New Nassau Re-Assessments

The 2020 Nassau reassessment notices use the 2017/18 assessment and market value and taxes to compare with the projected 2020/21 market value and taxes. This is not a good comparison as the 2017/18 market value was based on an old, out-of-date ratio of .25%. For many of our commercial and residential clients, we successfully reduced the assessment in 2018/19 and 2019/20. You should have a qualified attorney review the tentative 2020/21 assessment to advise you, if a protest should be filed in January 2019.

Let the taxpayer be aware!

New Real Estate Tax Assessments - Is the Nassau Assessor’s office ready?

I just came back from a family get together in Washington D.C. The tour of the Capital was (as always) exciting, especially because we had our almost 8-year-old, Grandson with us.

I came back to a considerable number of e-mails and phone calls from clients, both commercial and residential, who received their new assessments and increased (mostly exaggerated) market values. There are just not enough tax assessment personnel to deal with the tens of thousands of taxpayers faced with very large real estate tax forecasts.

January 2, 2019, is the date for the new Congress to be sworn in and for the protest of tax assessments filing period to begin.

Nassau Re-Assessment Notices

County Assessor’s notices of re-assessment of residential and commercial properties have started to be sent out. The house assessments are now being assessed at .1% of value. If your re-assessment is 498 the assessor is valuing your home at $498,000. Because the residential assessments were really being valued at .14% the new ratio increases the assessor’s estimate of value by almost 40%. That means the same assessment as last year is actually a 40% increase. What is the effect on taxes - no one knows now. The new assessment affects next year’s tax bill - not now.

Confusing assessment - it sure is and means you must have your value checked and protest the new assessment this January. 

Let the taxpayer beware!

Nassau County Commercial and Residential Property Tax Assessment

In a few weeks, every property in Nassau County will have a new assessment, a new ratio of assessment to market value and a new market value. The assessment by itself is only part of the tax bill. Since almost all Long Island properties are assessed at only a fraction of true value; it is the ratio of assessment to market value that indicates the market value the assessor is using to tax your property. If a property is assessed at 1% then you have to multiply the assessment by 100 to find the market value the assessor is using to tax your property. If the ratio is .25% you have to multiply the assessment by 400.

Incredibly, the assessment ratio on the MyNassauProperty.com website has been out of date for 8 years. Your new assessment should be checked to see what market value the assessor is using to tax your property.

Let the taxpayer beware!

Nassau Re-Assessment - Uncertainly

County Executive Laura Curran is uncertain how the re-assessment of all Nassau residential and commercial properties will be valued.

Now the County website mynassauproperty.com assesses residential property at .25% of value but really it is .14% of value. For example - a typical 1,280 assessment is listed as a value of $512,000 using the .25% ratio. In reality, when we attend hearings, residential properties this year are assessed at .14% making the Nassau Assessor’s estimate of value $914,285. If your property was appraised at about $600,000 checking the county website you think you are under assessed at $512,000. My analysis reveals, you are very over assessed at $914,285 and I can get you an assessment reduction. The commercial assessment is listed at .1% of value but really it’s .06% of value. Confusing? It will be more confusing if the ratio of assessment to market value, also called the equalization rate changes again. Hopefully, we will know what the plan is in November so we can plan what to do in January.

New Nassau Assessor - New Assessments

We welcome Nassau’s new Assessor, David Moog, and the anticipated customer-friendly assessment department. Be ready for promised new Nassau County assessments in early November.

If assessments are not at 100% of market value, then the assessments don’t explain much. For example, if you receive an assessment of 715 on your home, multiply that assessment
by 700 to find out what the Nassau Assessor estimates are the market value of your house.
(For example, 715 assessment multiplied by 700 equals $500,000.

On commercial properties it is similar; multiply the assessment by about 150 to find out what the Nassau Assessor estimates the market value of your commercial property. A commercial
assessment of 7,000 multiplied by 150 equals 1,050,000.

The January 2019 assessments might be at the same number; however, until there is a clear understanding of the relationship of assessment to market value, you cannot determine the Assessor’s estimate of market value.

