Why Use A Tax Consultant – Business Personal Property

Reasons To Thoroughly Evaluate Your Personal Property Assessments.

1. The bill with no documentation.

Every year the property appraisers send many personal property tax bills. Unlike most bills that a company receives, these have no explanation or supporting documentation.

2. Each year the property appraiser mass appraises assets.

How do you know if you are assessed correctly or entitled to a tax reduction? Your personal property is supposed to be assessed at fair market value. However, because of the thousands of properties assigned to each appraiser, they have to use standardized depreciation tables. These tables group your assets into essentially four categories, Furniture & Fixtures, Machinery & Equipment, Computer Equipment, and Leasehold Improvements. The depreciation tables are established to approximate an average value, with little regard to specific type, use, or condition. This is typically higher than Fair Market Value.

3. It’s not the appraiser’s job to explore every opportunity to reduce your tax bill.

Most Property Appraisers do a good job; in fact, your property may be assessed “Correctly” according to the property appraisers mass appraisal methodologies and However …

4. There are many reduction opportunities available to taxpayers that are not incorporated in the property appraiser’s generalized method including:

• Provable lower market value of assets
• Provable faster depreciation schedules for selected asset types
• Faster depreciation of individual assets
• Tax code application errors
• Incorrect formulas for categories and useful life schedules
• Double entries by assessor
• Incorrect lease formulas
• Double taxation of assets
• Inconsistent assessments for comparable assets
• Inaccurate treatment of acquired assets
• Environmental considerations not applied
• Exemption opportunities overlooked