Greetings, this will be a short post. Below is a link to a recent article I wrote for the Canadian Tax Payers Federation, entitled, " Should I Appeal My Property Taxes".
http://www.taxpayer.com/pdf/PropTax_TheTaxpayer_MayJune-08.pdf
Enjoy,
Terry
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
It is Time for Reflection
Greetings, and welcome to the beginning of summer! For the most part, anyone who is a taxpayer in North America has most probably received their assessment notice, and through their own evaluation or investigation have made the decision that their assessment is correct or incorrect and whether they plan on doing something about it or not. This has been a hectic few months due to the volume of inquiries. For the most part it has been taxpayers like you that are presented with the challenges.
For those that have placed their trust in me and purchased my book entitled, “How To Lower Your Property Taxes” you should now know how to proceed in almost any situation that the Assessment Authorities can throw at you. Either you are waiting for your time in court or have completed the process for another calendar year. In fact you may even have been in the first level of court and even decided you are still not happy with the outcome and are waiting for your, “Appeal Hearing” to take place.
For the benefit of those not familiar with the “Hearing Process”, here is a brief summary. Essentially upon receipt of your assessment notice and tax bill you are given 30 days to file a complaint or a “Request for a Review”. Remember that the onus is placed on you, as the homeowner to ensure the details on your assessment record are correct, not the assessment department. Yea, I know it sounds a bit one sided, but your assessment department makes the assumption that unless they hear from you within the 30 days it is deemed to be correct. In a lot of cases assessments are and in a lot of cases they need adjusting for various reasons. In fact one of the most common adjustments made in assessment departments are errors in square footage, and condition issues related to the structure itself. Of course there are dozens of others with locational influences and items such as proximity to busy traffic thoroughfares being another major one. Does your home pass the litmus test? Have you determined what the market value of your home is? For those that purchased my book, this should be relatively easy now, and for those that haven’t I would encourage you to pick up a copy.
You may have waited 2 or more months now for your floor time in a hearing, and how did you do, did you win? Or just resigned yourself they’ve got you for another year? Dear taxpayer, please don’t let this happen to you. Remember the old saying goes, the “Squeaky Wheel Gets the Oil”, this is “Very True” in the world of assessment. If your assessment was “Confirmed” in your review hearing, go to the “Appeal Board” and present the evidence again. Do not give up until you’ve got the value to where you want it, or perceive to be, it is “Your Right”.
Imagine for a minute overpaying on your property tax bill for say, 5 years in a row. Let’s assume that you are paying $100 per year too much, now that is $500 over that time period. Doesn’t and one time investment of $49.95 in my taxpayer handbook make a lot of sense, I think so.
Please remember I love testimonies. Please send me your testimonies from this year, I can’t wait to hear from you.
Best Regards,
Terry Price
For those that have placed their trust in me and purchased my book entitled, “How To Lower Your Property Taxes” you should now know how to proceed in almost any situation that the Assessment Authorities can throw at you. Either you are waiting for your time in court or have completed the process for another calendar year. In fact you may even have been in the first level of court and even decided you are still not happy with the outcome and are waiting for your, “Appeal Hearing” to take place.
For the benefit of those not familiar with the “Hearing Process”, here is a brief summary. Essentially upon receipt of your assessment notice and tax bill you are given 30 days to file a complaint or a “Request for a Review”. Remember that the onus is placed on you, as the homeowner to ensure the details on your assessment record are correct, not the assessment department. Yea, I know it sounds a bit one sided, but your assessment department makes the assumption that unless they hear from you within the 30 days it is deemed to be correct. In a lot of cases assessments are and in a lot of cases they need adjusting for various reasons. In fact one of the most common adjustments made in assessment departments are errors in square footage, and condition issues related to the structure itself. Of course there are dozens of others with locational influences and items such as proximity to busy traffic thoroughfares being another major one. Does your home pass the litmus test? Have you determined what the market value of your home is? For those that purchased my book, this should be relatively easy now, and for those that haven’t I would encourage you to pick up a copy.
You may have waited 2 or more months now for your floor time in a hearing, and how did you do, did you win? Or just resigned yourself they’ve got you for another year? Dear taxpayer, please don’t let this happen to you. Remember the old saying goes, the “Squeaky Wheel Gets the Oil”, this is “Very True” in the world of assessment. If your assessment was “Confirmed” in your review hearing, go to the “Appeal Board” and present the evidence again. Do not give up until you’ve got the value to where you want it, or perceive to be, it is “Your Right”.
