I reached out to Heller to see if my taxes could be grieved. Justin provided me with information about the process and was optimistic that they could be grieved. Justin was incredibly effective and informative and clearly has a passion for helping the community fight high taxes. I was provided updates throughout the process and won the fight. My experience could not have gone smoother, thanks to Justin for being my guide throughout the process. I will be referring him to help a few friends who need the service. I am extremely grateful for the help and the time spent on my case. Justin is an outstanding professional with years of knowledge. He is a real estate superstar!
Tammi Schmidt has been extremely insightful and knowledgeable. I never knew getting a break on my taxes was even an option until Tammi informed me and explained how seamless it was. Highly recommend using her services.
This office "Heller & Consultants tax Grievance" did a great Job than expected. In particular, 'Michele Lagrassa" kept her promises and always answered even to the smallest details and questions. I definitely want to recommend this office to all home owners for taxes Grieving.
Professional, dedicated and will stay with you till your every question is fully answered. HELLER saves me big money on my taxes every year. HELLER provides tax savings that I can spend on my grandchildren while retired on a fixed income.
Important - Nassau County Filing Deadline March 1, 2024
Two new measures were approved by the New York State legislature that will change the way the Star Rebate Program works.
Part 1: Homeowners earning between $250,000 and $500,000 a year will get a check for their STAR rebates this year, rather than receiving the savings directly in their school-tax bills.
Part 2: Any STAR recipient that doesn’t switch to a check will miss out on the two percent increase in their tax savings this fall.
The changes won’t impact eligibility – just whether homeowners receive the rebates in a check or in their school-tax bills, and not everyone will feel the change.
Those who owned their homes before Aug. 1, 2015, and earn less than $250,000 a year, will still get the STAR savings in their tax bills unless they opt for the check.
If property owners want to switch to the STAR credit program, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance suggests that they register as soon as possible, and no later than two weeks prior to the date when the final assessment roll is published.
A spokesperson for the tax department said the system is working well and that homeowners should feel confident they will get the checks prior to when their school taxes are due.
Last year, the agency said it issued 99.5% of STAR credit checks prior to the school tax bill due date.
What’s STAR?
The School Tax Relief (STAR) program is a property tax rebate program available to New Yorkers whose household income is $500,000 or less – only primary residences are eligible. Around 2.6 million homeowners in New York receive the STAR tax break, which averages to around $790 per year per household.
The tax break is part of a $3 billion program that started in the mid-1990s, which helps New Yorkers curb the impact of having among the highest school taxes in the nation.
Why the Changes?
Under the previous system, schools give homeowners the STAR savings and then get reimbursed by the state — which showed up as a budget expense for the state. The new system gives the savings directly to the homeowners in a check, so it counts as a “personal income tax credit,” and shows up in the state budget as a reduction in tax revenue – not as state spending.
That change is sizable for the state’s finances. The new system is estimated to lower spending by $238 million in the fiscal year. Plus, capping the growth in the program for those who don’t get a check is another potential money-saver for the state.
Critics have asserted that the STAR program’s alterations have created falsities in the state’s budget by changing how the program functions, from a homeowner’s property tax discount to a state-issued ‘personal income tax credit’ that is issued as a check. According to an article in lohud. the Director of State Studies for the Citizens Budget Commission, David Friedfel asserts “the state is able to artificially make state spending appear lower than it is.”
The state defended the changes, however, saying it will help cut out fraud in the program and streamline payments. The goal of the changes, as explained by Freeman Klopott, spokesman for the state Budget Division, is to transfer people to the credit program, which is more efficiently administered. This will help to prevent abuse of the system. It will also separate the STAR savings from the tax bill, making districts more accountable to taxpayers.
What About Mortgage Escrows?
The changes will impact homeowners who pay their taxes through a mortgage escrow because they will pay more per month to cover the taxes, and then have to wait for reimbursement through the STAR check.
Are Seniors Affected?
Senior citizens who get Enhanced STAR are not impacted by the changes and will still get the savings upfront on their tax bills although those receiving Enhanced STAR will now have to enroll in an income-verification program to get the rebate. Enhanced STAR is available to homeowners age 65 and older with incomes of $86,300 or less. This program benefits 665,000 seniors and averages $1,400 a year.
Nassau County homeowners are experiencing an increase of irritation and skepticism amidst receiving tax impact statements both in their mailboxes and online. These property reassessments, made by the county, detail possible increases in property value for over 50% of homeowners.
Sent out November 1st, tax notices revealed the new assessments to all county residents. Estimated tax bills were also published online on November 20th. These property tax changes are expected to take effect in 2020-2021.
The uproar over the property tax increase has been tremendous – residents have been contacting county officials in the assessment department since 2010 and county meetings open to the public have become filled with concerned residents. The Nassau County website has also hit 11 million in views November, nearly doubling the view count from October.
