Know the many factors that often make property tax value different than the purchase price.

Don’t worry about challenging a property tax value that is less than the taxpayer’s purchase price, right? Wrong! There are numerous factors that distinguish a purchase price from a taxable assessed value, and the failure to closely review an assessment can cost a property owner dearly.

The legal standard for determining property tax values can differ from state to state, but it is generally equivalent to fair market value.  That is the probable price that the property would bring in a voluntary, arms-length transaction between a willing and knowledgeable buyer and seller, in an open and competitive market, with neither party being under undue duress, as of the valuation date.

While it is possible for a purchase price to be the same or similar to market value, there are many instances where the two deviate.  Here are some common examples:

A sale is not an arms-length market transaction if it occurs between related parties and isn’t exposed to the open market.  A sale between a company and its subsidiary, for example, may not reflect fair market value.

Fee Simple vs. Leased Fee

For property tax purposes, fair market value is most often based on the fee simple estate, unencumbered by Leases or other third-party interests in the property.  If the property is subject to an above-market lease, perhaps in a sale / leaseback transaction, the leased fee purchase price might greatly exceed the property’s fee simple valuation used for assessment purposes.

Portfolio Sales and M&A

A transfer of real estate in connection with a merger or acquisition is not a market transaction with respect to that particular property.  Likewise, an assessor shouldn’t use the sales price for a portfolio of properties, which might be bundled together and marketed as a whole, to determine the market value of one small component of the transaction.

Although buyers regularly make purchase price allocations for these types of transactions, such allocations are not synonymous with fair market value standards used for assessment purposes.

Unique Sales Terms

Sellers and buyers often think outside the box to close a deal.  Seller concessions come in all shapes and sizes and can drastically affect the final purchase price.  For instance, a seller may agree to provide certain services or take on additional obligations after closing that would not be part of a typical market transaction.

1031 Exchanges

Buyers motivated to defer substantial income tax liability by executing a 1031 exchange before a deadline may pay above-market prices.

Special Financing Terms

The purchase price may be artificially inflated because of unusual or favorable financing terms.  Institutional investors, with greater access to the capital markets, are able to obtain more favorable financing terms than the average market participant.  This lower cost of capital allows the institutional investor to pay above-market prices on lower cap rates in order to beat out competing bidders, while still achieving the same return as the typical investor.

Construction Costs

Developers and expanding businesses often find their projects detailed in the newspaper, with anticipated costs or total project investment.  Often these amounts include expenses not associated with the real estate, such as equipment, employee training and the like.  And just because something costs a certain amount to build does not mean it can be sold for a similar price.

Declining Market

Markets heat up and markets cool down.  Overpaying at the height of the market may mean a poor return, but this should not justify an overassessment.

A prudent assessor looks beyond the price to determine if a sale is a true, market-value transaction.  Despite the best intentions, even the most diligent assessor cannot account for all of the factors that can skew a sale price away from market value.  Referencing non-market deals for comparison will erroneously influence the sales data and can lead to artificially higher assessments.  The assessor’s reliance on an assumed purchase price for the subject property can have an even more dramatic and costly effect on that taxpayer’s assessment.

Many states charge a transfer or privilege tax to record a deed, which may require the buyer or seller to disclose a purchase price.  Assessors will look at these stated purchase prices and will quickly flag any that are higher than the assessed value.  A taxpayer should consult with local counsel to avoid overstating the purchase price.  For instance, a purchase price may include personal property, intangibles or perhaps additional real estate that should not be included in the consideration amount required to be disclosed.

Real estate brokers should not be surprised when contacted by assessors or subscription services to confirm details of a sale.  Before quickly confirming a sale as a market transaction, the broker should be mindful of the issues discussed in this article.  The failure to do so might significantly increase the purchaser’s future tax assessment.

All real estate investors should have a property tax review plan in place, with professionals knowledgeable of local valuation standards, rules and procedures.  When purchasing or developing real estate, remember to provide your tax professional with the particulars of the transactions, including any reasons why the purchase price or investment may not indicate market value.

Always keep in mind that purchase price and market value are not synonymous, so there is no need to concede a high assessment without first looking beyond the price on the deed.

  Aaron D. Vansant is a partner in the law firm of DonovanFingar LLC, the Alabama member of American Property Tax Counsel (APTC) the national affiliation of property tax attorneys. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Smartphones lead the way in making mobile a key player in consumer purchases in-store and online.

