Jan 07 Real Estate Owners: Are you Entitled to a Reduction in Your Taxes?

New Jersey and New York continue to have one of the highest property tax burdens in the country.  As a result of market changes in the values of real estate relative to their equalized tax assessments, there may be opportunity to have your real property taxes appealed.  This includes all classes of property such as Commercial, Retail, Industrial, Multifamily, Residential, and Hospitality.  An annual analysis of your property(s) tax assessment(s) to determine if it has been properly assessed is recommended.

So, what does this have to do with lowering your taxes?  Well, property taxes are based on a tax rate multiplied by your assessed value and your assessment may just be too high!   As a result, you may have a basis to appeal your assessment and reduce your property taxes.

We suggest you review your 2020 property tax assessment with your legal advisor to determine if a tax appeal should be considered.   New Jersey municipalities are required to provide you with a written notice of your annual assessment on or before February 1, 2020, and any tax appeal to challenge the assessment generally has to be filed by April 1, 2020.   Monmouth County is an exception and has an earlier deadline.

New York City normally issues annual tax assessments by January 15 and has a tax appeal filing deadline of March 1, 2020 for Class 2, 3 and 4 properties and March 15, 2020 for Class 1 properties.

We recommend if you haven’t already done so, that you act now to review the potential merit for filing a tax appeal on your property. Don’t hesitate to contact a Sax Real Estate advisor if you need further information or guidance at (973) 472-6250 or visit www.saxllp.com.

Joseph Shannon, CPA is a Partner at Sax and Head of the firm’s Real Estate Practice.  He has over 25 years of experience in public accounting and provides industry-specific advisory services to developers, lessors and other property owners.