NC Property Tax Grievance e-File Tutorial - YouTube

Hello, I'm George Maragos the Nassau County Comptroller.

Each year over 60% of Nassau County residents miss out on the opportunity to appeal their

property tax assessment and unfairly pay higher property taxes than they should.

This happens because the tax burden is being shifted from those that file appeals to those who do not.

It is easy to file an appeal and you do not need someone else to help you.

The following video will help you to file online, in simple step-by-step instructions.

I truly hope that this video will help you to file a property tax appeal in order to lower your property taxes.

Thank you.

Hello and welcome to the Nassau County Comptroller's office tutorial on how to grieve your assessment

yourself, online, and without an attorney.

We'll start by visiting the county website at www.nassaucountyny.gov.

[Next screen] On the top left hand side, you'll see a button [link] that says Departments.

Hover over it and select the Assessment Review Commission [link].

[Next screen] On the left hand navigation bar, the second option is How to Appeal Your Assessment.

Select that tab (link).

[Next screen] Here you will notice the information about how to appeal your assessment including

the dates you may file.

This year you may file between January 2 2017 and March 1, 2017, on the county website.

Note that if you live in a village or city they may have their own assessment department,

in which case you should contact them for their specific deadlines, and for other relevant

information that you may need to file an assessment grievance.

If the following information pertains to you, scroll down until you see the Click Here to File an Appeal button [link],

which is the second from last hyperlink, select it now.

Once again the website will ask you specific information, including noting that

you have a right to have a lawyer represent you in this grievance.

You also may file without an attorney if you so choose.

If this information is correct, you'll see that the second hyperlink File an Appeal Online link is now active.

This link is only active during the filing period.

If you're ready to begin click on File an Appeal online.

[Next Screen] The system will ask you to register.

Registration is nothing more than your contact information, name and the creation of a username and password.

If you have not registered, please click [the link] at the bottom of the screen

[Next Screen] Otherwise, put in your user ID and password and click login.

Once you login you'll notice that you have a selection of residential, public utility,

condominium or other property type.

For this tutorial we are going to use a residential single-family home.

The following selection, Objection to the assessed value of the property form A1 or 2,

Select that box now.

This should load the application to grieve your assessment. [Screen reloads]

Start in PART A by entering your section block and lot information.

If you do not know your section block and lot, click the magnifying glass to manually search

[Enter your search parameters]

Your home should appear in yellow at the bottom of the box.

Select the Parcel Id number hyperlinked, in blue on the left hand side

to pre-populate it throughout the application. [Screen updates with property information]

The photo and address of your home should populate in PART A.

Once this is complete, insert the owner applicant's name

and any other owners that may be on the property's title.

After that is completed move on to PART B, the owner's estimate a full market value.

Here you will be able to enter in what you believe your property is worth.

If you do not know a value of the top your head, please select the Help Me Determine button on the right hand side

to open a new page which will allow you to find comparable sales of homes in your area.

First, you will see all the information about your home. On the left hand side under Dwelling Information

You will be able to edit any of the information the Department of Assessment has on file about your home

If everything is correct, click the Find Sales button at the bottom left hand side of the screen

below the Dwelling Information box.

The system will look through over 350,000 current sales to find homes in your area that were recently purchased

On the following screen, if you bought your house recently, it may be listed again as one of the sales

The Assessment Review Commission recommends that you select the first 2 sales listed below your house

and up to three other sales.

Select the best possible matches most useful in estimating the market value of your home

as of January 2nd of this year.

The formula for not getting your grievance rejected is the sale must be recent.

The location of compared homes must be most similar to your home in location, size, lot size, age and style.

Do not pick sales based on a low price in order to make a case for a reduction by the Assessment Review Commission.

It will not be persuasive.

Once you have selected these one to five comparable homes,

click the Select Checked Properties and Continue button at the bottom of your screen.

[New screen loads with Selected Sales]

Here you will see the subject property on the left, followed by

the three comparable sales that we just selected.

At the bottom, you will notice the adjust price box has adjusted the three comparable

sales to characteristics of your home.

What this does is give you an estimate.

If those three sales were exactly like your home, how much would they be valued?

After confirming that all information is correct, click Continue at the bottom left hand side of your screen.

[Next Screen] Here, briefly read the disclaimer, and note that this system is not an appraisal,

and is not the opinion of the Assessment Review Commission that the values

located on the previous screen are correct.