The battle between physical stores and online retail rages on, but the recent explosion in smartphone usage is blurring the battle lines. Using smartphones, consumers in a store now can simultaneously shop and compare pricing and product availability at competing stores or online. The practice is sometimes referred to as “showrooming.” Increasingly, retailers must simultaneously invest in the problem. a combination of brick-and-mortar stores, websites, digital marketing and merchandise delivery to sell goods.

Only the real estate component of that infrastructure is subject to property tax. If property owners identify the portion of store sales attributable at least partially to online shopping, they can argue for taxable property values more accurately based on the remaining sales volume attributable to a store’s physical location and condition.

Retailers that think mobile is a channel use the wrong metrics to measure the smartphone’s impact on retail. Smart retailers focus on the impact on overall business rather than trying to measure only app downloads or channel sales.

Extrapolating a retail property’s value from base rent is relatively easy, but what happens when rent is based on sales? How do sales that take place in the store via smartphone, or online transactions that stem from a store visit, affect percentage rent?

Assessors and appraisers don’t yet have satisfactory answers to these questions and developing appropriate metrics is challenging. Taxpayers can help shape the debate, and their own tax liability, by understanding the problem.

Digital Influence Spreads

The lion’s share of U.S. retail sales continues to revolve around physical stores. Forrester Research reports that in 2015, e-commerce sales totaled approximately $334 billion, while off-line sales totaled $2.9 trillion, more than eight times more. However, many offline sales were digitally influenced, meaning shoppers connected with digital touch points, particularly mobile phones.

Forrester estimates that $1.2 trillion of U.S. retail sales in 2015 were web-influenced, and that by 2020, $1.6 trillion of all off-line retail sales will be web-influenced. The penetration of online buyers using smartphones increased to 86 percent in 2015, up from 54 percent in 2011, Forrester found.

Shoppers want to receive products quicker and cheaper than ever before, but still prefer to shop in physical stores in order to touch merchandise and obtain products immediately. Successful physical retailers combine physical stores and digital tools, enabling customers to touch and receive goods in a more cost-effective way than ever before.

Physical retailers must realize the key role smartphones play in unlocking sales. American adults use smartphones to locate stores and to check store hours, requiring retailers to keep websites current. Forrester estimates that in the first quarter of 2016, more than one-quarter of U.S. online mobile phone users ages 18 to 34 used their phones to compare prices online for products they were considering buying.

Shoppers also research product information on smartphones, often while in a store. Retailers, therefore, must monitor price variances and adjust prices in real time, against both physical and virtual competition.

Physical retailers also need to address perceived problems with off-line shopping, such as long lines and out-of-stock merchandise. Some sophisticated retailers have addressed these issues by developing store-specific data. Forrester reports that companies such as Target and The Home Depot now direct shoppers, via smartphones, to look for items in specific locations within stores, thereby reducing wait time and frustration. Nike store employees can look up inventory and make sales immediately with their smartphones. Shipping continues to pose a problem for both physical and virtual retailers. When the product is in stock, the physical retailer does not have a problem. However, maintaining inventory in stores potentially imposes the added costs of the inventory itself, additional rent and associated property taxes.

In January 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that Gap, Inc., which includes retailers Banana Republic and Old Navy, was narrowing its free shipping window to 5 to 7 business days, down from 7 to 9 business days. Is this enough to satisfy the demands of consumers who expect immediate delivery of products, particularly from physical retailers?

Challenge to Retailers

Physical retailers face three very expensive budget items: associates, real estate occupancy costs (including taxes) and inventory. They must create a more pleasurable, yet competitive, shopping experience in order to beat digital competitors. Stores must become increasingly immersive and engaging experiences that enable customers to do everything from trying on wearable goods to playing with and testing products, or attending cooking classes and food demonstrations. The importance of enhancing the shopping experience in physical stores often means creating easy availability to other amenities such as restaurants and coffee bars.

While it may seem counterintuitive, the quality of a retailer’s online presence will influence sales, and hence the underlying value of the retailer as a tenant in a shopping center. Developers need to attract retailers who simultaneously focus on brick-and-mortar store sales, websites, digital marketing and merchandise delivery to sell goods. Percentage rent clauses in leases must appropriately capture sales.

All of this takes money and increases the complexity of measuring costs. Costs, such as property taxes, play a key role as retailers compete for sales and profits. Online retailers generally pay property taxes for distribution centers but can often reduce this cost by obtaining tax incentives, such as fee in lieu of tax agreements. Physical retailers, which often have a greater impact on the local economy, have less leverage to control property taxes. They face the challenge of showing assessors how mobile technology and e-commerce, not location alone, impact sales.

