Everyone is busy, and it can be difficult to know if appealing your commercial property taxes is worth the effort. If after a review of the proposed tax notice, the majority of the evidence supports a lower assessment, owners should appeal. If the evidence supports the county’s market value, owners should not waste their time and should revisit in the future as values change every year. Owners can either handle the appeals themselves, which takes a considerable amount of time and know how, or they can hire a company like ARE Solutions Property Tax Consulting Service to represent them for $25 up front and 33% of the one-year tax savings.
Sometimes, even if the county market value seems appropriate at first glance, there could be data that is incorrect on county records, which after being corrected would support a lower value. ARE Solutions Property Tax Consulting Service just got finished with a successful property tax appeal where the property appraiser’s square footage was incorrectly listed at over 2,500 sq ft higher than the actual property. After the county visited the building, and measured, they adjusted the sq ft in their records, which lowered the market value and reduced the 2015 tax bill. The owner received a refund from the tax collector since he had already paid the taxes based on the original amount.
If you are sure that your property taxes are fair and the information the county is using is accurate, do not appeal your property taxes, but if there are questions about this, you should go through the appeals process. If, after you file and review, it is determined there is no support for an assessment reduction, you can withdraw your petition at any time without penalty. Also, once the proposed notice is mailed the counties can’t raise your property taxes beyond the values stated in that notice the year of the appeal. In conclusion, take the time to review your property taxes annually, and if the evidence supports a lower value than the county is using to calculate your property taxes, file an appeal as this could result in significant property tax savings.