Savvy commercial real estate professionals keep property-tax planning on their checklists for acquisitions and capital projects.
Why? Because they know that considering property taxes early can save money and reduce hassle later, whether the project is acquiring a business that owns real estate, developing real estate, remodeling a property or adding to existing improvements. And given that businesses overall spend more on property tax than any other state and local tax, considering property tax while planning these projects is a valuable opportunity to improve the bottom line.
The first step is to identify how the acquisition or other proposed actions might affect the property's taxable value. This depends on the local jurisdiction's assessing practices and on how an assessor will relate the sale price or project cost to taxable market value.
States treat sales information in varying ways. Ohio, for example, presumes a property's sale price to be its market value for calculating property taxes. Other states include the sale price in the overall algorithm for all properties but do not use it to determine the value of the specific property that sold. Still others ignore the price altogether.
There are several ways that price may differ from value. For one, the transaction may include non-taxable elements, such as a business, in addition to real property. Or the sale price of an office building may reflect added value for a lease at an above-market rental rate.
In a common scenario, the price paid for a portfolio of senior-living facilities will include the value of each facility's real property, the value of each facility's tangible personal property, and the value of each facility's resident lists, service arrangements, goodwill and other intangible (and therefore untaxable) personal property. The allocation of the purchase price among the various components may not reflect the market value of each component, even when the overall transaction price reflects market value. And sometimes a buyer pays more for a property than it is worth generally on the market. This is often due to the buyer's own investment strategies and thus requires an assessor to distinguish between investment value and market value.
A buyer should ideally evaluate how the price relates to the property's market value in the lead-up to the transaction. This is key to projecting property taxes going forward, in light of the transaction and the way the particular jurisdiction reacts to (or ignores) different types of transactions. It is also important to ensuring that the assessor receives accurate information in states where assessors learn of and react to sales prices.
This early planning can influence the portion of the price allocated to taxable value and help limit it to market value. Part of this is specifically identifying nontaxable, intangible components in the transaction documents in a way that conforms to the jurisdiction's property tax laws.
Another key step is to make sure any documents filed for real estate transfer taxes reflect the value of the taxable component instead of an overall value, thereby managing both the real estate transfer tax and future property taxes. Opportunities may exist to avoid or minimize the transfer tax, depending on the specific laws in each jurisdiction.
Many a buyer has reported the full sale price (or allowed the seller to do so, in jurisdictions where the seller reports the transaction), realizing too late that the reported sum included components that should have been reported differently. The buyer should also consider property taxes when reviewing any press release about the transaction. The new owner may find itself bound to what was reported, whether to government or the media, in later property tax appeals.
Also, preserving certain transaction details, such as the valuation analysis and rationale, may help later as support material or to dispute errors in discussions with the assessor.
Lastly, if information about the transaction goes public in a way that may lead to a misunderstanding by the assessor, reacting promptly can be crucial. This often involves discussing the information with the assessor to provide additional context, such as explaining when a buyer paid a premium above the property's market value.
Similar considerations apply to other types of project strategies, such as plans to develop real estate, renovate or remodel a property, or add to existing improvements. In each instance, early consideration of property taxes often proves useful. Doing so not only aids in projecting future property taxes, but can also guide the owner in reducing those taxes through choices made while carrying out the project.
Norman J. Bruns and Michelle DeLappe are attorneys in the Seattle office of Garvey Schubert Barer, where they specialize in state and local tax. Norman Bruns is the Idaho and Washington representative of American Property Tax Counsel, the national affiliation of property tax attorneys. Norman Bruns can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Michelle DeLappe can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
