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.

Nassau Tax Filing Period Extended Again

Nassau real estate tax filing period is now open until April 30, 2020.  You can imagine how high the real estate tax rates will be in the future.  Whether Nassau County will increase assessments is unknown but they will definitely have to increase real estate taxes because of all the extra money they are spending on the coronavirus.   That makes it even more important to file protests/complaints/grievances now to protect yourself. This is no time to be taking a chance.  You should have an experienced tax certiorari expert giving you advice and filing a protective grievance.  Keep safe, keep healthy!

Nassau County Taxes Going Up

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As reported in Newsday, more than half of all Nassau County properties will see tax increases this year.  The re-assessment for 2020/21 was not done accurately and now many of the 2021/22 tax year assessments are increasing.  Since there are so many changes, Nassau extended the protest filing period until April 1^st 2020 – that’s right April Fool’s Day.  As a result of this, you should have the new assessment checked by an experienced Tax Certiorari attorney to decide whether it is important to grieve the new assessment.  It is too late to complain about this year’s increase.  We are now filing complaints to the 2021 taxes!

Nassau Real Estate Tax Changes

The Assessor is still sending out tax assessment changes.  Therefore, the filing period to protest/complain/grievance on commercial and residential properties has been extended from March 1st to April 1st, 2020.

            April 1^st is known as April Fool’s Day – how appropriate.  Do not be fooled if the new assessment is lower than last year.  Assessments are not market values.  Only when you know the ratio for the 2021/22 tax year can you calculate the market value the Assessor is estimating for your property.  We expect the tax rate to increase 10 – 15% on the October 2020 school tax bill. 

            Protect yourself and have the new assessment checked by an experienced practitioner – not a blind mailing that comes to your e-mail and mailbox weekly.

NASSAU TAX ASSESSMENT FILING EXTENDED

Once again the Nassau grievance period to complain about your commercial and residential property real estate tax is extended until April 2, 2020. There were so many changes; many increases and decreases that there is an unprecedented number of filings protesting the assessment.

That means you will continue to get solicitations from “volume house” firms to file tax certiorari protests.  While it is a good idea to have your tax assessment reviewed, it is not every property that is over assessed. 

It is a property is purchased for $800,000 in a neighborhood of $800,000 homes, then filing a grievance when your assessment is only $650,000 might not be a wise idea.

Blindly, filing a tax protest without having it reviewed by an experienced practitioner could be a waste of time and possible increase in future assessments. 

Beware of New Nassau County Assessments

The new Nassau  assessments have been published. Everyone we have checked has had a change from last year. This means every commercial and residential property in Nassau should be rechecked; there might be a ratio change as well. Last year the  commercial ratio was reduced by 7%, which resulted in an increased market value by the Assessor of 7%. Since this is a new year, any property can be protested by Meyer Suozzi even if a different firm filed last year. The filing period is January and February.