GETTING YOUR DUCKS IN ORDER- ASSISTING YOUR TAX PROFESSIONAL IN THE EVALUATION OF YOUR TAX APPEALS FOR INCOME-PRODUCING PROPERTIES
Posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 by Joseph G. Ragno
The 2014 tax appeal filing deadline of April 1, 2014* is right around the corner and by now you would have (or should have) given some thought to whether or not you should be appealing the tax assessment on your real estate holdings.
To save time and ensure that the analysis of your assessments is as accurate as possible, you should anticipate what your tax professional will be asking for and begin to get it together. Responsible tax professionals will not file tax appeals without a thorough review of the critical information. In the case of income producing property such as office, retail, apartment buildings or industrial space, to name but a few, your consultant will need, at a minimum, the following:
- Your rent roll as of October 1, 2013
- Your year-end 2013 income and expense statement
- Floor plans and detailed descriptions of the buildings
- Copies of leases (or at least lease abstracts)
Since, as a general rule, income producing property is valued for tax assessment purposes on the basis of its potential to generate net operating income, the rent you are achieving in your property (especially where the leases are recent) and your recent operating expense experience are critical to the analysis. While the Tax Court has admonished that it is not necessarily contract rent but rather economic or market rent which is the starting point in the analysis, new leases negotiated at arm’s length for space in the subject property can be very persuasive and are often instrumental in achieving significant near-term tax relief.
Generally, if you can provide the information listed above, an experienced property tax professional can quickly ascertain whether or not you have a meritorious case. If you have any questions about your tax assessment, the tax appeal process or the items needed to analyze potential tax appeals, please allow us to guide you through the process.
*The state-wide deadline for filing 2014 tax appeals is April 1, 2014. However, in municipalities where revaluations or town-wide reassessments have been implemented this year, the deadline will be May 1.