To protect and preserve their right to fair and equitable property tax assessments, taxpayers should understand the fundamentals of Indiana’s assessment system and how to challenge excessive valuations. If you own real...more
Indiana apartment owners and operators enter 2024 with new opportunities to lower their real property tax assessments. Under an updated law effective this year, Ind. Code § 6-1.1-4-39 (Section 39), for property tax assessment...more
Property tax assessments have sharply increased across Iowa, particularly for commercial and industrial property. One report in Polk County noted that “most commercial properties saw their valuations jump 18.9%.” That same...more
Taxpayers in Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, may be in for an unpleasant surprise when property tax bills are mailed out in the coming days. Based on assessment data available on the Marion County Assessor’s website,...more
Property Type: Convenience store, with gas station -
Date Issued: June 14, 2022 -
Assessment Years: 2018, 2019 -
Synopsis: Assessor defended the subject property’s $1.9 Million assessment with a 2014 sales...more
Appraisals can be costly to prepare, in terms of dollars spent and time invested. Taxpayers would be at a disadvantage if they were compelled in every case to pay for appraisals to support claims of excessive assessments....more
In conducting mass valuations, Indiana assessing officials generally apply the cost approach. The 2021 Real Property Assessment Manual states, “The Guidelines adopted by the Department of Local Government Finance provide...more
The Indiana General Assembly has gifted Hoosier landowners another property tax protection by assigning the burden of proof on appeal to the assessor responsible for changing a property’s land classification. The notice of...more
As we dive into the 2021 holiday season, I wanted to reflect over the next few weeks on a dozen (or so) gifts that have been given to Hoosier taxpayers by the Indiana General Assembly to protect them from excessive, unfair...more
In Muir Woods Section One Association, Inc., et al. v. Marion County Assessor (August 26, 2021), the Indiana Supreme Court concluded that, while determining value for the base rate of land may be a subjective determination,...more
Despite the crush of the COVID-19 pandemic, April 2021 brings a shower of increased property tax assessments for Iowa businesses. Now is the time to analyze and consider challenging excessive values.
Iowa’s commercial...more
Reports should “set out the main points in a series of short, crisp paragraphs. . . . Let us not shrink from using the short expressive phrase, even if it’s conversational.” Winston Churchill (as quoted in The Splendid and...more
Name: CVS Corporation #2519-01 v. Lake County Assessor and CVS Corporation #0434-01 v. Lake County Assessor -
Date Issued: May 22, 2020 -
Property Type: Retail pharmacy -
Assessment Years: 2007 – 2014, 2012 – 2016...more
Did you or your company open your property tax bill or assessment notice from an Indiana assessor this spring and experience sticker shock? If so – whether retail, office, apartments, industrial, or something else – you can...more
In two recent opinions and one from last spring, the Indiana Tax Court considered whether property taxes for hospitals and hotels should be calculated using the 2% or 3% tax caps. In both opinions, the Court held that use of...more
Assessor had spent little time with limited discovery prosecuting case -
Name: Marion County Assessor v. Stutz Business Center, LLC -
Date Issued: August 30, 2019 -
Property Type: Vacant land -
Assessment Years:...more
Name: Sheerin v. LaPorte County Assessor -
Date Issued: December 11, 2019 -
Property Type: Vacant lot -
Assessment Year: 2015...more
On May 24, 2018, the Indiana Tax Court in Switzerland County Assessor v. Belterra Resort Indiana, LLC partially reversed the Indiana Board of Tax Review, ordering a further reduction to the values of its hotel, riverboat...more
In Guthrie v. Clark County Assessor (August 13, 2019), Taxpayer challenged the 2018 assessment of her home, pole barn and other improvements before the Indiana Board of Tax Review....more
Name: Wigwam Holdings LLC v. Madison County Assessor -
Date Issued: May 8, 2019 -
Property Type: 220,000 SF building, including a natatorium, auditorium and 8,996 seat basketball facility...more
Last week I spoke at a seminar regarding recent developments involving Indiana property tax appeal procedures. Following are summaries of various rulings of the Indiana Board of Tax Review (“IBTR”) involving the burden of...more
Case Name: Marinov and Marinova v. Tippecanoe County Assessor -
Date Issued: February 20, 2019 -
Property Type: Single-family residence...more
Name: Garrett LLC v. Noble County Assessor -
Date Issued: September 24, 2018 -
Property Type: Former foundry with environmental contamination...more
Name: L&R Enterprises, LLC v. Hancock County Assessor -
Date Issued: July 2, 2018 -
Property Type: Restaurant (freestanding, approximately 5,500 sq. ft.)...more
By statute, a variety of property types are assessed based on specific approaches to value – in some cases, at the lowest value indicated by a number of valuation approaches. Apartments are one such property type and, as...more