Weekly Brief – February 1, 2021

This week I want to highlight the upcoming tax appeal season.

Generally in the first weeks of February (sometimes later in Macomb County), property owners will receive a Notice of Assessment in the mail. If you have not received a Notice of Assessment when you expect it, you should immediately contact the assessor’s office in the municipality in which the property is located. Not receiving your Notice of Assessment does not extend any deadlines. It is the property owner’s responsibility to receive the Notice of Assessment.

Once the Notice of Assessment is received, it should be reviewed to confirm it is: (a) accurate; and (b) appropriate. I have an easy guide to reviewing your Notice of Assessment on my tax appeal blog, which can be accessed here.

Most property owners do not understand that, although the Taxable Value is what is used to calculate the tax bill, the Assessed Value/State Equalized Value is what is actually appealed in a tax appeal. In order to reduce an owner’s tax bill, the owner must demonstrate that the Assessed Value should be reduced to an amount less than the Taxable Value. Only then will the tax bill be reduced. The easy “back of the napkin” method for analyzing a tax appeal is to determine whether the property’s market value is less than twice the Taxable Value. In other words, if the Taxable Value is $100,000, the tax bill will only be reduced if an owner can demonstrate the market value is less than $200,000.

Notably, the date of value for a tax appeal is December 31, 2020. This may impact an appeal’s validity, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be fully felt until later in 2021. Last year, I wrote a blog post about the impact of COVID-19 on tax appeals, which can be found here.

There are also deadlines that apply to tax appeals. First, for property classified as residential or agricultural, the owner must first appear before the March Board of Review. This is a mandatory requirement to pursue a tax appeal. After receiving the determination of the Board of Review, the owner must then file a Petition before the Michigan Tax Tribunal by July 31.

For property classified as commercial or industrial, the owner is not required to appear before the March Board of Review, although the owner is permitted to appear. The deadline for filing a Petition before the Michigan Tax Tribunal for these properties is May 31.

My law firm is happy to review properties to determine whether a tax appeal is appropriate. If you are interested in such a review, please email me at dnykanen@fnrplc.com.