Imagine for a minute overpaying on your property tax bill for say, 5 years in a row. Let’s assume that you are paying $100 per year too much, now that is $500 over that time period. Doesn’t and one time investment of $49.95 in my taxpayer handbook make a lot of sense, I think so.
Please remember I love testimonies. Please send me your testimonies from this year, I can’t wait to hear from you.
Best Regards,
Terry Price
Sunday, March 2, 2008
MISUNDERSTANDING & CONFUSION
Greetings Tax Payers!
I trust everyone is making it through the extremely tough winter this year. Hasn’t it been something? Residents of North America have experienced the worst winter in almost 30 years. This morning I had 3 feet of snow on my deck. What a beautiful site; I am one of those people who like snow!
I woke up in the middle of the night with a sense of urgency and the need to clarify several things that have been glaring issues for most of Atlantic Canada’s residential property tax payers. Perhaps a summary of the recent articles that appeared in my local city’s newspaper would be appropriate at this point.
For those who live in other parts of Canada or the United States, my home province is in eastern Canada, sometimes referred to as the Maritimes, in the province of New Brunswick.
On Friday, January 25th, I was featured on the front page of our local newspaper, the Moncton Times and Transcript. The headline was entitled, “Wanted: 50 tax victims”. If you care to read this article, click here.
On Friday, February 29th, there was another article that made front-page headlines entitled, “Property tax appeals unfair”. Provincial Ombudsman Bernard Richard offered his observations and recommendations around the property appeal process.
Yet again, the next day, on Saturday, March 1st, another article appeared on the front page entitled, “Are Nber’s OK with tax assessments”?
During the 22+ years I worked as a property tax assessor, there wasn’t a year that went by without some type of confusion regarding the definition of the following terms, market value, assessed value, property tax, and tax rate/mill rate. Following are accurate definitions of these terms.
Market Value - The most probable sale price of a property in terms of dollars in a competitive and open market, assuming that the buyer and seller are acting prudently and knowledgeably, allowing sufficient time for the sale, and assuming that the transaction is not affected by undue pressures.
Assessed Value - The monetary amount at which a property is put on the assessment roll, commonly referred to as “Your Property Assessment”.
Property Tax - Many provinces in Canada levy property tax on real estate based upon the current use and value of the land. This is the major source of revenue for most municipal governments in Canada. While property tax levels vary between municipalities in a province, common property assessment or valuation criteria is usually laid out in provincial legislation. The trend is to use a market value standard for valuation purposes in most provinces with varying revaluation cycles. A number of provinces have established an annual reassessment cycle where market activity is warranted, while others have longer periods between valuation periods.
Property Tax Levy - This is the total amount of money to be raised from the property tax as set forth in the budget for the local government or tax jurisdiction. This levy, whether higher or lower than the preceding year, is determined by the budget-making authority of the local government. It is usually recommended by an administrator (for example, a mayor or school superintendent) and adopted by the local legislative body (city council, county board, or board of education).
Tax rate/mill rate – This is simply a mathematical expression of the relationship between the tax levy and the total assessment for that jurisdiction. The levy amount is divided by the total assessment amount to give the nominal tax rate. For example, if a municipality needs to raise $15,000,000 in taxes and the total assessment for the jurisdiction, (total assessed value of all taxable properties) is $937,500,000, the tax rate is 1.6 percent. The calculation is as follows:
$15,000,000 / $937,500,000 = 0.016 = 1.6 Percent.
To calculate your property tax bill, take the assessed value of your property and simply multipy it by the tax rate (i.e. - 1.6 percent). So as an example if your assessment is $235,000 you would muliply it by 1.6% and your tax bill would be approximately $3,760.
This formula is the one used to calculate New Brunswick’s tax rate, but of course, using different figures.
Recently, I was in contact with an associate who sent me correspondence from Premier Shawn Graham, Premier of New Brunswick. For the benefit of my American clients, a “Premier” is synonymous with and has very similar powers to that of a state Senator.
Premier Graham was posed the following question:
Why are property taxes based on a property's assessed rate?
