What You Need to Know About Nassau County Commercial Property Tax Grievance – Due Dates & More
The deadline for property tax grievance in Nassau County changes slightly each year. The current deadline was extended to April 30, 2022 and we will provide the updated deadline for 2023 when it is set.
Realty Tax Challenge (RTC) has helped commercial real estate clients reduce their NY property taxes for over 25 years. We have had great success reducing taxes for commercial property owners of the following property types: Assisted Living, Self-Storage Facilities, Hotels/Motels, Funeral Homes, Warehouses, Manufacturing Plants, Medical, Retail, Office, Auto Dealerships, Marinas, Golf Courses and more.
Many commercial property owners own multiple locations throughout Long Island. It’s important to understand that the tax grievance process in Long Island is different in Nassau County than Suffolk County. Let’s take a look at what the process is for filing your commercial tax grievance is in Nassau County and why you would want to grieve.
Why Grieve / Appeal Your Property Taxes?
NY State taxes, especially on Long Island, are among the highest real estate taxes in the country and continue to increase. You could lose up to 35% of your commercial building’s operating income towards paying taxes. If the property tax assessor has over-assessed the real value of your property, you could be losing a lot of money that you shouldn’t have to pay. That’s unfair to you and can be very expensive to overlook. If you don’t challenge your taxes, it can cost you thousands of dollars a year in missed savings, as well as a potential tax refund. Why wouldn’t you try to reduce one of your biggest expenses?
How Does This Work?
The tax amount that you pay is based on the assessment and the tax rate. Every municipality decides on an estimated value for your commercial building and land. You, as the property owner, are billed for real estate taxes based on this assessment and the tax rate. You cannot lower the tax rate, that is your portion of the total tax obligation, which is always determined by the municipality.
However, what you can try to lower is the assessed value of your property. You do this by filing a tax grievance with the Nassau County ARC (Assessment Review Commission) by the deadline that Nassau County sets each year. Property owners that file grievances have an equalization rate used on their properties that is more favorable than that of owners who do not file.
For commercial properties in Nassau County, as part of the grievance filing process, you include documentation that shows that your property’s real value is not worth what the municipality has assessed it at. The estimated values used for calculating taxes are not very accurate, so you need to show your properties real value. You do this by documenting the issues or downsides that your property has. As your tax consultants, we will evaluate your property before filing a grievance petition with Nassau County, and if we find there is not enough of a difference in the assessments, then no petition will be filed. We only move forward if we think we can file a successful appeal.
You need to work with the company that is the most experienced and knowledgeable in the business at understanding real property values. At Realty Tax Challenge (RTC), our focus is on valuation. There are so many factors that can affect your assessments that you may not even realize. Other firms file cookie cutter grievances and don’t consider the wide range of factors which affect the valuation of your building.
We are experts at valuation, and we leverage that expertise in every one of our negotiations. We don’t just file a basic grievance. We utilize our unique and agile trend analysis to ensure you save the most money.
Here are a few examples of factors that affect your assessment, and therefore your valuation:
- Fast food locations without a drive-through have seen valuations drop because of COVID-related customer hesitancy
- The condition of the property
- Local crime statistics
- Use of adjacent land
- Traffic patterns
- Amount of usable space within your square footage
- Environmental factors like radon, soil contamination, erosion
- Exemptions
- Condition of the HVAC system
- Market saturation
We can also take over your existing grievance. We will follow up on status and also see where we can make a stronger case. A stagnant appeal does not account for the ever-changing real estate market which could affect the value of your property.
New York State ranks #47 out of 50 on a rating of the worst Property Taxes in the country for 2019-2022, according to the Tax Foundation. Nassau County regularly ranks 1st or 2nd as having the highest taxes of any county in the entire country.
Other important aspects to consider:
- You should file to grieve your taxes annually. Even if your petition is denied one year, you can file for the next. The market is constantly changing and values fluctuate so you should never miss an opportunity to file annually. If you work with RTC, we will renew your appeal each year.
- The process of grieving your commercial taxes does not have instantaneous results, but the long-term value is great. If you file annually, every year you will be receiving the highest possible savings on your property taxes and that can seriously add up over the life of your ownership of the property.
- There are no out-of-pocket costs so there is nothing to risk by filing. There is no fee until we have obtained a reduction so we have every incentive to succeed and save you money.
- It is against New York State law for taxes to be raised due to a grievance filing. You can rest easy knowing that your taxes will never be increased or your property assessed higher as a result of your filing a grievance. Your property taxes can only go down.
- The value of your property will increase if your assessment is lowered. This has a positive effect on the value.
- The earlier you contract with a Long Island property tax grievance consultant like Realty Tax Challenge, the better. This ensures you will not forget and miss the annual deadline and allows us time to thoroughly review and prepare your case. Even if the grievance deadline is not coming up, you can sign up with us today and we will get to work on preparing your grievance for the current tax year. Don’t wait!
Ok Great. How Do I get Started?
Call us at 914-348-9473, email us at info@propertytaxrefund.com, or fill out the contact form to begin the process. We look forward to working hard to save you money on your taxes!
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