Appealing Your Property Taxes

It is not just your imagination that all your bills have gotten more expensive in the past few years. As lonely as you might have been when you were working remotely during the pandemic, it was the last time you saw your debt balances get lower and your savings account balances grow bigger. For a while, you would buy your usual grocery haul every week and balk at how much higher it was than last week’s purchase of nearly identical groceries, but now you are used to it; being angry about it would just use up energy that you need to devote to your full-time job and your side hustles, lest you fall even farther behind on your bills. Even though increasing prices and stagnant income are the new normal, nothing can prepare you for the fact that your real estate taxes have increased by 20 percent or more from what they were last year. Homeownership and ownership of rental properties were a source of financial stability until you got the most recent real estate tax bill, but now they have added to your financial stress. The good news is that it is possible to appeal your real estate tax bill if it is incorrect. For help appealing your real estate tax bill or adapting your rental business to cope with the high price of real estate taxes, contact a Washington, D.C. real estate lawyer.

The Appeals Process for Real Estate Taxes

Statewide, the real estate tax assessments in Maryland were an average of 23 percent higher at the end of 2024 than they were at the end of 2023. If your real estate tax bill is unaffordable, you can file an appeal. The first step is to gather documents supporting your argument that the tax assessment is incorrect and then file a supervisory appeal with the Maryland Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board, which will schedule a hearing. If you live in Montgomery County, your hearing will be in Rockville.

The county will send you a new assessment within 30 days, because the county will re-calculate it. If you still believe that the new assessment is incorrect, you can take your appeal before the Maryland Tax Court in Baltimore.  Even if you did not hire a lawyer for your supervisory appeal, you should hire one for your hearing with the Maryland Tax Court.

Think Twice Before Filing an Appeal

Appealing your real estate taxes has its risks. Your appeal triggers a review of your financial documents, in order to arrive at a tax assessment that may or may not differ from the original one. There is a possibility that, after going through the appeal process, you will owe the same amount as you originally owed, and you might even owe more.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About Real Estate taxes

A Washington, D.C. real estate attorney can help you maintain a successful real estate business despite the rising cost of property taxes.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C.  in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

Source:

bethesdamagazine.com/2024/01/29/surprised-by-your-maryland-property-tax-assessment-heres-when-to-consider-filing-an-appeal/