Do I Really Have a Case to Grieve my Taxes?

Determining if you have a strong tax grievance case is important, mostly because you want to save more money than what you spend in the process.

When grieving your taxes, you argue that the assessor’s estimate of your property’s value is greater than the property’s actual market value. The assessment is assumed to be correct. The burden of proof is on you and/or your tax representative.

The assessor does not have to be right on the dollar.  The courts have supported the concept of “rough equity” which by common practice in this area is about 5%. So, if the “actual” market value of your property is within about 5% of the assessed market value, it is probably not considered over assessed. 

Since property valuation is somewhat subjective you want to have a strong case. In order to have a strong case the difference between the assessed market value and the “actual” value of your property should be at least 10%.  If the “actual” market value of your property is 90% or less of the assessed market value, then your property is probably over assessed. 

If you have any questions, feel free to call Vergara Fox & Associates at (914) 610-0951. We offer a free, no-obligation phone consultation.

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Proving the Value of your Property

How can you establish “proof” of the value of propertywhen grieving your taxes?

 To successfully grieve your assessment, you need to prove that the property’s actual market value is less than what the municipality states. To establish the value of your property the following information may be useful:

• A credible appraisal of your property
• Purchase price of the property, if recent
• Offering price of your property, if recently listed for sale
• Cost of construction, if recently built
• Comparable sales (these are provided in an appraisal)

Most of the above “proofs” are time sensitive. Most assessor’s consider “recent” within 6-12 months of the valuation date depending on the type of house and market conditions. The valuation date for some municipalities can be up to a year prior to the grievance period. For example, the grievance period for Eastchester is 6/1/2011-6/14/2011 but the valuation date is 7/10/2010.

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