Bottom line, check your assessment now and have an expert check the new assessment in January 2019.

South Hampton Town Taxes Up

All over the Hamptons, the new tax assessments indicate increased market values. This means the assessors are using new sales to raise similar properties’ assessments. In many cases, the increase is exaggerated and too high. The protest period is only for another week and ends on May 15^th, 2018.

You can’t get a tax reduction without filing a timely protest. 

International Be Kind To Lawyers Day

International Be Kind To Lawyers Day is celebrated on the second Tuesday in April every year. This year, the day falls on April 10th. International Be Kind To Lawyers Day is dedicated to honor and thank the lawyers who were of help in some ways to everyone. Lawyers may have a lousy impression among the public, but it is a vital profession for the society and the justice system. The profession has always been subject to jokes and seen as an evil job by general people. The profession revolves around the perception that lawyers are charging an exorbitant amount of money to exploit the public and that their aim is to win the case by any means necessary, even if it means abusing the legal system. This day is to spread the awareness that many of these perceptions are myths and some lawyers do practice law with ethics.

Islip, Huntington, Babylon, All Suffolk Real Estate Taxes

Now you see an increase in take home pay – when you pay your Federal Income Tax next year, your real estate taxes will be capped; along with your NYS Income Tax. More than ever, you must make sure to get your real estate taxes as low as possible. You can only protest next year’s taxes by filing a tax certiorari complaint/grievance from May 1, - May 15, 2018. 

Commercial taxes are based on real estate rental value, not business value. Residential taxes are based on sales of similar properties in the same school district.

You need an expert to guide you. Properties with low taxes have more value when offered for sale.

Suffolk May Be One County, But Many Taxing Districts

A $700,000 home in Huntington is assessed at 4,830 which is .69% of its market value; and a similar $700,000 home across the way in Islip is assessed at 11.35% of market value. So it’s not easy to compare the tax assessments for a property in Huntington and a similar property is Islip. It is even more difficult if one home is in a village and a similar home is in the same town but not in a village. There are hundreds of different taxing districts in Suffolk County. If there are 10 gasoline stations in the 10 Suffolk Towns each one will have a different assessment and a different tax rate. But wait that’s not all – the tax rates and ratio of assessment to market value change every year for most, if not all, of the hundreds of districts. That is why assessments for every commercial and residential property should be checked each and every year!

No Joke! Nassau County Assessment Protest Period Extended to April Fool’s Day

Nassau County has extended the protest filing period for real estate tax assessment reduction for all commercial and residential properties until April 1, 2018.

It is absolutely appropriate to end the period on April Fool’s Day! The Nassau County website, mynassauproperty.com, presents a market value on properties that is fooling you. The County’s market value is based on an old outdated ratio of assessment to market value. In reality, the market value the Nassau Assessor is basing the assessment on is 50% higher. So, a residential market value estimate on the County’s website of $600,000 is really a $1,000,000 value. A commercial market value estimate on the County’s website of $1,000,000 is really $1,550,000!

Every residential and commercial property in Nassau should be checked to see if an application to reduce the assessment should be made.

Richard Fromewick Authors, “Nassau County Real Estate Tax Increase In 2018”

A new year and a new higher real estate tax assessment! This is certainly a difficult way for Laura Curran’s Democratic Administration to start off the New Year – being handed a broken system and having to handle numerous complaints from angry residents who don’t understand that it will take time to correct the underlying tax assessment problem in Nassau County.   

In addition to residential real estate tax assessments, there are hundreds of millions of dollars owed for overpayment of real estate taxes to commercial property owners. It will take some imaginative thinking to reform the way the assessment system has “not worked” the last eight years. The challenge will be to correct inaccurate assessments early, before years of excessive taxes are collected. There is also a challenge to taxpayers to keep good records and to be in a position to prove over assessments, if warranted. The Nassau and New York City protest period begins now and is open until February 28, 2018. Suffolk protests start in May.