Recent Feedback
Is it legal for the township of Pleasantville NJ to request a balance sheet on my rental income property (9 units total, 5 commercial & 4 residential for the purpose of aseesssing my property taxes for 2010? I'm already paying them 21K a year and I'm worried that they'll raise my taxes even further to help fund they're inner city redevelopment project. I have 45 days to submit the info otherwise they're telling me I'll waive my right to appeal my taxes for 2010. They shouldn't have a right to my personal financials. I feel like I'm being blackmailed. Thanks for your assistance. Sincerely, Steve Ritondo
Thanks for your question. Well you have a tough choice here. If you don't give it to them they may set a default rate and your taxes may be set higher. They can ask for this if it goes to setting your taxes. You may want to have a lawyer interevene here and see if he can limit disclosure or negotiate reduction in this situation.If you want your appeal considered you will have ot forward the information rothey dismiss the appeal here and you don't want that.
Experience: 25 years in civil, criminal, family, probate, elder issues, and administrative law
More information here. You have the burden to show incorrectness. So you have to provide information."When appealing a tax assessment, it is very important to understand how the presumption of correctness works. Once a tax assessor imposes an assessment, the County Tax Board and Tax Court are required to presume that the tax assessment is valid and the taxpayer is required to rebut the presumption by cogent evidence. The New Jersey Tax Court has held that in order to overcome the presumption, the taxpayer must produce evidence that is “definite, positive and certain in quality and quantity.” This is a difficult standard to comprehend, but clearly requires a good showing by the property owner. " "The presumption of correctness permits a tax assessor to win a tax appeal without producing any evidence at all, a tactic used by many revaluation companies in defending tax appeals. For example, if a taxpayer presents sales that are not very comparable because they are too old, not in the same town, or otherwise not very similar to the property under appeal, the tax assessor or revaluation company can merely argue that the presumption of correctness has not been overcome and the assessment cannot be changed. If the taxpayer produces “pretty good” comparable sales, the tax assessor or revaluation company can but merely challenge the comparability of the sales offered by the property owner and argue that once again the taxpayer has not produced sufficient evidence to overcome the presumption. This is very frustrating to property owners because they end up losing a tax appeal without the tax assessor or revaluation company submitting any evidence of value. " "It is very important to understand that the tax assessor and revaluation company have no obligation to come forward with comparable sales and can merely rely upon the presumption of correctness in defending a tax appeal. Since the presumption is a hurdle that is somewhat difficult to overcome, it is a good idea to appear before the Tax Board or Tax Court with a competent appraiser. However, depending upon the size of the tax assessment, it may not be cost effective to pay for an appraisal. If a property owner chooses to proceed without an appraiser, it must come armed with very good evidence in order to over come the presumption of validity. "
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