In January 2016, Forrester reported that “too often, companies measure what they can, rather than what they should, because they lack the analytics to generate the insights they need. Retailers track mobile sales rather than influenced sales because they can, and, more often than not, do treat mobile as a [separate] sales channel.”

This is precisely the problem tax assessors and physical retailers face in measuring mobile technology’s impact on a retail property. The assessor’s job is to value the real estate, not the business, which is increasingly affected by mobile innovation. Theoretically, one can use only in-store sales volume in the valuation but to what degree is a store-front simply an advertising medium — like a billboard. Stores can encourage customers to order while browsing at the store but have it shipped to their house and/or pickup at a nearby location that has lower property tax, possibly a warehouse on a side street.

Increasingly, retailers must balance between the physical and the virtual, with the smartphone serving as the key touchpoint. Retail success is still about location — location of the actual shopper inside or outside the store, at home, at work, at a competitor’s store or on a website or smartphone  — it’s just not about physical storefronts anymore.

Morris Ellison is a partner in the Charleston, S.C., office of the law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP. The firm is the South Carolina member of American Property Tax Counsel, the national affiliation of property tax attorneys. Morris Ellison can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

"The varying directions of price trends demonstrate that now, more than ever, Atlanta property owners should closely review property tax assessments and make specific determinations regarding the correctness of the valuation. General sales trends and perceptions provide insufficient basis for deciding whether or not to appeal the county assessment notice..."

The year following a real estate acquisition is a critical tax year or the property's owner. An assessor will typically latch onto the recent sale price to support a reassessment of the property's taxable value to equal that transaction amount, effective in the following tax year.

When the new assessment arrives, some taxpayers will recognize the familiar sales price amount reflected in the property's assessed taxable value, breathe a sigh of resignation and plan to be taxed accordingly. Yet there is good reason to question the new assessment's accuracy, even if it equals the acquisition price.

Georgia law provides that the transaction amount a buyer pays for real estate in an arms-length, bona fide acquisition shall be the property's maximum allowable fair market value for property tax purposes for the following tax year. Accordingly, purchasers of property in one tax year should expect to receive ad valorem tax assessment notices for the subsequent tax year at a value no higher than the purchase price. In other words, the taxable value may be lower than the acquisition amount.

Differentiate Price, Value

There are several analyses that a wise taxpayer should consider when reviewing the tax assessment received in the year following the property's purchase.

Some county taxing authorities use the purchase price as the taxable value for the next tax year by default. That price may not be an appropriate valuation, however.

Often the assessor is unaware that the purchase price may reflect an analysis of factors other than the value of the real estate alone, and that the price, therefore, may exceed the true fair market value. In that event, the taxpayer should identify and explain those factors to the assessor.

Examples might be special financing arrangements, the financial stability of certain tenants, the duration of existing rental terms, or the transference of non-real estate items such as personal property and/or intangibles. Intangibles may include an in-place work force, favorable contracts for property management or other non-taxable items.

Another potential consideration is that the property's financial performance may have varied from the expectations the purchaser entertained at the time of the acquisition. Perhaps physical changes to the property since the time of purchase have decreased its value; for example, the owner may have razed or demolished part of the improvements in preparation for remodeling or repair that did not occur before Jan. 1.

In short, the purchaser should not blindly accept a transaction value from the previous year as the real estate's de facto taxable value.

Is It Fair?

Be on the lookout for sale-chasing assessors. Sale chasing occurs when a tax assessor changes assessments only on properties sold in a given year and leaves assessments unchanged on similar properties that did not change hands.

Property owners should be diligent, comparing the assessment of newly purchased property relative to assessments of similar properties in the same market that have not sold, to determine if their own assessment is accurate. Compare assessments of similar properties on a per-square-foot basis, a per-key basis, or on a per-unit basis, depending on the property type, to determine if a question about fairness in valuation may exist, and whether further analysis is warranted.

In addition to comparing the assessment of the purchased property to the assessments of comparable properties that have not sold, the wise property owner should also compare the assessment to the assessments of com-parable properties in the same market that were sold in the preceding year.

The taxpayer may need to calculate and compare a gross rent multiplier ratio. To determine this ratio, divide the assessment of the real estate by its annual rental income before expenses such as taxes, insurance, utilities, etc. (It may require a market survey or direct inquiry to acquire that data.)