This is merely to facilitate your argument and to make your case that your house is over assessed.

Once you agree to this disclaimer, click the I agree, Proceed button on the left-hand side.

[Next screen] Here, the system has calculated the taxable

market value of our subject property given the three comparables that we selected.

If once this information is correct click the Continue to Application button to proceed.

You'll note that all of this information will be pre-populated in the rest of the application.

The following screen [scroll down to the next section] PART C you'll note the type of applicant:

This should be marked as Self

meaning you are the owner of the property whose assessment you are grieving.

If you are doing this on behalf of the family member or friend, without compensation, note that

there's additional requirements and disclaimers that you will need to attach to the grievance application.

For more information those are located at the bottom of the screen.

The following section PART D will ask you to verify the proper information of your property

make sure that the records of the Department of Assessment are correct.

Look through all the various options in Part D, and fill them out, and select the appropriate options.

This will include the year you acquired the property, the price, whether it was an arms-length sale.

For example, a sale between family members is generally not considered arms-length

while a sale between two third parties is. [an arms-length sale]

[Next question ] The year build. Is the property offered for sale or under contract at the moment? And if so, the price.

Has any construction or alteration been started or completed in the past three years?

And if so, the cost as of January 2 of this year.

Also, during your ownership, have you expanded the house's living area by building up or out

or by converting the porch, garage, attic or basement?

Then it will ask for the type of home: if your home is located in a development or homeowners Association,

You may enter that name in the next screen [field].

The following question asks: What part is currently used as residence for the owners and their family?

For our subject property we'll consider that the entire house is used by one family,

and that family is the owner of the property.

[Next question] Is the property offered for rent?

In this case, we'll select NO. But if part of your home is rented,

select YES, enter the number of units, and the amount of rent that you collected per month.

Furthermore, attach copies of all current leases.

Finally, what is below the main part of the house?

[select from list] finished basement, unfinished basement, crawl space or slab.

Select the appropriate choice.

Next, the application will ask you to fill the number of rooms you have, and how many of those rooms,

including the number of kitchens, half baths, other rooms, full baths, and bedrooms.

If this house has a garage? if so, select how many cars fit in the garage or no garage.

Does a house of central air conditioning, waterfront access, in-ground pool or professional office space?

Next, are any of these adjacent to or visible from your home or none of the above?

Finally for part D you'll be asked: if there are any other pertinent facts such as

if you live in a high traffic area that maybe important when analyzing the assessment of your home.

Feel free to enter as much information as possible in order for us to make a calculated decision.

When this is complete [scroll down to next section]

You'll notice PART E : Assessment Requested is an optional section.

Notice that the current value as well as your estimate of the full market value

are pre-populated from the top sections.

To complete this section click Calculate in the top right hand side of part E.

The system will automatically calculate the requested assessed value.

For our example you'll notice that the tentative assessment of our property is 905.

However, when taken into account that we selected the three comparable properties,

the requested assessed value is 851.

The 851 is the value that you are arguing your home is worth.

If you have any additional evidence or explanation to help the Department of Assessment

and the Assessment Review Commission to properly review your case: entry it here in Park E, letter E.

Next in PART F you'll notice the recent sales of similar houses which is optional.

However, we did this in part B, and you'll notice that the three homes we selected

have been pre-populated into the application.

Here you will be able to make comments on each of the three properties

which will help us evaluate the application better, as well as add additional homes.

If you do not know of any offhand, you can always select the magnifying glass

and go back to the comparable sales finder.

Finally PART G, Statement of Claim and Certification, will ask you for a brief code,

found in the black box, white letters, followed by a small certification statement.

Please take a moment to read this certification statement, and if you agree,

click Submit the Application Form at the bottom of that section.

Selecting this button will automatically send your application

to the Assessment Review Commission for processing.

This will be followed up with a confirmation email.

Remember, the time period to file is between January 2 to March 1.

Please remember if you live in a city or Village in Nassau County you may have other deadlines

or other requirements: contact the proper department for more information.

Please remember as an alternative to e-filing you can download the forms at the Nassau County

Assessment Review Commission and mail them in.

These forms which are called the AR1 forms are identical to what we have just reviewed.

Please fill them out exactly the same way, and mail them in.

Thank you for listening to our tutorial and good luck with your grievance.