It should be based on the purchase price. The only reason I can think of is so the cities can collect more taxes from citizens each year. Please explain.
His Reply:
Thank you for your email concerning the basis for property taxes in NB – you suggest basing it on the purchase price as opposed to the current “market value” assessments.
The system in New Brunswick models the most widely utilized one in North America. It is based on the principle that the tax burden within each municipality should be shared by the property owners within that municipality on the basis of each property’s relative portion of the tax base for that municipality.
It is based on the current market value assessments as opposed to some arbitrary historical point in time to enable transparency and equity – other models have been shown to be weaker in these areas. To base the property tax on the most recent purchase price creates the inequity whereby recent home purchasers pay significantly more in taxes than those who purchased years ago – all potentially benefiting from the same fire, police, recreational, and other municipally provided services.
I trust that I have addressed the questions you raised.
Yours truly,
Shawn Graham, Premier
In summary, I would like to comment on a couple of things. Recently, before retiring to New Brunswick from working in the assessment business, the city I worked for was considered a worldwide authority on the implementation of market value-based assessments. Numerous assessors traveled to the United States on various occasions to learn from the Americans how it was done. Subsequently, our municipality was voted by our governing authority, the IAAO, (International Association of Assessing Officers) in Chicago, as the “Best Assessment Jurisdiction in North America”. Several times during my career, we would host assessors from the Atlantic Provinces and guide them through the principles and practices of Market Value assessment.
The city I worked for was renowned for its transparency and accountability to its taxpayers. I see where this transparency issue is one of the main sources of public discontent in the province of New Brunswick.
Last week, I spent time on the phone talking with one of our local assessors and believe I have identified one huge area that must be addressed by our legislators in Fredericton. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears that New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that is not obligated under provincial legislation to release, prior to an actual appeal hearing, the property sale information it has used to calculate your property assessment.
In New Brunswick, if you disagree with your assessment, you have 30 days from the date of mailing of your assessment notice to lodge an inquiry or complaint, which is referred to as the “Referral Process”. The assessor, to ensure its accuracy, scrutinizes your record in detail, but if you still disagree with the assessed value, a hearing before the “Referral Board” is scheduled. At this hearing, “If the Board chooses” to release to you the sales they used to calculate your assessment, only then will you be allowed to see those actual sales.
In the city I worked for, we were “obligated and severely reprimanded” if the sales used to calculate the tax payers assessment were not forwarded to them within a reasonable period of time before any hearing took place. Truly, this is one area where I see that there is a huge disadvantage here in New Brunswick when it comes to cross examining the assessor to defend your position.
Where I worked, tax payers had the sales information at least a couple of weeks ahead of any hearings and were allowed to criticize or critique these sales in front of a review board, and present their sales in defense of their assessment. Truly, this is a very powerful tool in the taxpayers favor.
If you need to know more about how the whole process works and how you can have the upper hand over your local authorities, then I refer you to my book entitled, “How to Lower your Property Taxes”.
I look forward working with all taxpayers to ensure you are “Paying ONLY Your Fair Share”.
I trust everyone is making it through the extremely tough winter this year. Hasn’t it been something? Residents of North America have experienced the worst winter in almost 30 years. This morning I had 3 feet of snow on my deck. What a beautiful site; I am one of those people who like snow!
I woke up in the middle of the night with a sense of urgency and the need to clarify several things that have been glaring issues for most of Atlantic Canada’s residential property tax payers. Perhaps a summary of the recent articles that appeared in my local city’s newspaper would be appropriate at this point.
For those who live in other parts of Canada or the United States, my home province is in eastern Canada, sometimes referred to as the Maritimes, in the province of New Brunswick.
On Friday, January 25th, I was featured on the front page of our local newspaper, the Moncton Times and Transcript. The headline was entitled, “Wanted: 50 tax victims”. If you care to read this article, click here.
On Friday, February 29th, there was another article that made front-page headlines entitled, “Property tax appeals unfair”. Provincial Ombudsman Bernard Richard offered his observations and recommendations around the property appeal process.
Yet again, the next day, on Saturday, March 1st, another article appeared on the front page entitled, “Are Nber’s OK with tax assessments”?
