agricultural valuation changes through statutory calculations. A historical statewide tax-to-home-value ratio is not the residential rollback percentage.

Rules verified 16 primary sources Editorial policy

Estimate your 2026 Iowa bill

Approved shared exemption, bill credits and charges (optional)

The same assessed-value amount must apply to Local ad valorem levies. Different approvals or bases require the prepared levy worksheet. Do not repeat relief already deducted.

Use the assessing authority’s value, recorded classification and current rates. Worked examples use hypothetical rates unless labeled statutory.

Iowa · 2026 residential assessment worksheet Needs inputs
Iowa estimated annual property tax —
  • Tax — Local ad valorem levies —
  • Credits subtracted —
  • Fixed charges added —
Per month (annual ÷ 12) —
What was applied Enter the assessor’s residential full value from the assessment notice.
Assessed value after ratio and cap —
Taxable value — Local ad valorem levies —
Effective rate on market value —

What this estimate leaves out

How Iowa turns value into a tax bill

Iowa statewide rules
StepIowa ruleSource
Value Use the valuation for the assessment year shown on your notice. Exemptions, rate units and levy classifications below must match that same notice. [1]
Assessment Approved assessment ratio you enter (Published residential assessment limitation (rollback) for the selected assessment year)Iowa 441.21 directs the annual limitation; it is a statewide annual published percentage, not a local levy rate. Enter the agency figure for the actual assessment year on the notice. [1]
Annual limit No automatic parcel bill cap is inferred from a limit on a jurisdiction’s total levy.
Exemptions Other relief is applied only from a recorded approval; the calculator does not decide qualification.
Rate Local ad valorem levies: local rate — you enter it.Local ad valorem levies from the applicable taxing authority. The rate is not a Census ratio.

How Iowa assesses, rolls back, protests and relieves residential tax

Iowa values real estate as of January 1 and reassesses in odd-numbered years2. 2025 was a reassessment year, 2026 is not, and 2027 is the next one. Owners must be notified by April 1 of any change in their assessment3.

Taxable value is assessed value times a statewide residential rollback, which the Department of Revenue certifies every year1. The rollback holds statewide growth in residential taxable value from revaluation to no more than 3.0% a year8. For assessment year 2025 it is 44.5345%7, compared with 46.3428% for 2023 and 47.4316% for 20248. Taxes lag two years: FY 2027 taxes, based on 2025 assessments, are payable by September 30, 2026 and March 31, 20278. Levy rates are stated per $1,000 of taxable value16.

To dispute a value, you can ask the assessor for an informal review from April 2 through April 254. A formal protest goes to the local board of review from April 2 through April 305. The board’s decision can be appealed to the Property Assessment Appeal Board within 20 days after the board adjourns or by May 31, whichever is later6, or taken to district court instead6. Starting with assessment year 2027, if a home’s value rises 10% or more with no new construction or change in use13, the assessor’s value is not presumed correct, and the assessor carries the burden of proof13.

Through assessment year 2025, the homestead credit equals the levy on the first $4,850 of actual value10. SF 2472, signed May 18, 2026, replaces it with an exemption of 10% of taxable value1113. The exemption is at least $5,500 and at most $20,000 of taxable value, and it first affects taxes paid in September 2027 and March 202811. Owners 65 or older also get a $6,500 taxable-value exemption1112. Owners with a qualifying 100% service-connected disability still receive a credit for the entire tax on the homestead1311. Former §425.15 is repealed and the credit moves into §425.113.

Honorably discharged veterans can exempt up to $4,000 of taxable value14. The state elderly and disabled property tax credit is claimed with the county treasurer by June 1, 2026, or by March 31, 2027 if the treasurer extends the deadline15. It is open to households under $26,895 with an owner 65 or older15, under 250% of the federal poverty level with an owner 70 or older15, or with an owner totally disabled and 18 or older15.

Tax is paid to the county treasurer in two halves. An unpaid first half becomes delinquent October 19, and the second half becomes delinquent April 19. Local governments adopt the budgets that set rates by April 30 for the next fiscal year16.

Worked example

Assessment year 2025 residential rollback 44.5345%: $300,000 × 44.5345% = $133,603.50 taxable; at an illustrative 30 mills = $4,008.11 before credits. An approved homestead credit for this assessment year is the levy on the first $4,850 ($145.50 at 30 mills), leaving $3,862.61.

