Key 6 – Use the Right Tool for the Right Job
Based on the type of opposition you will face above, you need to make sure you have the right professionals on your team. Although property owners can appear in front of local boards, almost all commercial tax appeals have attorneys or tax appeal consultants represent the owners. Corporations are required to be represented by an attorney in court. Their time is expensive, so use them wisely.
A common problem is deciding whether to have your tax division handle the rest of the case, hire a tax appeal consultant, hire an appraiser or some combination of these three. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
- A tax appeal consultant or attorney generally gets paid a percentage of the tax savings, usually 25 to 50 percent. The advantage is that they only get paid if they win. The disadvantage is that they are always perceived as an advocate for your position, so they may present only the bad, whereas the Assessor will present only the good. They very often pass on raw expenses to you such as an appraisal. As an advocate, their degree of influence on members of a board, jury or court judge can be limited by their very relationship with you.
- Your tax division, or in house counsel, can often be a good substitute for a tax appeal consultant, but you will incur the overhead regardless of the result
- The appraiser can be an expensive proposition, but he/she offers several important advantages. The 2000 Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice made it illegal for an appraiser to do contingent fee appraisals, so as long as he/she is licensed or belongs to an appraisal organization that adheres to USPAP, he will be viewed as objective. Should the case go to State Court, you will be required to hire the appraiser anyway (certainly, if you know it will be debated in court, hire the appraiser). Another advantage is the appraiser is often the only person who knows how to argue value, the state of the market, and physical factors that should result in a lower assessment. The primary disadvantage is that the appraiser’s fee must be paid regardless of the outcome and his/her expert witness testimony can be expensive if billed on a per hour basis.
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1 6 Keys To Successful Tax Assessment Appeals - Seven Part Series // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:02 pm
[...] Keys to Successful Tax Appeals - Part 7 -. Key 6 – Use the Right Tool for the Right Job - Based on the type of opposition you will face above, you need to make sure you have the right professionals on your team. Although property owners can appear in front of local boards, almost all commercial tax appeals have attorneys or tax appeal consultants represent the owners. Corporations are required to be represented by an attorney in court. Their time is expensive, so use them wisely. [...]
2 7 Keys To Successful Tax Assessment Appeals - Seven Part Series // Jun 30, 2008 at 1:29 pm
[...] Keys to Successful Tax Appeals - Part 7 -. Key 6 – Use the Right Tool for the Right Job - Based on the type of opposition you will face above, you need to make sure you have the right professionals on your team. Although property owners can appear in front of local boards, almost all commercial tax appeals have attorneys or tax appeal consultants represent the owners. Corporations are required to be represented by an attorney in court. Their time is expensive, so use them wisely. [...]
3 7 Keys To Successful Tax Assessment Appeals - Eight Part Series // Jun 30, 2008 at 2:34 pm
[...] Keys to Successful Tax Appeals - Part 7 -. Key 6 – Use the Right Tool for the Right Job - Based on the type of opposition you will face above, you need to make sure you have the right professionals on your team. Although property owners can appear in front of local boards, almost all commercial tax appeals have attorneys or tax appeal consultants represent the owners. Corporations are required to be represented by an attorney in court. Their time is expensive, so use them wisely. [...]
4 10 Keys To Successful Tax Assessment Appeals - Twelve Part Series // Jul 2, 2008 at 2:05 pm
[...] Keys to Successful Tax Appeals - Part 7 -. Key 6 – Use the Right Tool for the Right Job - Based on the type of opposition you will face above, you need to make sure you have the right professionals on your team. Although property owners can appear in front of local boards, almost all commercial tax appeals have attorneys or tax appeal consultants represent the owners. Corporations are required to be represented by an attorney in court. Their time is expensive, so use them wisely. [...]
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