Grieving your real estate taxes is the first step in saving money.  It can be accomplished by yourself or by hiring a company to file and complete the process.  It can take up to 18 months to obtain the results, so patience is required.   However, there are some misconceptions about filing a grievance and you should be aware of them.

1.)  Filing a grievance could result in increasing my taxes.  In NYS and Nassau County, it states that’s not the case.  Nassau County’s official site, states that “The Assessment Review Commission will never increase the assessment” when you file your grievance.

2.) Filing a tax grievance will not create a situation, where Nassau officials will personally inspect your home.  Instead, they will use comparable sales which is public information to determine the value of your home in computing your real estate taxes.  So there would be no necessity to come out and visit your home.

3.) Filing a grievance most of the time will not require you to appear for a formal hearing with the Small Claims Assessment Review.  When hiring a company, they are the party responsible, if necessary.

4.) You probably have received multiple offers to grieve your real estate taxes.  However, you can only hire (or do it yourself) one company each year to represent you when grieving your taxes

5.)  Grieving your taxes once is all you have to do.  This is a misconception.  Taxes can increase yearly, so grieving them yearly will be a prudent path to be sure you can keep them as low as possible.

If you pay local taxes, grieving them will allow you to lower them.  The filing period for Nassau County is January 2-March 1 of each year.  You can check tax.ny.gov.  All the necessary forms are located there for you to file your grievance.  Also, it will show the areas outside of Nassau and how to file your grievance.  Be aware that this is only for your primary residence.  Being a Civil servant or a Veteran will have additional benefits.  You can also find more information on nyassembly.gov

There is another way to save on your real estate taxes.  The STAR Exemption allowed homeowners who purchased after March 1, 2015, In NYS, a credit on their yearly school tax bill.  One must apply for STAR credit (receiving a check yearly, which can be used to pay towards your school taxes) by June 15, or STAR exemption by March 1, which will provide a credit towards your yearly school taxes.  There are income maximums to be qualified to receive these benefits, so you will need to check.

The SALT Deduction changed how one could deduct their state and local taxes for 2018.  Under Ex-President Trump, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in December 2017, decreased the amount you could deduct from your Federal tax return.

The maximum deduction became $10,000 for state and local taxes.  Before that time, it was the total of state, local, sales, and real estate taxes if you itemized them on your federal tax return.  This was detrimental to NYS residents or any state with higher real estate taxes.  More information can be found at tax.thomsonreuters.com.

Some homeowners still haven’t grieved their real estate taxes or have taken appropriate action to apply for their STAR credit or exemption.  I am not sure if this is because of ignorance in not knowing what to do or just plain laziness.  However, if you are one of those homeowners,  there are enough valuable resources to become educated in saving you money on your yearly real estate taxes.  You can go online to determine which companies have the best reviews and who have saved Nassau residents the most money.

We all complain about our escalating real estate taxes, but not everyone does something to make a change about it. You have to take the first step and start and make a concerted effort to reduce your real estate taxes.

If you don’t have internet access and need more information and want to register, then call (518)457-2036 on weekdays 8:30 to 4:30.  However, going online to tax.ny.gov and scrolling down to the STAR exemption information will provide you with the necessary information that you will need.

They will ask you for your primary address, income on your most recent tax returns, most recent school tax bill, Social Security numbers for all owners, the date you purchased the property, and more.  Always take the name and ID of the person you are talking to for future reference.

Philip A. Raices is the owner/Broker of Turn Key Real Estate at 3 Grace Ave Suite 180 in Great Neck. For a free 15-minute consultation, value analysis of your home, or to answer any of your questions or concerns he can be reached by cell: (516) 647-4289 or by email: Phil@TurnKeyRealEstate.Com or via https://WWW.Li-RealEstate.Com