During the 22+ years I worked as a property tax assessor, there wasn’t a year that went by without some type of confusion regarding the definition of the following terms, market value, assessed value, property tax, and tax rate/mill rate. Following are accurate definitions of these terms.
Market Value - The most probable sale price of a property in terms of dollars in a competitive and open market, assuming that the buyer and seller are acting prudently and knowledgeably, allowing sufficient time for the sale, and assuming that the transaction is not affected by undue pressures.
Assessed Value - The monetary amount at which a property is put on the assessment roll, commonly referred to as “Your Property Assessment”.
Property Tax - Many provinces in Canada levy property tax on real estate based upon the current use and value of the land. This is the major source of revenue for most municipal governments in Canada. While property tax levels vary between municipalities in a province, common property assessment or valuation criteria is usually laid out in provincial legislation. The trend is to use a market value standard for valuation purposes in most provinces with varying revaluation cycles. A number of provinces have established an annual reassessment cycle where market activity is warranted, while others have longer periods between valuation periods.
Property Tax Levy - This is the total amount of money to be raised from the property tax as set forth in the budget for the local government or tax jurisdiction. This levy, whether higher or lower than the preceding year, is determined by the budget-making authority of the local government. It is usually recommended by an administrator (for example, a mayor or school superintendent) and adopted by the local legislative body (city council, county board, or board of education).
Tax rate/mill rate – This is simply a mathematical expression of the relationship between the tax levy and the total assessment for that jurisdiction. The levy amount is divided by the total assessment amount to give the nominal tax rate. For example, if a municipality needs to raise $15,000,000 in taxes and the total assessment for the jurisdiction, (total assessed value of all taxable properties) is $937,500,000, the tax rate is 1.6 percent. The calculation is as follows:
$15,000,000 / $937,500,000 = 0.016 = 1.6 Percent.
To calculate your property tax bill, take the assessed value of your property and simply multipy it by the tax rate (i.e. - 1.6 percent). So as an example if your assessment is $235,000 you would muliply it by 1.6% and your tax bill would be approximately $3,760.
This formula is the one used to calculate New Brunswick’s tax rate, but of course, using different figures.
Recently, I was in contact with an associate who sent me correspondence from Premier Shawn Graham, Premier of New Brunswick. For the benefit of my American clients, a “Premier” is synonymous with and has very similar powers to that of a state Senator.
Premier Graham was posed the following question:
Why are property taxes based on a property's assessed rate?
It should be based on the purchase price. The only reason I can think of is so the cities can collect more taxes from citizens each year. Please explain.
His Reply:
Thank you for your email concerning the basis for property taxes in NB – you suggest basing it on the purchase price as opposed to the current “market value” assessments.
The system in New Brunswick models the most widely utilized one in North America. It is based on the principle that the tax burden within each municipality should be shared by the property owners within that municipality on the basis of each property’s relative portion of the tax base for that municipality.
It is based on the current market value assessments as opposed to some arbitrary historical point in time to enable transparency and equity – other models have been shown to be weaker in these areas. To base the property tax on the most recent purchase price creates the inequity whereby recent home purchasers pay significantly more in taxes than those who purchased years ago – all potentially benefiting from the same fire, police, recreational, and other municipally provided services.
I trust that I have addressed the questions you raised.
Yours truly,
Shawn Graham, Premier
In summary, I would like to comment on a couple of things. Recently, before retiring to New Brunswick from working in the assessment business, the city I worked for was considered a worldwide authority on the implementation of market value-based assessments. Numerous assessors traveled to the United States on various occasions to learn from the Americans how it was done. Subsequently, our municipality was voted by our governing authority, the IAAO, (International Association of Assessing Officers) in Chicago, as the “Best Assessment Jurisdiction in North America”. Several times during my career, we would host assessors from the Atlantic Provinces and guide them through the principles and practices of Market Value assessment.
The city I worked for was renowned for its transparency and accountability to its taxpayers. I see where this transparency issue is one of the main sources of public discontent in the province of New Brunswick.
Last week, I spent time on the phone talking with one of our local assessors and believe I have identified one huge area that must be addressed by our legislators in Fredericton. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears that New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that is not obligated under provincial legislation to release, prior to an actual appeal hearing, the property sale information it has used to calculate your property assessment.