While this method ignores differences in vacancy rates, if the gross rent multiplier for the taxpayer's real estate is much higher than the multiplier for similar properties that sold in the same market and calendar year as the subject property, then the taxpayer may have a legitimate cause for complaint.

In a hypothetical example, a property sold for $25.3 million in 2014, has the potential to generate $2.5 million in rent annually, and received a 2015 county tax assessment of $25.25 million. The ratio of the county assessment divided by the rent potential results in a gross rent multiplier of 10.1.

Another property sold in 2014 at a price of $27.4 million, has annual rent potential of $3.4 million, and the 2015 county tax assessment on this property was $23.2 million. This second property's gross rent multiplier is 6.82. A third property that did not sell was assessed at $30.68 million for 2015 and its annual rent potential was $4.5 million, resulting in a gross rent multiplier of 6.82.

After making these comparisons, the taxpayer in this example can make a good argument for a lower assessment. It is worth mentioning that taxpayers must adhere strictly to applicable appeal deadlines.

Clearly, sale price does not necessarily equal fair market value. Shrewd taxpayers in Georgia should carefully review, research and analyze their assessment notices to determine whether the county taxing authority has merely made a cursory assessment of the fair market value of their property based solely on the purchase price. If so, an appeal may be in order.

Lisa Stuckey is a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Ragsdale, Beals, Seigler, Patterson & Gray, LLP, the Georgia member of American Property Tax Counsel, the national affiliation of property tax attorneys. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Owners Must Examine The Tax Consequences Of Making Capital Improvements Before Breaking Ground

For nearly 40 years, states have attempted to protect property owners from rapidly escalating property tax bills by limiting increases in the taxable value of real estate.  Often referred to as “caps,” these limitations are myriad and complicated, but share a tendency to distort the market for developers of new space and for property owners seeking to improve existing commercial properties.

How so?  Laws are state-specific, but taxpayers purchasing or improving real estate may lose the benefit of the cap on their property’s value, and incur a substantial tax increase on top of the acquisition or improvement cost.  In other words, caps discourage property owners from improving their properties, while owners who know how caps apply can access tremendous savings.

Caps in Action

Caps apply by limiting increases in taxable value for properties subject to reassessment that would otherwise rise to reflect the market.  For example:  California’s Proposition 13 generally limits annual valuation increases to 2 percent, even if the property’s market value is rising at a faster rate.  Common triggers for reassessment are an ownership change, countywide reassessment and improvements to the property.

Some states exempt a fixed percentage of any increased assessed value following an ownership change.  Ownership changes can include not only title transfers but also internal transfers of interests in the entity that owns the property.  To access this exemption, the taxpayer may need to take some timely action, such as filing a claim or meeting other state requirements.  Miss the deadline, and the exemption disappears.

Consequences of an oversight can be dramatic.  For example, an apartment complex previously assessed, capped or otherwise, at $20 million sells for $30 million.  Rather than incur taxes reflecting the full $10 million increase in value included in the sale price, the buyer qualifies for a 25 percent tax exemption, or $7.5 million.  Yet, failure to file a timely exemption application could result in taxation of that otherwise exempt $7.5 million of the total value.

Many jurisdictions cap value increases during periodic reassessment.  Florida generally limits annual increases to 10 percent of assessed value for the prior year.  South Carolina, which theoretically reassesses every five years, limits increases to 15 percent of the property’s prior assessed value unless there has been a property improvement or a change in ownership.

Some limits disappear if there has been an ownership change.  Florida generally defines an ownership change as any sale or transfer of title or control of more than 50 percent of the entity that previously owned the property.  South Carolina has adopted a much more complicated system of assessable transfers of interest (ATI’s).  The definition of an ATI runs for four full pages in the South Carolina Code.

Impaired by Improvements

With tax caps, taxpayers who improve their properties face even greater potential tax consequences, because states generally remove artificial caps on new construction and major renovations.  In other words, the total cost of improvements can include not only construction expenses but also a substantially heavier tax burden.  The result places an improved income-producing property at a serious disadvantage in competing with unimproved properties.

What constitutes an improved property? Florida has adopted a bright line test by examining whether the improvements increase value by at least 25 percent.  California law protects properties from reassessment so long as any work is normal maintenance or repair, or the improvement does not make the property “substantially equivalent to new.”

South Carolina is much more complicated and unclear.  The state requires assessors to include the value of new construction in valuing properties, but its statutes fail to define “improvements,” leaving interpretation to local taxing authorities.

