“Reduce Your Property Tax Bill in Florida: A Guide to Appealing”

1. Property owners in Florida receive annual TRIM notices from county property appraisers, detailing proposed tax assessments for residential and commercial properties.
2. The TRIM notice provides owners with the opportunity to challenge the proposed tax assessment by filing a petition with the Value Adjustment Board within 25 to 30 days.
3. Many property owners do not challenge their property taxes, often due to missing filing deadlines or a lack of understanding of the process.
4. Challenging a property tax assessment can lead to significant tax savings for property owners. – It is necessary to have a significant reduction in assessed value to see a noticeable reduction in the tax bill.
– Successful challenge and subsequent reduction in assessed value can result in tax savings for many years.
– High-dollar residential and commercial property owners should seek counsel as there is typically greater room for error in the assessment and potential for more substantial tax reduction.
– A cost-savings analysis should be performed to determine the likelihood of cost-effective results in light of long-term tax savings.
– Counsel should first preserve the owner’s rights through the filing of a petition with the Value Adjustment Board (“VAB”), and subsequently initiate informal negotiations and consultation with the county assessors.
– Owners are required to timely pay the tax to challenge the tax on the TRIM notice. 1. The Sowell v. Faith Christian Family Church case in Florida emphasized the importance of adhering to deadlines when challenging a tax assessment.
2. Failure to pay assessed property taxes before the deadline can result in the court lacking jurisdiction to entertain a challenge to the tax assessment.
3. The taxpayer’s delinquent payment of property taxes led to the dismissal of their challenge to the tax assessment.
4. The court acknowledged the harsh penalties for failure to meet statutory deadlines, but upheld the decision based on clear statute.
5. Property owners in Florida should pay close attention to all pending deadlines and strictly comply with them, in order to avoid dismissal of their challenges to tax assessments.

https://www.jimersonfirm.com/blog/2017/08/florida-property-tax-appeals/