Remedies When Real Estate Tax is Too High

Answer:

As a skilled Delaware County Estate Attorney, clients often ask about remedies if your estate tax is too high. If you’ve received your tax bill and believe it’s too high, you have a remedy and recourse for appealing it with the county.

The way in which your tax bill in Pennsylvania works is that there is a certain office in each of the counties called the Real Estate Tax Assessor. The assessor’s job is to determine the real value or the market value of your property. They reach an assessment and then issue the tax bill and the tax bill is based upon the millage times the value of your assessment.

There are a several factors involved in this process; some are under your control and some are under the county’s control. Each year, the County Assessor has the obligation to enter into an assessment. This is done it by virtue of a computer program that establishes the tax assessment based on values as of 1998. It’s a little bit of an antiquated process, but that’s the method the county has set for reaching your assessment amount.

Another factor involved in your assessment is the fair market value of that particular real estate property. The tax assessor makes this assessment, and may assess it high, low, or keep it where it is each year.

When you get your tax bill each year, you have an opportunity to say, “Well, my property went down because of certain circumstances.” This is your chance to make the claim that you are being over-assessed.

Tax appeals in Delaware County, Pennsylvania can be filed at the Tax Bureau between March 15 and August 1. To file in other counties, you’ll just want to confirm the filing dates; the process for filing an appeal will be similar.

It’s a very simple process where you fill out a form; go to the tax assessor’s office, and say, “I want to make an appeal for my real estate tax assessment.”

They process the appeal, which is ultimately determined in a hearing. In between the time that you file the appeal and the time that they hold that hearing, it’s your obligation to make your argument that you believe that your fair market value is either higher or lower than what the tax assessor has determined. This will involve either presenting the case yourself or retaining an appraiser to do it for you.

If you take this on yourself, you say, “My property is over assessed because you have it valued at too high and it’s not that value.” You then must produce photos for them of what we call equitable values on other properties or comparable values (“comps”) to other properties in the area.

If you choose to have an appraiser get the comps for you, they go out and look at the property and look at the comparable values in the neighborhood. The appraiser then arrives at a number that says your value is over or under what your tax assessment is.

If the assessor believes you have a case that your value is over assessed and/or they determine the fair market value to be too high, you then go to the Real Estate Tax Assessment Appeal Hearing and make your case.

The hearing process is rather quick because they pretty much know a lot of the properties in the particular townships and regions, and group the hearings accordingly. When they listen to your argument, having reviewed your property information ahead of time. They’ll listen to you and add any relevant information to your written document.

They will then assess your fair market value, applying what is called, “the common level ratio” (CLR), which is about 67.8% of your property value. If your assessment is higher than that CLR, then you will most likely get an increase in your assessment. If the determination of your fair market value is lower, then you will get a reduction in your assessment because it’s all based on that formula.

As a knowledgeable Delaware County Employment Attorney, I would say at that point, they will probably issue an award or a decision about your property value. If you are unhappy with it, you could possibly take an appeal to the Common Pleas court, but that is usually not that successful and you’re pretty much limited to it.

You can do this is tax assessment “check” process can be done annually, every time you receive your bill.

Another route to having your property reassessed is if you have made an improvement; added an addition, put in a swimming pool, increased the size, added a bedroom. The The building permits will trigger the tax assessor to come out and say, “We want to look at your property, as it’s been reconstructed or improved. At that point, they will issue you an interim tax notice. The interim tax notice says they have looked at your property and think the fair market value has gone up $50,000 to $100,000 and will issue you a new assessment based upon that.

You also have the right to appeal that assessment. It’s basically the same process discussed above. You seek homes comparable to your improved home to show the assessor’s value is way too high and the assessment should be reduced. If you are successful, the assessor will reduce their assessment value and your tax bill will not go up as much as they would have otherwise raised it.

This educational blog was brought to you by experienced Real Estate Lawyer Walter J. Timby. Our law firm proudly represents clients throughout Delaware County, as well as Pennsylvania, the greater Philadelphia area, and New Jersey.

If you have any questions about remedies if your real estate tax is too high, please contact our Delaware County Real Estate Attorneys for a free case evaluation. Let our experience work for you.