Iowa worked example
LineTaxable valueTax
Local ad valorem levies at 30 mills$133,603.50$4,008.11
Annual total$4,008.11

Left to your local bill

Census context, not a rate

American Community Survey 2020–2024: median owner-occupied value $208,000 (±$1,141), median real-estate taxes $2,897 (±$13). Dividing one by the other gives 1.39% for Iowa. Tables B25077 and B25103; why it is only context.

Sources

  1. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §441.21(4)(b)(2), read .
    “the percentage of actual value as equalized by the department of revenue as provided in section 441.49 at which agricultural and residential property shall be assessed shall be calculated in accordance with the methods provided in this subsection”
  2. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §428.4(1), read .
    “Real estate shall be listed and assessed in 1981 and every two years thereafter. The assessment of real estate shall be the value of the real estate as of January 1 of the year of the assessment. The year 1981 and each odd-numbered year thereafter shall be a reassessment year.”
  3. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §441.23, read .
    “The owners of real property shall be notified not later than April 1 of any adjustment of the real property assessment.”
  4. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §441.30(1), read .
    “on or after April 2, to and including April 25, of the year of the assessment to inquire about the specifics and accuracy of the assessment.”
  5. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §441.37(1)(a), read .
    “may file a protest against such assessment with the board of review on or after April 2, to and including April 30, of the year of the assessment.”
  6. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §441.37A(1)(b), read .
    “a party must file an appeal with the board within twenty days after the date of adjournment of the local board of review or May 31, whichever is later. … may bypass the property assessment appeal board and appeal the decision of the local board of review to the district court pursuant to section 441.38.”
  7. revenue.iowa.govIowa Department of Revenue: Order Certifying Percentages for Assessment Limitations, 2025 actual value, read .
    “44.5345% to the value of residential realty outside and within incorporated cities and towns in the county, including dwellings located on agricultural realty.”
  8. legis.iowa.govIowa Legislative Services Agency, Fiscal Topics: Assessment Limitations, read .
    “FY 2027 taxes are based on AY 2025 assessments. The first half installment of property tax would be due September 1, 2026, payable by September 30, and the second half installment due March 1, 2027, payable by March 31. … The growth in the aggregate taxable value of all Iowa residential property due to the revaluation of property that existed in the previous assessment year is restricted by Iowa law to no more than 3.0% per year.”
  9. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §445.37(1)(a), read .
    “If the semiannual installment of any tax has not been paid before October 1 succeeding the levy, that amount becomes delinquent from October 1 after due. … If the second installment is not paid before April 1 succeeding its maturity, it becomes delinquent from April 1 after due.”
  10. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §425.1(2), read .
    “in an amount equal to the actual levy on the first four thousand eight hundred fifty dollars of actual value for each homestead.”
  11. revenue.iowa.govIowa Department of Revenue: Homestead Tax Credit and Exemption, read .
    “Division 20 of 2026 Iowa Acts, SF2472 , signed by the Governor on May 18, 2026, replaces the homestead tax credit with a homestead tax exemption in the amount of 10% of the taxable value of the homestead. … This change is retroactive to assessment year 2026, which will apply to property taxes paid in September of 2027 and March of 2028. The minimum amount of the exemption is $5,500 in taxable value. The maximum amount of the exemption is $20,000 in taxable value.”
  12. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §425.1A(1)(b), read .
    “For the assessment year beginning January 1, 2024, and each succeeding assessment year, the eligible homestead, not to exceed six thousand five hundred dollars in taxable value.”
  13. legis.iowa.gov2026 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2472, read .
    “exemption from taxation of ten percent of the taxable value, … allowed on the homestead shall be the entire amount of tax”
  14. legis.iowa.govIowa Code §426A.11(2)(b), read .
    “The property, not to exceed four thousand dollars in taxable value for the assessment years beginning on or after January 1, 2023, of an honorably separated, retired, furloughed to a reserve, placed on inactive status, or discharged veteran”
  15. revenue.iowa.govIowa Department of Revenue: 2026 Iowa Property Tax Credit Claim, form 54-001a, read .
    “Return this form to your county treasurer on or before June 1, 2026, or, if the treasurer has extended the filing deadline, on or before March 31, 2027. … Total household income less than $26,895 and age 65 or”
  16. dom.iowa.govIowa Department of Management: Citizen Property Tax Guide, read .
    “Tax rate is presented as dollars and cents per thousand dollars of taxable property valuation. … Local governments which levy property taxes adopt their budgets by April 30 for the following fiscal year.”

Bordering jurisdictions

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