The result is a patchwork quilt of inconsistency.  In order to circumvent South Carolina’s 15 percent cap on periodic reassessment, some counties have adopted a stepped approach to increases in value, although such a procedure is clearly unauthorized by statute.  Other counties simply add the value stated in building permits to existing assessed value in order to derive a new value, though the market would never see a sale on that basis.  Still other counties assume stabilization in valuing a new or improved income-producing property such as a hotel rather than accurately valuing the property before stabilization.  Clearly, a property owner improving a property faces a potential hidden cost in the form of increased taxes by loss of the statutory cap.

Reimplementation of tax caps on an improved income-producing property further complicates an owner’s prediction of costs.  Whatever the method of valuing the improvements, how does South Carolina’s 15 percent general cap apply to future valuations when the property value may be much greater?

If the taxing authority simply adds the cost of the increased value set forth in building permits, has the taxing authority fully captured an increase in value which, in turn, may be subject to re-imposed caps?  To state the obvious, an owner will not improve a property merely to re-cover the cost of improvements, but rather sees the potential of income gains exceeding improvement costs.

Most income-producing properties will generally require some period of time for lease up or stabilization.  Should the taxing authority be allowed to make assumptions of future income that the market would not make if the property sold prior to stabilization?  These questions have no easy answers.

Regardless of the system used for valuing new improvements, caps give a competitive advantage to owners of unimproved property in the form of lower costs.  Property owners must examine the obvious – and hidden – tax consequences of improvements to determine whether potential income from improvements justifies the costs.

Morris Ellison is a partner in the Charleston, S.C., office of the law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP. The firm is the South Carolina member of American Property Tax Counsel, the national affiliation of property tax attorneys. Morris Ellison can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

"Economic development tools are under assult in Louisiana by tax assessors"

Louisiana tax assessors have begun assessing taxes on properties that have been exempt from property tax under economic development incentive programs, undermining one of the state's essential tools for promoting job growth and commerce.

Louisiana offers a handful of enticements to attract new business and spur economic development, including the industrial property tax exemption, inventory tax credits, payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) and cooperative endeavor agreements (CEAs) with private companies. Each of these incentives involves reducing a private entity's property tax liability.

Article 7, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution authorizes the state and its political subdivisions to enter into cooperative endeavor agreements that serve a public purpose, and Section 21 of the same article provides that public lands and other public property used for public purposes are exempt from property tax. The Louisiana Supreme Court has also recognized that economic development is a public purpose.

Under a typical cooperative endeavor agreement, a political subdivision leases industrial property to a private entity for development and operation. Since a political subdivision owns the property, it is exempt from property taxes. Unfortunately, some assessing authorities have decided otherwise, and have attempted to collect property tax in connection with these assets.

In Pine Prairie Energy Center LLC vs. Soileau, in 2014, a local industrial development board issued bonds and loaned the proceeds to privately held Pine Prairie to build an underground natural gas storage facility and associated facilities and pipelines. Prior to entering into the transactions, the industrial development board, Pine Prairie, and even the local tax assessor all agreed that, as long as Pine Prairie paid the agreed-upon lease payments and payments in lieu of taxes, the property would be exempt from property taxes during the lease period.

Pine Prairie built the facility, sold it to the industrial development board and then leased the property back for operations. The assessor subsequently listed the property on the tax rolls as Pine Prairie's property. Pine Prairie paid the taxes under protest and sued for a refw1d and declaratory judgment that it did not owe property taxes on an asset owned by the industrial development board.

The assessor contended that the property was not being used for a public purpose. The Third Circuit Court of Appeal noted that actual public use was not the criteria by which public purpose was determined. Rather, public use is synonymous with public benefit, public utility or public advantage, and involves using the natural resources and advantages of a locality to extract their full development in view of the general welfare.

Considering that Pine Prairie's investment resulted in approximately $700 million in local economic value, the court held that the project was beneficial to the public and thus the property was indeed being used for a public purpose.

In Board of Commissioner of Port of New Orleans vs. City of New Orleans, the Port of New Orleans leased property to two private entities that provide warehousing, freight forwarding and intermodal transportation services at the port. As i n Pine Prairie, the assessor assessed property taxes on the private companies that leased the properties, not on the public entity that owned them. When the companies failed to pay the taxes, the assessor attempted to sell the leased properties at a public tax sale.

