Frequently Asked Questions:

1) Why is my property over assessed resulting in my paying higher taxes than neighbors with superior, more expensive property?

A: (Residential) Your Municipality is required to re-evaluate all property within the town from time to time as required by the County and State of New Jersey.  The town will then retain the services of a re-evaluation company.  That company would have to individually appraise each property in town in order to perform its function with any degree of accuracy.  Instead, it develops “Factors” such as a front foot land value, plus a depth factor adjustment and value per square foot of living space.  These factors do not consider the impact of negative influences such as busy streets, proximity of railroads, commercial facilities, severe grade, water related issues, structural and cosmetic maintenance, zoning, etc.  Usually one qualified appraiser from the re-evaluation company will sit in town hall while untrained individuals will inspect property with check sheets.  These individuals usually do not re-measure your dwelling or determine if information on your property card is correct.  The re-evaluation company uses a cost approach to determine the value of your dwelling, yet will not consider this unreliable approach when you appeal your taxes.  There is an old cliché in the appraisal business “cost does not make value” unless, of course, you are a Tax Assessor.

(Commercial)  The value of your commercial or income producing property is directly related to its income productivity or projected income productivity.  This is true even if you are the occupant.  If you have not filed an income and expense form with the Tax Assessor upon request, then you may have forfeited your right to an appeal.  If you have filed the form and your assessed value appears to be too high, examine the influences that may impact Fair Market Rental Value (FMRV).  Location, condition, parking, water issues, environmental issues etc. may have negatively impacted your FMRV.  Investors currently require a higher rate of return or capitalization rate than just a few years ago.  This market change alone can account for a substantial negative adjustment in your assessed value.

2) Can I expect to be treated fairly by the County Board and State Tax Court?

A:  Yes and No; the New Jersey State Tax Court is known to be fair and honest with decisions based upon the facts.  The treatment that you receive at the County level may vary depending upon the County you are in, the case that you present and your Municipal Tax Assessor.

3) Why should I use Bergen- Essex Tax Appeal Service instead of my attorney or appraiser?

A:  It is pointless to go to the expense of filing an appeal or ordering a tax appeal appraisal without knowing if you have a case.  We decided to expand our tax appeal service due to the comment of an experienced Tax Appeal Attorney who said “We are winning about fifty percent (50%) of our cases”.  Our reaction was “why aren’t you winning most of the cases if the client’s case can be proven”?  The attorney explained that the combined Legal, Appraisal and administrative costs were prohibitive unless the appeal was successful.  We decided to do the research upfront and only take on the cases that we think could be won.  We certainly use tax appeal attorneys and appraisers, but want to analyze the reason for the over assessment before we select our experts.

4) Do you accept tax appeal cases in Counties other than Bergen and Essex?

A:  We originally started in Bergen and Essex Counties, but now service the entire State of New Jersey.  There are certain municipalities that have recently lowered theire assessed values and increased their tax rate in order to discourage tax appeals.  We will advise you if your property is in one of these municiapalites.

5) Is an appraisal required in order to file my residential tax appeal?

A:  No, our low cost research and analysis report will in almost all cases provide adequate data to file the appeal before the County Tax Board.  However, some Tax Assessors may take a position of requesting an appraisal before a case can be considered for settlement; in that event you and the attorney processing the appeal can decide if the additional cost is justified.  If you are denied an adequate adjustment by the County Tax board or are denied an adjustment “Without Prejudice” and decide to appeal to the State Tax Court an appraisal will be required.

6) Once I secure a reduction to my assessed value, how many years is the reduction good for?

A:  The State of New Jersey will guarantee that the Municipality will not increase your assessment for three (3) years.  For practical purposes it is unlikely that your assessed value will be changed by the municipality until the next reevaluation.  Reevaluation usually occurs every twelve (12) to fourteen (14) years, but may run significantly longer.

7) Your Research and analysis report referred to “Good Sales”.  How do we know if the comparable sales being used in my appeal qualify as a “Good Sale”?

A:  Each comparable sale that is utilized must be researched to verify that they are “arms length transactions”.  We will eliminate sales between members of the same family, convenience transactions, sheriff sales, sales that are substantially impacted by a Governmental approval or change, sales between a corporation and a stockholder of that corporation, etc.  The Tax Assessor may attempt to disqualify a “Good Sale” which will help to prove your case.  It is important to review the sales that you will be utilizing with the Tax Assessor prior to the hearing, so that you can not be “Blind Sided” by this issue.

8) I am obviously being over taxed.  Can I stop paying my real estate taxes once the appeal is filed?

A:  Absolutely Not.  The filing of the appeal does not alleviate your obligation to pay the taxes.  Your appeal will be dismissed, if all taxes and municipal charges are not paid.

9) What do we need to do in order to get started with the appeal-research process?

A:  Call Jeff Herold at the office (201) 488-8878 to discuss if a tax appeal on your property is justified.  If so, we will forward authorization forms and start the process.  Our fees to handle the appeal are on a contingency basis; there will be no fee unless we are successful.

Our aim is to avoid your spending money on the process unless there is a reasonably good chance that you will prevail.  Some Towns have increased their equalization factor, which effectively lowers the assessed value making it more difficult to prove that you are over assessed by more than fifteen percent (15%).