Options for continuing appeal of your Harris County Appraisal District assessed value

By: Patrick O'Connor
Submitted: 2008-02-11 22:37:34
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Harris County Appraisal District assessed values can be appealed after the ARB hearing. For properties with an assessed value of $1,000,000 or less after the ARB hearing, you can choose binding arbitration to appeal market value or a judicial appeal (lawsuit in district court). For properties with a Harris County Appraisal District value in excess of $1,000,000, you can file a judicial appeal.

Binding arbitration and judicial appeals share several characteristics:

  1. You must timely file a property tax protest regarding the Harris County Appraisal District value
  2. You cannot agree to a value at the informal hearing
  3. You must attend the appraisal review board hearing in person or by affidavit
  4. You must act by requesting binding arbitration or filing a lawsuit within 45 days of the date of you receive the formal notice of the ARB hearing results.

Steps 1 through 3 are often referred to as "exhausting your administrative remedies." Multiple court decisions affirm you must file a property tax protest and attend the ARB hearing to be entitled to file a judicial appeal.

Advantages of using binding arbitration to appeal your Harris County Appraisal District value after the ARB hearing include lower cost, speedier decisions, an independent arbitrator who understands valuation and the opportunity to directly address the valuation problem outside of Harris County Appraisal District offices. Costs are lower because you do not need an attorney or an expert witness (likely to be necessary to seriously pursue a judicial appeal against Harris County Appraisal District). Costs of engaging an attorney and expert witness can be substantial, perhaps $3,500 to $20,000 for many real estate cases. For cases involving smaller properties, consider engaging a firm on a contingency fee basis. The Texas Comptroller expects binding arbitration cases to be resolved in 6 months while judicial appeals usually take 8 to 18 months. The arbitrator will be licensed appraisers or real estate agents/brokers and should understand real estate valuation. Even though the arbitrator is a real estate agent or appraiser, they may not be familiar with some types of commercial properties. Attempt to confirm your arbitrator is competent for the subject property.

Disadvantages of binding arbitration include

  • It currently (September 2006) only applies to market value for real estate. (i.e. you can't appeal for unequal appraisal for real estate).
  • There is a $500 deposit required when you request binding arbitration, although $450 is returned if the property owner prevails. In this case, Harris County Appraisal District would pay the $450 arbitration fee. When setting the requested value on the arbitration form, consider not putting the lowest possible value you can request. Include a value for which you can provide impressive documentation.
  • Binding arbitration can't be used for real estate with a Harris County Appraisal District value over $1,000,000 for unequal appraisal, business personal property and mineral interests.

Judicial appeals against Harris County Appraisal District are more expensive but offer more options. You can appeal market value and unequal appraisal for property with any value. Judicial appeals can be used for real estate, mineral interests and business personal property. They can also be used to appeal Harris County Appraisal District when "a property owner has been denied a hearing to which the property owner is entitled." While judicial appeals are more expensive, they offer more options and flexibility.

Property owners should seriously consider appealing the Harris County Appraisal District assessed value after the ARB hearing. Most judicial appeals are successful.

O'Connor & Associates is a national provider of commercial real estate consulting services including cost segregation studies, federal tax reduction, commercial real estate appraisal, income tax, cost segregation, and lease abstractions.

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Taxes category

  • Use the Appraisal District's Information to Reduce Your Property Taxes - By: Patrick C O Connor
    Homeowners are amazed to learn they can obtain a copy of the appraisal district's evidence at a nominal cost. This is referred to as a House Bill 201 package, and is the only information many homeowners use to successfully reduce their property taxes.
  • Tax Return Outsourcing - Cost and Time Effective Services - By: Michelle Barkley
    Tax return outsourcing has simplified the cumbersome task of maintaining tax returns files and data in an efficient manner.
  • Optimise Savings with an Offshore Account - By: Isla Campbell
    Offshore accounts, based in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Ireland, offer many benefits to those wishing to set up a savings account. But what are the advantages of cash conservation offshore.
  • Texas Business Personal Property Rendition and Taxation - By: Patrick C O Connor
    The Texas Property Tax Code for many years had required owners of business personal property (BPP) to annually render those assets used in a business. Rendering is summarizing to the central appraisal district the ownership and value of the assets. Historically, however, over half of all owners of business personal property have not rendered.
  • How to sustain current economic slump? - By: Mark Waltzer
    Small businesses need professional accountants but their services are too expensive so it's better to hire an outsourcing vendor providing cost-effective accounting services and allow them to take your business to next level.
  • Texas Property Tax Appeals - By: Patrick C O Connor
    Texas Property Tax Appeals Steps to Protesting and Reducing Your Property Value Annually
  • Taxes - By: Patrick C O Connor
    Taxes are a levy imposed upon people or legal entities by a governmental entity. There are many forms of taxes including income taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, consumption taxes, excise taxes, retirement taxes, sales taxes, tariffs, toll taxes and transfer taxes. This article focuses on reducing income taxes for real estate owners.
  • Gift Tax Valuations - By: Patrick C O Connor
    Gift tax valuations are prepared for many reasons. Gift tax includes market value of gifts to charity, market value of conservation easements and gifts in excess of annual limit. Well-reasoned planning of gifts can minimize gift taxes, income taxes, and estate taxes.
  • Please keep your hands out of my pockets Uncle Sam!: Business tax savings you should know about. - By: Amar Brown
    Many people are unaware that a business including a home based business can mean thousands of dollars in tax advantages per year. Thousands that you can put back into you pocket. Here are a few tips on keeping Uncle Sam Out of your pockets and keeping more of your hard earned money in.
  • Cost segregation - correctly depreciation real estate 10 - By: Patrick O'Connor
    Depreciation is an important non-cash tax deduction. By increasing tax deductions, commercial property owners affect federal income tax reduction. The increase in tax write-offs generates such a large tax cut that some wonder if it is a tax shelter or tax evasion scheme. It is not. Cost segregation is an IRS-guided process used to increase tax deductions during the tax preparation process. The IRS has provided a detailed explanation of the items that qualify for short-life depreciation and acceptable methodologies for performing a cost segregation study. Cost segregation studies performed by appraisers in compliance with the IRS's Audit Techniques Guide are unlikely to be challenged in an audit. Commercial real estate owners seeking tax advice and tax relief can benefit from reviewing the tax relief available from cost segregation.