January 2023 New Nassau Taxes

Another tax year starts in January and regardless of the assessment for most properties the overall general and school taxes are slated to increase because of the 2020 revaluation.

The tax bill you receive in January must be paid even if you believe it is too high. Unless you filed a grievance last year it is too late to complain about the taxes. The grievance period starting in January and is to complain about the 2024/2025 taxes. Yes, you have to complain about the assessment almost two years in advance even though the tax bills will not be ready until October 2024.

The safest plan is to check the new assessment in January and have an experienced reputable tax certiorari firm look at that assessment to determine if the assessment and taxes can be lowered.

Remember, the Assessor is not your friend!

The Nassau Grievance Period January 2, 2023

If you believe that your taxes are high it is too late to protest now.

Protests to assessments have to be filed more than a year in advance to give the Assessor the opportunity to correct the assessment.

In January, new assessments will be published and you can protest the 2024/2025 taxes.

Yes, it is only January 2023 and the new tax bill that you would be complaining does not come out until October 2024. So there is 22 months for hearings and conferences which allows the assessment department to work on the protests and hopefully reduce the assessments.

You should definitely have your assessment checked in January for Nassau County and the new assessments for Suffolk are published in May 2023.

Remember, the Assessor is not your friend.

Nassau Tax Assessments are Frozen - but are they correct?

The Nassau Assessor has again failed to correct assessments that are too high and instead uses the same assessments that were used for the 2020/21 tax year.

Due diligence and simple protections require the new 2023 assessments to be checked to see if they are correct; assessments are only part of the tax picture as the ratio of assessment to market value changes almost every year and the Covid pandemic has certainly changed values.

The tax rates have risen dramatically since the 2020 re-assessment and even if the assessment stays the same the taxes might be higher.

That is why it is important to have the assessment checked during this filing period now open until April 30, 2022 with an experienced tax certiorari attorney.

Stay alert for correspondence from the Assessor and stay safe.

The Nassau County Real Estate Tax Assessment Fiasco

 

Nassau County does not assess commercial and residential properties at full value. That would be too transparent and taxpayers would really know how the Assessor values the property. Instead, the Nassau Assessor, from time immemorial, uses a ratio of assessment to market value. Even the ratio of 1% that they show on the web site has now been changed for purposes of filing a complaint to the assessment.

After several years of no change for Nassau assessments, every property was re-assessed. Not only a new assessment but a new ratio of assessment to market value. Many properties that had been granted assessment reductions, were re-assessed at a higher value and many properties that had not been granted assessment reductions were re-assessed at a lower value. Having a lower assessment does not mean that the assessment is now correct you can still protest the assessment.

Generalizations do not work when correctly valuing over 430,000 distinct and different properties regardless of a re-assessment increase or decrease. Most properties paid a higher school tax this October 2021 and will most likely have a higher tax in January. Yes, tax rates increase almost every year but that does not mean you have to simply pay that tax without making sure the assessment is correct.

The only way to protect yourself from higher taxes, in the future, is to protest your assessment this January with a reputable experienced tax attorney.

Nassau County Real Estate Tax Assessment Increases

Nassau County re-assessed every residential and commercial property for 2020/2021 tax year.

Many assessments increased and most properties experienced higher tax rates, even properties with assessment reductions might have higher taxes because the tax rates increased for every property in the same school district.

The bad news is that many assessments increased and only part of the increased assessments are taxed; the phase-in of the assessments and taxes will continue to increase over the next 4 years.

The good news is that an assessment reduction now will stop that increase or, at least, reduce that increase. That means you must protest your real estate tax assessment in the coming filing period - January 1, 2022 - March 1, 2022. We have successfully reduced hundreds of reassessment increases last year.

The taxes you are paying now had to have been protested last year. If you do not protest the assessment in this filing period, you will be paying higher taxes next year.

2021 Year of Pandemic and Higher Taxes

 

Real Estate Taxes will be increasing. Nassau and Suffolk Counties are in dire straits because of the pandemic. The assessments were set before the pandemic so now assessments should be lowered.

The filing of protests in January 2021 are to lower the assessments in 2022. We expect the taxes to remain at a high level because of lower sales tax revenues and NYS payments to school districts have also been cut and those protesting should receive lower assessments because of the new taxes.

You cannot wait until you receive a tax bill to protest. It is too late to complain about the October 2020 school tax bills. You must file your complaint/grievance/protest a year in advance to give the Assessors the opportunity to make corrections and lower the assessments. Due diligence means having your assessment checked when the new assessments are published in 2021- that is essential.

We hope for some federal money to help the municipalities but we cannot count on that.

Be alert and stay safe!

Suffolk County Tax Filing Extended

Suffolk County extends time to protest taxes. The towns of Babylon, Huntington, Islip, Brookhaven, Smithtown, Riverhead, Southampton, East Hampton have a deadline of June 16th, while every other town allows grievances to be filed until June 23, 2020. Because of COVID-19, every municipality is going to have to raise tax rates. That is why it is very important to have your commercial and residential tax assessment checked now by a professional. New York State will most likely reduce aid to school districts so those taxes will increase next year even though there is no regular school at the moment. The tax assessment filings are really for next year’s taxes but must be protested now.

The Courts are open for filing and new assessments have to be checked. Even if there was a reduction last year or no changes for a few years; you still should have the market value checked as the ratio might have changed.