Property Tax Appeal

What Is Required To Be Done For A Successful Property Tax Assessment Appeal

In case you find that the independently assessed value of your property is less than 85% of the municipality assessed value, only then do you need to file a property tax assessment appeal. This is because if the independently assessed value is more than 85% of the municipality assessed value, the rules state that the property tax appeal will not be successful.

You need to hire the services of an experienced licensed private assessor to get the independently assessed value of your property. If he finds on evaluation that the municipality assessment is way above the requisite 15% difference, it lays the foundation for a successful appeal.

Thereafter, you need to hire the services of an experienced property tax appeals lawyer to collect all the documentary evidence that will boost your case. After your lawyer completes this important work he can file the appeal on your behalf within the set deadline before the state board of property tax appeals.

Prior to filing the appeal, your lawyer will also collect documentary evidence about the sale prices of a number of comparable properties in the neighborhood of your property. This is a very important portion of the evidence required to be presented before the board. If the sale prices of all the comparable properties each turn out to be less than 85% of the municipality assessed value, such evidence will boost your chances of a successful appeal.

Your lawyer will represent you in the hearing of your case before the board. The municipality assessor's office will be represented by their own lawyer. The latter will try to prove before the board that the real estate property taxes levied on you by the municipality are correct. On the other hand, your lawyer will try to prove before the board that the municipality assessment is incorrect. This he will do by presenting documentary credible evidence.

In certain cases, it may happen that the municipality may have inadvertently applied the incorrect tax classifications to make an assessment of your property. The tax classifications are specified on the Notice of Value postcard sent to your address by the municipality. So, your lawyer will have already studied the classifications applied by the municipal assessor and will have verified the correctness of their applicability.

In case, your lawyer finds that the municipal assessor has erred in applying certain incorrect tax classifications towards the assessment of your property, he will point those out to the board.

After hearing the versions of the case of the two opposing sides, the board will take its decision on the matter and pronounce its judgment on the case. It will be a written judgment. Copies of it will be sent to the county assessor's office and to you.

In case the judgment against your property tax assessment appeal goes in your favor, you will have won the case. The municipal assessor will then have to revise your property tax and property assessment value to a lower figure in line with the judgment.