Due to failed attempts to fix over-assessments by the counties, numerous tax grievances have been settled. These settlements have caused homeowners, who have not filed tax grievances, to bear the weight of the property tax issue.
Legislator Steve Rhoads (R-Bellmore) stated that residents feel “betrayed” and that homeowners have “been encouraged to participate in the grievance process”. Rhoads went on to say that property owners feel “as though they’re being punished for doing what the system was set up to tell them to do”.
Democrat County Executive Laura Curran, who encouraged the reassessment process of the counties homes, states she has found support with many of Nassau’s residents. The County Executive says that the reassessment will help the county decrease the amount of borrowing it needs to do in order to keep up with the successful tax challenges in court.
Toward the end of 2017, Nassau’s tax liability measured in at a whopping $569 million. In order to ease this financial responsibility, the county plans on borrowing upwards of $300 million dollars. Curran states that without the reassessment, the county will get “deeper into debt”, which the entire county will then have to appease.
Curran lowered the level of assessment from .25 to .1 percent starting in September. Controversy has risen over this recent change of market value used to calculate tax costs for homeowners.
According to county-provided data, Curran’s reassessment program is expected to see a tax increase for 52% of homeowners and a decrease for 48% of homeowners. With these changes, upwards of 11,000 residents will have increases of more than $5,000, while approximately 39,000 residents will see an increase of around $3,000.
A potential hike in property taxes could mean trouble for the housing market in the counties affected. Potential homebuyers factor in costs associated with buying property, including its yearly taxes. A higher tax rate could deter potential buyers from both personal and commercial property in Nassau.
With the negative responses stemming from impending tax increases, Nassau County Assessor David Moog has sent four new tax specialists to meet with residents and address their concerns. The offices have experienced quite a bit of traffic – 14,000 residents have either called or emailed and 4,000 people have physically visited the locations.
Meris Davis, a tax specialist working in one of the offices, said that her experience with resident feedback has been positive. She states that homeowners leave the office feeling informed, not with “the wool pulled over their eyes”.
Nassau County is showing residents the new market values of their properties. The reassessment notices also show the homeowners their 2017-18 taxes and tentative 2020-21 taxes.
Moog states that more homeowners will see their homes market value rise, after many years of fixed assessments. According to the County Assessor, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the property taxes will rise, as well. He states that residents that continually filed for tax grievances throughout recent years will face the largest increase.
Bottom line, we have interviewed hundreds of Nassau homeowners and commercial property owners who have attended meetings at one of the many Nassau Assessment satellite offices regarding the tax impact notices that they have received. What are those property owners advised to do by Nassau Assessor’s Office you ask? They are advised to file a tax grievance.
These are confusing times to be a Nassau County taxpayer. Recently you may have received a 2020-21 “Tax Impact Letter” regarding your home’s new assessed value and corresponding tax liability.
The Tax Impact Notices are designed to illustrate how your property taxes will change once the new assessment is in place. In actuality, the notice is based on the 2017/18 tax rates making the estimate suspect at best, completely misleading at best.
I believe the notices should have have been based instead on the school and county budgets taking into account the massive tax rate increase that will be necessary to accommodate the new ratio of .10. Part of the County Executive’s plan is to bypass New York State’s longstanding law of increasing your assessment by no more than 6% per year. This will have disastrous consequences for many Nassau homeowners. My hope is that Ms. Curran will rethink think this proposal.
One thing is clear, the tax rate for many neighborhoods is going to increase substantially if Nassau moves forward with its current plan. This will be especially true without the proposed 5-year phase-in, should the NYS Legislature decide not to pass the proposed law to make the phase-in possible. In fact, this bill has yet to be even introduced to the NYS Legislature.
I strongly advise all Nassau homeowners to file a tax grievance application for the 2020-21 tax year before this year’s April 30, 2019 filing deadline.
Bottom line, Nassau Homeowners will not know the full extent of the countywide reassessment until October 1, 2020 far after April 30, 2019, legal filing deadline has passed.
If you would like to submit an application for us to grieve your 2020-21 tax year, legal filing deadline April 30, 2019, simply click the orange “Apply Today” button below.
As always, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office at (516) 342-4849.
Regards,
Adam B Heller President & CEO Heller & Consultants Tax Grievance LLC
Grieve your 2020-21 property taxes now before April 30, 2019, legal Deadline
These are confusing times to be a Nassau County taxpayer. Recently you may have received a 2020-21 “Assessment Disclosure Notice” regarding the county’s recent reassessment from Nassau County Department of Assessment.
