Airport Garage – Property construction costs were drastically overstated.

Subject property is a 530 stall concrete and steel constructed parking garage with four decks. Subject had been valued by the appraisal district utilizing a cost analysis instead of income analysis. We presented the strongest argument first; an income analysis, stating that the tenant, a rental car company, had vacated the property over a year ago, and no other tenants had been secured to date. The income analysis reflected an indicated value of $3m.  However, the Appraisal District and Appraisal Review Board refused to acknowledge the income analysis as a valid approach for this property and insisted on continuing the use of a cost analysis to determine the value.  We had prepared a cost analysis, which we quickly transitioned into presenting.  In our analysis we had identified that the appraisal district had utilized an incorrect construction type of the garage, which we were able to evidence with our photos.  We had prepared our cost analysis utilizing a comparable garage that was under construction at the time of the hearing, approximately 30 miles away. Utilizing the newest construction methods and being comparable in size, the new garage had a construction cost of $3,070,000. The subject property was assessed at $9,400,725 and was built in 1992. The Appraisal Review Board granted a reduction of the assessed value to $7,300,000, which reflected a total tax savings of $52,793. However, the Appraisal Review Board refused to reduce the value to the supported value due to the significant variance in the numbers. This was taken to lawsuit.

Value Reduced in Lawsuit to $4,000,000 a  42% Reduction...

Business Personal Property - Incorrectly Classified by Former Tax Consultant for Several Years

An open mind, combined with actual asset inspection and discovery interviews, can result in significant tax savings.

Leading international geophysical company, under former Property Tax Consultant representation, had incorrectly classified computer equipment as standard machinery and equipment.  In addition, former Property Tax Consultant appealed their business personal property assets with these same incorrect classifications.  Client owned assets were proprietary equipment specially manufactured for their use in the collection of seismic data.  Through physical inspection of the assets, as well as, discovery interviews conducted by Tax Recourse, LLC, the incorrect classification was determined.  Tax Recourse, LLC filed 2010 Business Personal Property Renditions with revised classifications, therefore, more aggressive depreciation.  Subsequently, Tax Recourse, LLC filed appeals for accounts which the newly reported opinions of values were not accepted by the local Appraisal Districts. The reclassification of their assets and appeals by Tax Recourse, LLC resulted in a reduction in assessed value from $36MM to $21MM, and a tax savings of over $320,000.

A forty-one (41%) percent reduction of the assessed value.

Land – A Successful Transition for Agricultural Exemption to Wildlife Exemption for National Developer

A national retail developer had created a Land Bank for Federal Tax purposes, allowing them to sell parcel credits off to other developers for use as their federal Land Bank acres.  The property was classified as Agricultural Use for local property tax saving purposes; however, agricultural use was not a qualified use for the Land Bank.  It had been determined that Wildlife Management would qualify for the Federal Tax purpose, but the owner needed some assistance in identifying and meeting the requirements in order to obtain the Wildlife Management Exemption at the local property tax level.

Tax Recourse, LLC successfully guided the client through the property use requirements and filing of documentation in order to obtain a wildlife exemption, which would allow the client to maintain the exemption and prevent a rollback tax of over $60,000.