In New Brunswick, if you disagree with your assessment, you have 30 days from the date of mailing of your assessment notice to lodge an inquiry or complaint, which is referred to as the “Referral Process”. The assessor, to ensure its accuracy, scrutinizes your record in detail, but if you still disagree with the assessed value, a hearing before the “Referral Board” is scheduled. At this hearing, “If the Board chooses” to release to you the sales they used to calculate your assessment, only then will you be allowed to see those actual sales.
In the city I worked for, we were “obligated and severely reprimanded” if the sales used to calculate the tax payers assessment were not forwarded to them within a reasonable period of time before any hearing took place. Truly, this is one area where I see that there is a huge disadvantage here in New Brunswick when it comes to cross examining the assessor to defend your position.
Where I worked, tax payers had the sales information at least a couple of weeks ahead of any hearings and were allowed to criticize or critique these sales in front of a review board, and present their sales in defense of their assessment. Truly, this is a very powerful tool in the taxpayers favor.
If you need to know more about how the whole process works and how you can have the upper hand over your local authorities, then I refer you to my book entitled, “How to Lower your Property Taxes”.
I look forward working with all taxpayers to ensure you are “Paying ONLY Your Fair Share”.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Do You Know what to do with Sales?
February has arrived and soon your assessment notice will, also. Are you prepared? Do you even have any idea whether your property assessment is fair in relation to similar properties in your neighborhood?
If you refer to my January post, I gave you some ideas on how to start. Did you have success contacting realtors and conducting your own mini neighbourhood/community review? Hopefully, by now you have some idea of what your home is worth. Remember, you must determine the value as of a specific point in time in the assessment calendar year. Let me give you an example:
Let’s assume that your property assessment is based on a valuation date of July 1, 2007. Your main objective is to find comparable homes that sold within a month or very close to this date. Remember that over time the market changes and so does the value of your property. If you decide that your assessment is excessive and you intend to appeal it, only sales around this date will be acceptable.
However, if you found some sales say 6 months earlier, what do you do? It’s simple. Contact your local assessor and ask them what their time adjustment percentage would be for that particular point in time. Let’s assume you found a good sale that sold 6 months earlier for $150,000. The time adjustment percentage is 6% based on your conversation with the assessor. Then you can add 6% onto this and a good indicator of value would be $159,000. You can use this in the appeal hearing and if they ask you where you got that percentage you can tell them the assessor, “gave” it to you.
Determining if your property is assessed fairly is not rocket science, but it does take some homework and persistence.
If you refer to my January post, I gave you some ideas on how to start. Did you have success contacting realtors and conducting your own mini neighbourhood/community review? Hopefully, by now you have some idea of what your home is worth. Remember, you must determine the value as of a specific point in time in the assessment calendar year. Let me give you an example:
Let’s assume that your property assessment is based on a valuation date of July 1, 2007. Your main objective is to find comparable homes that sold within a month or very close to this date. Remember that over time the market changes and so does the value of your property. If you decide that your assessment is excessive and you intend to appeal it, only sales around this date will be acceptable.
However, if you found some sales say 6 months earlier, what do you do? It’s simple. Contact your local assessor and ask them what their time adjustment percentage would be for that particular point in time. Let’s assume you found a good sale that sold 6 months earlier for $150,000. The time adjustment percentage is 6% based on your conversation with the assessor. Then you can add 6% onto this and a good indicator of value would be $159,000. You can use this in the appeal hearing and if they ask you where you got that percentage you can tell them the assessor, “gave” it to you.
Determining if your property is assessed fairly is not rocket science, but it does take some homework and persistence.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Happy New Year!
It is with excitement and enthusiasm that we enter a new year and a Happy 2008 to all. With respect to your Property Assessment and Property Tax bills, you will soon be receiving that much-anticipated piece of mail informing you of what your municipality thinks your property is worth.
Assessment notices can be mailed any time during the year depending on the annual cycle that your town or city operates on. Some even get mailed the first week in January, but for the most part, the majority of assessment notices are mailed in early or late spring. Some are mailed with the tax bill included or they mail the bill at a later date, based on that assessed value.
If you have read any previous posts of mine you may recall me talking about the “Delivery of Assessment Services”. Please remember that regardless of where you live in North America, each town or city will have a different method of administering how you receive your assessment notices and tax bills. The “Market Value Standard” is now becoming the benchmark in North America and worldwide for calculating property assessments.
