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.

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.

Nassau County Assessment Review Offer of Reduction

The Assessment Review Commission is sending out offers to reduce the assessment for the 2020/21 tax year based on 1% of value.  Most of the offers that I have reviewed are not good offers and should be rejected. A petition should be filed in April for a hearing. The assessment for 2020/21 being set at a lower assessment is not necessarily a fair market value. The only way to know is to do the math and compare the 2019/20 assessment which was calculated at only .6% of value.  The 2020/21 assessment at 1% of value is a whole different value.

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Let the taxpayer be aware!

Who Has The Legal Right To Protest The Real Estate Tax?

The New York State Court of Appeals has narrowed the permissible class of taxpayers authorized to grieve the real estate taxes on any property in New York.  Merely paying the taxes is not enough.  The taxpayer, other than the owner, must have the contractual obligation to pay the taxes as well as directly paying the taxes.

Merely being a triple net tenant is not enough.  Tenants must insist on appropriate terms in their lease if they want the right to protest the taxes.

New Assessments and Increased Rates

The 2019/20 school tax bills are out and have mostly increased over the last year.  The new 2021 assessments will be out in January 2020. 

Complaints to the new assessments must be made by February 28, 2020.  We expect the 2020 tax rates to increase next year by 20% or more since there were so many complaints to the revaluations assessments.

It’s a complicated system that requires the taxpayer to complain about the new assessments in January of each year, although the taxes based on that assessment will not be known for almost two years later.

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The taxpayer must protest or pay on the new assessment without knowing what the taxes will be!

Nassau Real Estate Taxes – Going Up Again

You might have received a notice that your real estate taxes will be lower in 2020 – don’t count on it.  Since the 2020/21 re-assessment was made there have been thousands of protests/complaints/grievances and corrections.  It is already too late to complain about the taxes and assessment for next year.

Tax rates will have to increase to offset the many assessment reductions that will be made.  

Be ready to file a complaint to the new assessment that will be ready in January 2020.  By the way, the County is dismissing complaints that have unreadable signatures unless they are corrected within 35 days of a notice to dismiss for a “defective authorization”.

If Nassau Tax Assessment is Wrong - You Can File for Correction

With the 420,000 plus reassessments, there were bound to be many errors. Well, the Assessor’s office outdid themselves and there are hundreds of out-and-out mistakes.

Petitions to correct market value judgment calls have already been filed. However, we can file applications to correct mistakes throughout the year. A typical mistake would be a property with 1/2 acre mistakenly coded as 2 acres, a 3 family residence incorrectly coded as a 4 unit commercial rooming house; a commercial industrial building mistakenly coded as fully rented although it is vacant. Mistakes happen and that is why the application to correct errors must be made before the tax bills are prepared for next year.

2020/21 Nassau Re-Assessment Woes

It is shocking how many times a day prospective clients complain about the market value increases on their commercial or residential property. The protest period is now.

Actually, the increase or decrease in assessment or market value is relatively unimportant.  What is vital is the new market value and how it compares to reality. That is why you need to have an expert compare the re-assessment value with what the property is worth for TAX ASSESSMENT PURPOSES.  Building a very expensive home should not be assessed at that cost if it is out of line with the average values of homes in the area.  A retail store should not be assessed based on its lease if it is a franchise property and assessed much higher than locally owned similar size stores.

Assessments are supposed to be uniform and true to market values; the current re-assessment has placed many properties outside of the proper valuation.

Taxes are Up - Market Values are Up

Welcome to January 2019 and the new Nassau tax bill and the re-assessment for commercial and residential properties for 2020/21. You might find this hard to believe, but (you knew there was a but coming); the notice you received before the New Year is not necessarily correct. The assessor made thousands of changes, so far.

The only way to know what the proposed assessment will be for 2020/21 is to check the January 2, 2019 assessment roll. Even then you will not know the tax impact for that new assessment. The tax rates for the 2019/20 assessments are not even close to being calculated. The 2020/21 tax bills are 22 months away! The only prudent approach is to have an expert check your new assessment to determine if a protest should be filed.

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!