Brooklyn Property Tax Reduction
The Brooklyn borough of New York City is a phenomenal property market with some truly exceptional opportunities. However, those opportunities sometimes come with rising property taxes as the borough continually holds surprises for property taxpayers. As a result of many historical and ongoing influences, Brooklyn property tax assessments are sometimes in flux and may be too high for an individual property.
We can help level the playing field. Our real estate tax attorneys at Apfelbaum & Apfelbaum, LLP advise real estate property taxpayers on how to challenge the current tax assessment on their commercial or residential properties, in pursuit of a reduction in the current tax assessment. We review your property tax obligations against existing or changing guidelines applied to your property’s specific property class, neighborhood, and related historical precedents.
We value our Brooklyn property clients. Our goal is to not just give you the best representation possible for your property case, but to support lasting clients that come back to us year after year for quality service.
Brooklyn Property Tax Reduction Services
- The discovery phase for your property’s tax assessment begins with obtaining relevant property taxation details, such as the previous year’s revenue, as well as any property maintenance expenses and related costs. This includes any capital improvements or repairs made, and may or may not include any special neighborhood services required for your property. All relevant leasing issues are factored in, including any historical or environmental causes and conditions contributing to the existing valuation of your Brooklyn property.
- We estimate a new valuation of your Brooklyn property based upon our findings. The estimation is conducted in a way that brings out the unique physical and historical qualities of the property, and we factor in the personal story of your property. We explore how the former valuation may have relied upon a misreading of those factors to result in an inflated property tax assessment.
- We present your revised property valuation case for you. Our firm does this by representing your property at an administrative hearing at the New York City Tax Commission office located in downtown Manhattan. The Tax Commission hears your case and makes a determination based upon the evidence and precedents relevant to your unique property and situation. They also may take into account any historical or extenuating circumstances we present on your behalf that may have easily been missed at the time of assessment.
- On conclusion of the property tax hearing, an offer may be made. If the Tax Commission answers the tax reduction question in your property’s favor, the Commission will extend an offer to reduce your property’s tax assessment. This being the case, we will advise you on the practical merits and downsides of accepting the offered property valuation reduction.
- If the Tax Commission does not offer a reduced valuation, we will advise you on any possible merits of preserving the right to re-argue the case at a more opportune future time. We will provide you with a better understanding of any of the key justifications for such an option.
Each Brooklyn property assessment case is unique. This is the case because each property has a complex relationship to other zoning, legal, historical taxation factors and other associated cost factors. Not every offer will be to your ultimate advantage. Care must be taken as to whether or not to accept the offer made by the Tax Commission as a result of your property’s tax reassessment hearing, or whether and how to proceed along different lines.
We pride ourselves on helping every client thoroughly identify and clarify issues that can impact your overall tax obligation or any more obvious associated property rights, in order to help make the most balanced and informed decision possible.
Brooklyn Property Tax Lots
Next to Manhattan, Brooklyn had the highest recent increase in number of tax lots within NYC. The total number of tax lots for tax year 2019/2020 is 328,728.1 That’s up .61% from the previous tax year. But that’s not the only kind of assessment fluctuation potential that the borough of Brooklyn has experienced.
Annual Brooklyn Property Tax Increases
The Final 2019/2020 Assessment Roll for Brooklyn is a revealing benchmark.2 In tax year 2018/2019, Brooklyn Taxable Assessed Value was $30,836,140,126. That number has jumped to $33,772,985,749 for the 2019/2020 tax year. This constitutes an increase of 9.52%, by far the highest borough property tax increase in all of New York City.
Contact Us
We provide every Brooklyn borough property tax client with the utmost attention and care. Interested in challenging your Brooklyn property tax assessment? Call us or complete our easy Property Form.
1New York City Department of Finance Taxable Assessment and Market Value Profiles, Final FY 2018/19 vs Final. FY 2019/20, Summary by Boro.
2 Ibid.