The bottom line, however, as far as you’re concerned, is how much your property is worth and if your assessed value is close to the value shown. You should have in mind what your property is worth going into the new year. Take some time now to do some investigation work if you have no idea what it’s worth. When you get your notice this year, it will save you a lot of time to know in advance what this approximate value is.
Here is a small checklist for you to follow:
1. Pick up the newspaper, find out 2 or 3 realtors who advertise on a regular basis, particularly in your local area. Try to find some that have at least 3-5 years experience being a realtor. This will help enormously as it takes practice and experience to be able to put a proper value on a property. After you’ve selected them, call and ask them for a ballpark figure. It’s not necessary to have a meeting with them until you see what your assessment comes in at.
2. Call 1 or 2 residential appraisers and ask them for a ballpark figure. Some may be agreeable to spending time on the phone without charging you, but some may not.
3. Be familiar with the style of home you have, ie: bungalow, bi-level, split-level, etc. Then take a drive around your neighborhood and look for homes similar to yours with For Sale or Sold signs on the lawn. Contact the realtor for details about the sale, some may be willing to give out info, some may not.
4. If you can’t find out any information, not to worry. If you decide to pick up a copy of my book entitled, “How to Lower Your Property Taxes”, I’ll show you how you can get all of this information from your local assessment office. And yes, they’re obligated to give it to you. Don’t let them tell you something else.
That’s it for now. Just get a general (or better) idea for now to save time when you get your assessment notice, because remember, you only have a limited number of days to get your appeal filed should you decide that you are over-assessed.
Assessment notices can be mailed any time during the year depending on the annual cycle that your town or city operates on. Some even get mailed the first week in January, but for the most part, the majority of assessment notices are mailed in early or late spring. Some are mailed with the tax bill included or they mail the bill at a later date, based on that assessed value.
If you have read any previous posts of mine you may recall me talking about the “Delivery of Assessment Services”. Please remember that regardless of where you live in North America, each town or city will have a different method of administering how you receive your assessment notices and tax bills. The “Market Value Standard” is now becoming the benchmark in North America and worldwide for calculating property assessments.
The bottom line, however, as far as you’re concerned, is how much your property is worth and if your assessed value is close to the value shown. You should have in mind what your property is worth going into the new year. Take some time now to do some investigation work if you have no idea what it’s worth. When you get your notice this year, it will save you a lot of time to know in advance what this approximate value is.
Here is a small checklist for you to follow:
1. Pick up the newspaper, find out 2 or 3 realtors who advertise on a regular basis, particularly in your local area. Try to find some that have at least 3-5 years experience being a realtor. This will help enormously as it takes practice and experience to be able to put a proper value on a property. After you’ve selected them, call and ask them for a ballpark figure. It’s not necessary to have a meeting with them until you see what your assessment comes in at.
2. Call 1 or 2 residential appraisers and ask them for a ballpark figure. Some may be agreeable to spending time on the phone without charging you, but some may not.
3. Be familiar with the style of home you have, ie: bungalow, bi-level, split-level, etc. Then take a drive around your neighborhood and look for homes similar to yours with For Sale or Sold signs on the lawn. Contact the realtor for details about the sale, some may be willing to give out info, some may not.
4. If you can’t find out any information, not to worry. If you decide to pick up a copy of my book entitled, “How to Lower Your Property Taxes”, I’ll show you how you can get all of this information from your local assessment office. And yes, they’re obligated to give it to you. Don’t let them tell you something else.
That’s it for now. Just get a general (or better) idea for now to save time when you get your assessment notice, because remember, you only have a limited number of days to get your appeal filed should you decide that you are over-assessed.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Year Ends Coming, do I need to do anything?
The end of the year represents obviously the end of a current calendar year but there are a few things you should be aware of when it comes your property taxes and assessment. One thing that comes to mind is that assessments are always done in arrears. Let’s look at an example.
Lets say you get your assessment notice in June of 2007. This most likely will be based on the following criteria. Your property’s physical condition as of December 31st 2006. And a valuation date of say July 1, 2006. So as you can see what you receive in 2007 is based on historical data from 2006. Generally there are two years of sales analyzed prior to and including July 1, 2006. Sales from June 30th, 2004 to July 1st, 2006 will most likely have been used.
