Time to File a Property Tax Appeal?

Wise management of real estate requires owners to periodically check their tax assessments to ensure they are being assessed correctly. You pay taxes based on the “assessed” value of your home, so ensuring correct assessment can lower your tax liability each year. This applies to both homeowners and owners of commercial property.

There are several times that your property can be reassessed. First, you may have just recently purchased property and based on the purchase price, you may realize that the assessed value, when factored by the common level ratio, is showing an assessed price based on a market price which is significantly more than you paid for the property. If this is the case, your property is ripe for a tax assessment appeal in order to lower your taxes. Another time to consider filing an appeal is when there has been a recent condemnation of part of your property or there has just been a general downturn in the market from when the property was last assessed. In addition, every year, you have the opportunity to file a tax appeal from July 1 to August 15 (the must be received by then).

While the end goal for a tax assessment appeal is to lower the tax liability, it is also important to note that a lower tax liability may make the property significantly more rentable or make it more attractive to buyers at a higher price.

Prudent property owners conduct a periodic or annual review of their real property holdings to find out if they are being properly assessed. Should you have an interest in filing a tax assessment appeal, please contact Cornerstone Law Firm for assistance.