St. Joseph County Tax Rate: Property Caps and 1.75% Income Tax

In St. Joseph County, Indiana, property taxes are capped at 1% of assessed value for a primary residence, 2% for other residential and agricultural property, and 3% for commercial property and business personal property. Residents also pay a local income tax of 1.75% on adjusted gross income. Those two rates set the outer edges of what you owe; deductions, credits, and the mix of local taxing districts covering your parcel decide where inside those edges your bill actually lands.

Property Tax Caps by Property Type

Indiana law limits your property tax bill to a set percentage of gross assessed value through what the state calls credits for excessive property taxes, better known as circuit breaker caps. Whatever your local taxing districts would otherwise charge, these ceilings hold:

Homestead (primary residence): no more than 1% of gross assessed value.
Other residential property, agricultural land, and long-term care property: no more than 2%.
Commercial real property and business personal property: no more than 3%.

These are statutory maximums, and they override the combined district rate.¹ If the calculated tax on your homestead would be $3,000 but 1% of your assessed value is $2,500, you pay $2,500. Local governments absorb the difference.

Why Rates Differ Within the County

The actual rate applied to your parcel depends on which overlapping taxing districts cover it. A home in South Bend sits under a different combined rate than one in Mishawaka or an unincorporated township, because each area layers its own levies for schools, libraries, fire protection, and municipal services. Rates are expressed per $100 of assessed value. Your bill equals net assessed value (after deductions) multiplied by that combined rate, minus any circuit breaker credit.

Rates shift each year with local budgets and reassessments, so two identical homes in different parts of the county can carry meaningfully different bills. The St. Joseph County Auditor publishes the annual rate sheet for every taxing district.

The 1.75% Local Income Tax

St. Joseph County levies a local income tax of 1.75% on the adjusted gross income of anyone who lives in the county.² Residency, not workplace, controls the rate. If you work in St. Joseph County but live in another Indiana county, your home county’s rate applies. Employers withhold the tax from each paycheck alongside state income tax, and the total is reconciled when you file your Indiana return.

Deductions That Lower Your Property Tax

Homestead Standard Deduction

The single most common way to reduce your property tax bill is the homestead standard deduction. If you own and occupy the home as your primary residence, the deduction reduces assessed value by the lesser of 60% of assessed value or $48,000.³ On a $200,000 home, that removes $48,000 from taxable value. On a $70,000 home, it removes $42,000. Only one homestead deduction is allowed per property.

Apply through the St. Joseph County Auditor’s office or the state’s online property tax portal. Once the deduction is on file and nothing has changed, you don’t need to refile each year. Note that Indiana eliminated the mortgage deduction entirely as of January 1, 2023, and the Auditor no longer accepts applications for it.⁴

Age-Based Credits

Indiana offers two credits for homeowners 65 and older, plus a county-level option for those 55 and older. They can stack with the homestead deduction.

The Over 65 Credit provides a $150 annual credit on your tax bill if you’re at least 65 by December 31 of the year before you apply. Adjusted gross income must be at or below $60,000 on a single return or $70,000 on a joint return. A surviving spouse who is at least 60 and hasn’t remarried may qualify if the deceased spouse was 65 or older at death.⁵p>

The Over 65 Circuit Breaker Credit caps the year-over-year increase in your tax bill at 2%, using the same age and income thresholds.⁵

The Over 55 County Option Credit is available to St. Joseph County homeowners who are at least 55, have owned and occupied the homestead for at least 10 consecutive years, and received a homestead deduction the prior year. There is no income limit. It caps your tax increase at 2% compared to the prior year and is available for a maximum of three years. You cannot claim both the Over 55 credit and the Over 65 Circuit Breaker Credit at the same time.⁴

Disabled Veteran Deduction

Veterans with a service-connected disability qualify for a property tax deduction. Under a law signed in May 2026, veterans with a 100% disability rating receive a deduction equal to 100% of their homestead’s assessed value, effectively eliminating the property tax bill. The previous $240,000 assessed value cap has been removed. Veterans with a partial disability rating remain eligible for a proportional deduction. Applications go through the St. Joseph County Auditor’s office and typically require documentation of the disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Business Personal Property

If you run a business in the county, you must report the value of equipment, furniture, fixtures, and other tangible personal property used in operations. Starting in 2026, the exemption threshold rose sharply: if the total original acquisition cost of your business personal property in the county is less than $2,000,000, that property is exempt from taxation.⁶

New businesses still submit an initial return declaring the acquisition cost and claiming the exemption. If you filed and claimed the exemption in a prior year and still qualify, no return is required. Businesses at or above the $2,000,000 threshold file annually by May 15, and the property above the threshold is taxed under the 3% circuit breaker cap.⁶

When Property Taxes Are Due

Property taxes are split into two installments. For 2026, the spring payment is due Monday, May 11, and the fall payment is due Tuesday, November 10.⁷ A bill with payment coupons arrives before each deadline. You can pay online through the Treasurer’s portal (service fees apply), by mail, by phone, or in person at the Treasurer’s Office on the second floor of the County-City Building at 227 West Jefferson Boulevard in South Bend.⁸

Late Payment Penalties

Miss a deadline and penalties escalate quickly. Pay the full amount within 30 days of the due date with no prior delinquencies on the parcel, and the penalty is 5% of the unpaid taxes. Fail either condition and it’s 10%.⁹

Each additional year that taxes remain unpaid adds another 10% to the outstanding principal on the installment due dates. Partial payments do not stop penalties or protect the property from a tax sale. Parcels with balances still owed from a prior year’s spring installment become eligible for the county’s annual tax sale, where delinquent liens are auctioned to buyers who can eventually claim the property if you don’t redeem it.⁹

Appealing Your Assessment

If your assessed value is too high, your effective tax rate is too high. You have 45 days from the mailing date of your Form 11 assessment notice to file an appeal.¹⁰ If you never received a Form 11, your tax bill acts as the assessment notice and the clock runs from the bill’s mailing date instead.

File a Form 130 (Taxpayer’s Notice to Initiate an Appeal) with the local assessing official, explaining why the assessed value is wrong and supporting it with evidence such as comparable sales, an independent appraisal, or documentation of property defects. The process opens with an informal conference with the assessor and, if unresolved, moves to the county Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals for a formal hearing. Straightforward factual errors, like an incorrect square footage, can be corrected going back up to three years; subjective valuation disputes are limited to the current assessment year.¹¹

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 6 Taxation 6-1.1-20.6-7.5
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Indiana Department of Revenue. Indiana County Income Tax Rates and County Codes
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 6 Taxation 6-1.1-12-37
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St. Joseph County, IN. Auditor
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Department of Local Government Finance. Application for Senior Citizen Property Tax Benefits
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Department of Local Government Finance. DLGF Personal Property
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St. Joseph County Indiana. Treasurer
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St. Joseph County, Indiana. How to Pay Your Tax Bill
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-1.1-37-10 – Penalties for Delinquent Taxes
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St. Joseph County Indiana. Frequently Asked Questions
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Department of Local Government Finance. Appeals Property Tax