Another thing to keep in mind that can be a sore spot with a lot of taxpayers is the demolition of an old structure on your property. Lets say you live on the inner city and you just demolished your home on January 4th, of this year, 2007. Even if you let your municipality know that this house was demolished then, you will still be paying for the full years taxes because they look at it as a “Business Decision” you made. If you had demolished it a week earlier, before Dec 31st, guess what, in 2008 you’d be paying a heck of a lot less. And no, no matter how much you argue and scream they won’t pro rate it, or change it for you.
However, without getting myself in trouble here, all I can say is sometimes it depends on who you are and how much influence you have with your local officials which unfortunately is sometimes the deciding factor.
Remember also that if you start building your new structure say in June of 2008, you will be responsible for the supplementary assessment notice, pro rated for the number of months the structure was either complete or occupied, whichever occurs first.
So if your demolishing your building, do it in December before December 31st. Remember to keep all proof that your structure was missing on that date in case don’t see your side of the story.
Merry Christmas,
May God Bless your family richly this Christmas and many more to come.
Terry
Lets say you get your assessment notice in June of 2007. This most likely will be based on the following criteria. Your property’s physical condition as of December 31st 2006. And a valuation date of say July 1, 2006. So as you can see what you receive in 2007 is based on historical data from 2006. Generally there are two years of sales analyzed prior to and including July 1, 2006. Sales from June 30th, 2004 to July 1st, 2006 will most likely have been used.
Another thing to keep in mind that can be a sore spot with a lot of taxpayers is the demolition of an old structure on your property. Lets say you live on the inner city and you just demolished your home on January 4th, of this year, 2007. Even if you let your municipality know that this house was demolished then, you will still be paying for the full years taxes because they look at it as a “Business Decision” you made. If you had demolished it a week earlier, before Dec 31st, guess what, in 2008 you’d be paying a heck of a lot less. And no, no matter how much you argue and scream they won’t pro rate it, or change it for you.
However, without getting myself in trouble here, all I can say is sometimes it depends on who you are and how much influence you have with your local officials which unfortunately is sometimes the deciding factor.
Remember also that if you start building your new structure say in June of 2008, you will be responsible for the supplementary assessment notice, pro rated for the number of months the structure was either complete or occupied, whichever occurs first.
So if your demolishing your building, do it in December before December 31st. Remember to keep all proof that your structure was missing on that date in case don’t see your side of the story.
Merry Christmas,
May God Bless your family richly this Christmas and many more to come.
Terry
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Are you feeling Intimidated?
There is no reason to feel that way. If you have reviewed over your record with the Assessor and come to the conclusion that your assessment is still too high, then “IT IS YOUR RIGHT!” to ensure your issues and concerns are dealt with.
Did you walk away from the meeting feeling helpless?
Did feel the Assessor was abrupt or possibly rude?
Did you get the time you felt was needed to address your concerns?
Did you get all the information you needed to make an informed decision on whether your property assessment is too high?
These are some questions you should ask yourself after you have met with your assessor. Keep in mind that the majority of assessment jurisdictions are overburdened with work, combined with a massive retirement transition going on in the field of property assessment. Unfortunately this does not bode well for the average residential homeowner, and also leaves lots of room for errors in your property value.
Remember that your meeting with the Assessor is just the first step and there are literally dozens of steps you can take to achieve success. In my new book entitled, “How To Lower Your Property Taxes”, I will hold you by the hand and assist you with every one of the above steps and even in some cases I tell you what say!
Did you walk away from the meeting feeling helpless?
Did feel the Assessor was abrupt or possibly rude?
Did you get the time you felt was needed to address your concerns?
Did you get all the information you needed to make an informed decision on whether your property assessment is too high?
These are some questions you should ask yourself after you have met with your assessor. Keep in mind that the majority of assessment jurisdictions are overburdened with work, combined with a massive retirement transition going on in the field of property assessment. Unfortunately this does not bode well for the average residential homeowner, and also leaves lots of room for errors in your property value.
Remember that your meeting with the Assessor is just the first step and there are literally dozens of steps you can take to achieve success. In my new book entitled, “How To Lower Your Property Taxes”, I will hold you by the hand and assist you with every one of the above steps and even in some cases I tell you what say!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