The letter you received pertains to the 2020-21 tax year, these tax bills are not released until October 1, 2020 (School)/January 2, 2021 (General). It is impossible to project the actual effect the reassessment will have on you or any homeowner in Nassau County in these early stages, we won’t really have all the pieces to the puzzle until the 2020-21 tax rates are released. One thing is clear, the tax rate for many neighborhoods is going to increase substantially if Nassau moves forward with its current plan. This will be especially true without the proposed 5-year phase-in, should the NYS Legislature decide not to pass the proposed law to make the phase-in possible.
As of 2 January 2018, The Nassau County Department of Assessmentcarried out an assessment on each property in the region. At times, the assessments might be inaccurate. The question here is “What would you do if you got an inaccurate property assessment?”
Well, you can make an appeal whereby you fill an application with the Assessment Review Commission. You should do so not later than 1 March 2018. Grieving an assessment applies to everyone inclusive of contract vendees, property owners, and lease tenants.
Unfortunately, if you fail to file your grievance within the deadline, you can’t file for one in that year. Luckily, at Heller & Consultants, we can assist in knowing whether you have additional open tax years in the past.
If you do, our responsibility is to include your tax years in the current year. Then we’ll negotiate them together. However, you should always beat deadlines to avoid losing lots of money on inaccurate taxes.
At Heller & Consultants, we don’t charge our customers upfront fee when they grieve their Nassau county property taxes. Instead, we take the fee from their return – only when they get the reduction.
Tax rates in Nassau County have increased because of the DAF (Disputed Assessment Fund). Nassau and Suffolk counties were the ones with highest rates on property tax in New York.
Most people hesitate to file a grievance because they think their taxes will increase. The law prohibits the rise of taxes whenever someone files a grievance.
Since you can’t do it alone, you can let Heller & Consultants help you out. Unlike others, we make no money until you get a reduction. So we’ll always work hard to help you obtain your reduction.
You don’t have to file the first application or submit any supporting documents. We always do that for you. Along, we’ll engage with the ARC (Assessment Review Commission) in Nassau County.
Some of our customers had filed grievances in the past but were denied a reduction. Well, if you are one of them, there’s hope. We’ll help you make a new, fresh grievance application. Since every new year, comparable values come up; they might favor you this time around.
Every commercial property is eligible for official assessment review. These commercial properties include movie theaters, hospitals, supermarkets, hotels, office buildings, and country clubs, among others.
You don’t have an idea of where to start? Heller & Consultants are experts at reviewing commercial and residential properties. We determine the market value and take you through the filling process for a grievance. Most essentially, we keep customers up-to-date on the progress.
Here are simple steps to follow:
First, visit http://Irv.nassaucountyny.gov/ to see what market value the assessors estimate your property. We advise you to do so at least each year – before the deadline.
If assessed inaccurately, then allow Heller & Consultants to get you the reductions. We have the expertise and experience of property values. For more than 25 years, we have dealt with grievances on commercial real estate.
In case we evaluate that your property was over-assessed, we’ll file a grievance- right away! Then the process of tax reduction starts.
The objective of assessors is to assess a property’s value as opposed to determining property taxes. At times these assessors might give a lower property value than the one given by a municipality. In that case, then, you should file a grievance with the assessment review commission and the assessor. Your aim is to obtain a reduction on the basis of your application.
In the event that the commission denies your application, then you can file an Article-7 petition. However, you should do so within 30 days after which the final roll is declared.
Perhaps you’ve heard about tax certiorari. This refers to the process of applying for a grievance and challenging a tax assessment on the property. It is a formal review with 2 stages:
1. Administrative review: this is the grievance procedure done at the municipal level with the ARC (Assessment Review Commission). Here the ARC might plan a conference or ask for financial documents to support your application.
Our experts will review as well as submit any documentation that ARC will request. In most cases, we’ll negotiate on your behalf – just to obtain the least assessment possible.
2. Judicial Review: this is a petition application with the Supreme Court in Nassau County. We’ll submit an Article-7 petition in case the settlement negotiations don’t bear fruits.
Nonetheless, you must undergo an administrative review process for you to take the judicial review.
The bottom line
The good thing with Heller & Consultants is that we’ll walk you through the entire process. All you have to do is to provide us with the right property information and we’ll do the rest. We’ll keep you updated about your filing. After getting the tax reduction on your commercial property, we’ll proceed to get the refund for any overpaid tax. Lastly, we’ll make sure your tax bills on the property are accurate.
Legislator Steve Rhoads (R-Bellmore) stated that residents feel “betrayed” and that homeowners have “been encouraged to participate in the grievance process”. Rhoads went on to say that property owners feel “as though they’re being punished for doing what the system was set up to tell them to do”.
Democrat County Executive Laura Curran, who encouraged the reassessment process of the counties homes, states she has found support with many of Nassau’s residents. The County Executive says that the reassessment will help the county decrease the amount of borrowing it needs to do in order to keep up with the successful tax challenges in court.
