Property tax notification letters have begun to be mailed; we had a client send us his notice yesterday.  According to the assessor, property owners will have from between August 1st and September 17, 2012 to appeal property tax assessments.

 
Utah law requires all property assessments to be based on fair market value.  The basis for an appeal must be the property’s income, comparable property sales during the prior calendar year (January 1st to January 1st), or an appraisal dated January 1, 2012.

While analyzing your home can be quite simple, analyzing a commercial property can be more complicated, because of the numerous types of commercial property, types of construction, location, etc.  But, the potential property tax savings on commercial property can be significantly greater which can make it worth pursuing.

Last year, we saved one client approximately $9,000 in total lower property taxes and another client $20,000. …that’s cold hard cash.  While many commercial properties were analyzed, only four out of twenty of the prior client’s properties were found to have a strong basis for appeal. The assessed market value of one land parcel alone was reduced by nearly $1 Million dollars.

Don’t let your property tax notice get buried with next month’s bills.  As a head start, 2012 assessment values are posted online now on the Washington County Assessor’s website:  www.washco.utah.gov/assessor/

Instructions:  Search for your property with the above link by entering the tax ID number and clicking on ‘Search by Parcel Number’.  On the next page, click on the ‘View Land Record’ link.  On the next page, click on the Account number link.  The 2012 market value is in the top right corner; the 2012 property tax amount is in the lower left corner.