The assessor argued that, because the activities of the private companies did not qualify as a public purpose as they did not constitute a governmental function, a benefit to the general public or a dedication for use by the general public, the property was not being used for a public purpose. The port authority demonstrated that the companies' activities were necessary for the operation of a port facility and that they furthered its broad public mission to maintain, develop and promote commerce and traffic at the port. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal punted on the question in 2014, and ordered a hearing on whether the specific activities conducted by the companies served a public purpose. That case is ongoing.

Cases like these obviously erode business confidence in the reliability of tax incentives. Although Pine Prairie won its case, it had to pay some $122,000 in taxes under protest and then sue to recover its funds. And the Port of New Orleans had its property seized and offered at tax sale, and now has to prove up that traditional port activities like warehousing, freight forwarding and intermodal transportation services, which have always been necessary to the operation of a port facility, serve a public purpose. This kind of uncertainty is devastating to economic development efforts.

Angela Adolph is a partner in the law firm of Kean Miller LLP, the Louisiana member of American Property Tax Counsel, the national affiliation of property tax attorneys. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Look beyond value to ensure correct property tax assessment.

Many taxpayers pay close attention to property tax values, and rightfully so. Property owners can realize significant tax savings by successfully challenging excessive assessed values.

Yet taxpayers often overlook equally important assessment issues that can be costly if ignored. A prudent real estate investor always confirms that its real property is assessed correctly, meeting the local assessment authority's requirements and deadlines. That prudent investor also makes a point to understand the tax assessment consequences of any purchase, sale or improvement of real property.

Know Your Responsibilities

What can go wrong with an assessment, aside from the valuation? In one common scenario, a new property owner may miss the deadline to protest a property tax assessment because tax notices went to the previous owner. Having the property correctly assessed in the owner's name is usually necessary to receive copies of tax bills and valuation notices, so a buyer should confirm whether the first property tax bill and valuation notices after closing will be sent to the buyer or to the previous owner. A missed protest or payment deadline will not be excused because the new owner did not receive such notices, especially if the taxpayer failed to properly have the property assessed in its name.

In some jurisdictions, the buyer may need the seller's written authorization to file a value protest if the applicable valuation or lien date preceded closing of the sale. If that is the case, the buyer should obtain the necessary authorization, at closing if possible. The document should authorize the new owner to file the protest in the name of the seller if required.

As part of due diligence, the purchaser should understand how the property has been assessed in the past and what effect the purchase will have on its future assessment. Don't assume the assessment will be unaffected by the sale.

Here are several other property tax issues to consider when purchasing or developing real property:

• Is the sales price likely to affect the tax value?
• When does the tax authority send valuation notices, and when is the deadline to file a protest?
• Will the purchaser's use of the property constitute a usage change that will trigger a higher assessment?
• Is the property subject to exemptions or abatements? Will the new owner qualify for exemptions, and what are the required steps to secure them?
• Is the property tax proration calculated correctly? If based on an estimate, will the taxes be re-prorated to reflect the final tax bill?
• If part of a larger parcel, when will a new tax parcel be created? Who will pay the taxes until separate parcels are created?
• Are all of the existing improvements properly assessed, and if not, what is the risk of an escape assessment, or a retroactive correction in assessed value that may require the payment of back taxes?
• Does the state assess and tax construction work in progress?

A well-drafted contract can address some of these issues. For example, the contract may determine the party responsible for paying any rollback taxes based on the change in use, such as a change from agricultural use to retail.

If new construction occurs, the taxpayer should know of any legal requirements to have the improvements assessed. For instance, Alabama law requires the owner to assess any new improvements constructed during the preceding tax year. Failing to do so can add a 10 percent penalty to the tax value of the improvements. Further, the county assessor can go back up to five years and issue an escape assessment for the unassessed improvements, plus additional penalties and interest.

Personal Property

Real estate investors must also investigate the personal property assessment procedures in each state where they do business. Taxpayers should review personal property returns for accurate information, such as the acquisition date and cost. Regularly review the taxpayer's list of personal property to remove items sold or discarded before the valuation date. Timely file all exemptions, and review tax bills annually to confirm the benefit of any such exemption.

A prudent real estate investor must pay close attention to assessment requirements and procedures or risk unexpected taxes, penalties and interest, or missed opportunities to protest excessive property tax values. By consulting knowledgeable local professionals, an investor can ensure that its real and personal property are being correctly assessed and that the assessor has applied all exemptions or value adjustments.

  Aaron D. Vansant is a partner in the law firm of DonovanFingar LLC, the Alabama member of American Property Tax Counsel (APTC) the national affiliation of property tax attorneys. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..