Companies often lack the necessary internal resources to properly manage property tax assessments—exposing the business to inaccurate assessments, inflated tax liabilities, and possible penalties and interest.
Reduce the risks and costs associated with incomplete, incorrect, or late property tax filings and pursue exemptions, abatements, and other tax mitigation opportunities with guidance from our tax advisors.
By proactively reviewing your real and personal property tax assessments, you can position your business to potentially reduce property taxes to the lowest legal amount.
Identify Taxable Assets and Risks
Property taxes vary by state, but can potentially be assessed on:
- Real property such as land, buildings, structures, and land improvements
- Business personal property, including owned or leased business assets such as fixed assets and vehicles
- Inventory, including finished goods, works in process, and raw materials
Property taxes and annual property tax compliance should be a focus for capital-intensive businesses with manufacturing, warehouse, and distribution facilities, as well as those in the leasing, retail, and energy industries. Property taxes are an increasingly important issue for businesses expanding or moving into new states as well.
Your bottom line could be adversely impacted by inflated property tax assessments if your business:
- Doesn’t properly retire assets from fixed assts records as they’re disposed
- Has idle equipment or manufacturing processes that aren’t fully utilized
- Has bundled-asset purchases recorded in your fixed-asset system
- Has equipment repairs and maintenance recorded in your fixed-asset system
- Has equipment, including tooling or molds, used for offsite manufacturing
- Has installed equipment that’s mandated by governmental regulations
- Has intangible asset costs, such as software, fees, or permits, recorded in your fixed-asset system
Property Tax Requirements
Requirements and category definitions for state and local property tax reporting differ greatly from federal income tax definitions, which can result in overreported costs, duplicate assessments, and property assessments that could be exempt or nontaxable.
State and local property tax rules, regulations, and deadlines are in constant flux, and keeping pace with changes by jurisdiction can be a major challenge, with tax agencies dramatically increasing enforcement activities in recent years.
How Reviews Help Your Business
Property tax assessors generally value business personal property based on assets companies report, however, annual reporting forms often don’t provide for insights fully representative of operations that would allow for the most beneficial assessment.
Strengthen your reports by encompassing a spectrum of property tax services. We can oversee your entire property tax needs or enhance your existing in-house team’s capabilities with services in the following areas.