Property Tax Consultants, Ltd. has represented owners of real and tangible personal property throughout the State of Florida since 1982. We have represented this State’s largest corporate and financial institutions in connection with their Real and Tangible assessments in South Florida.

CONTINGENT FEE SERVICE
We represent owners on a “contingent fee” basis. Property Tax Consultants, Ltd. bears the entire cost of the appeal. Our clients pay a percentage of the tax savings which results from a reduced assessment. With our proven record of success over many years, we are able to bear all of the upfront costs and effectively assume this risk for our clients.

REAL ESTATE
We use professionally accepted appraisal practices to create what we believe is the true market value of your property. We purchase, annually, the most current data from various reputable sources in the industry.

RESEARCH MATERIALS

Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s sales
Broward County Property Appraiser’s sales
CoStar Realty Information
MLS Multiple Listing Service
South Florida Business Journal
Daily Business Review
The Real Deal
Miami Today
Florida Trend
Miami Herald
Sun Sentinel
Wall Street Journal

TANGIBLE
In selecting a property tax consulting firm, your company should consider many factors.  Obviously, a firm which has audited your financial statements, or prepared your returns, has a potential conflict in asserting that your assessment (based on those financial records) should be adjusted.

Since our firm neither audits your records, nor prepares your tangible tax returns, we are free of those potential conflicts.  Our ability to independently represent your interests, enables us to avoid conflicts which might arise with other auditing or consulting firms.

We have successfully used fair market value appraisals and research, in order to substantially reduce our clients’ tangible personal property tax assessments.  This is a recognized, though infrequently utilized, method for assessing tangible personal property.

The process of preparing an inventory of your tangible assets, valuing those assets and completing an appraisal report, is very time consuming.  Therefore, if you are interested, this project should be commenced as early as possible.

USE OF FAIR MARKET VALUE APPRAISALS AND RESEARCH
Tangible personal property is assessed in Florida, under the same statutes and rules which apply to the assessment of real estate.  In other words, the fundamental principle is market value.  Unfortunately, County Property Appraisers use tangible tax returns and original cost data to prepare their assessments.  The use of this “Cost Approach Method” results in an assessment which consistently exceeds market value.  As a consequence, owners of tangible assets pay a disproportionate and unfair tax to local government, in comparison to owners of real estate assets.

Property Tax Consultants, Ltd. retains an independent appraisal firm to inventory and value the tangible assets owned by our clients. The appraisal firm will describe, photograph and value each and every item of furniture, machinery and equipment owned by our client.  This appraisal is then used as evidence of market value before the Value Adjustment Board.

SUBSTANTIAL SAVINGS REALIZED ANNUALLY  
As described below, Florida law requires that Property Appraisers carry forward the reduced values determined by the Value Adjustment Board, in assessing the taxpayer’s property.  Those reduced values are carried forward as an adjustment to future assessments.  Virtually all of our existing clients currently receive multi-year benefits from previous tax hearings.  Since their preliminary assessments are reduced, they incur no cost associated with the subsequent annual savings. 

Tax savings of forty (40%) percent are frequently realized and many of our clients have received those adjustments annually for in excess of ten (10) years.

REVISIONS TO FLORIDA LAW
In recent years, the Florida legislature and courts have substantially revised the implementation of various property tax laws, benefiting the owners of tangible personal property.  Some of the most significant revisions are outlined, as follows:

            A.        In 1998, the Florida Supreme Court issued a landmark decision concerning the assessment of tangible personal property.  The Court, in HAVILL VS. SCRIPPS HOWARD CABLE COMPANY stated that “. . . when reliable and comparable data is available, the market approach to value is considered the most accurate method of valuation.”  This important Supreme Court decision totally reinforces the approach which we utilize. 

            B.        In 2000, the Florida legislature passed Florida Statute Section 193.016 which recognizes that tangible personal property continues to decline in value annually.  Accordingly, assessment reductions granted by the Value Adjustment Board are required to be carried forward by the Property Appraiser in creating its preliminary assessments for subsequent years.  Essentially, this provides a taxpayer with a multi-year benefit, through a downward adjustment to subsequent assessments, after a successful Value Adjustment Board appeal.

            C.        In 2009, the Florida legislature substantially reduced the Burden of Proof requirement formerly imposed upon taxpayers challenging their tax assessments.  While prior law had fully supported the use of fair market value research and appraisals and the tax savings which our clients had realized in previous years, this legislation is important in that it virtually deletes many of the historical court decisions used by Property Appraisers to defend their assessments.

            D.        In March 2019, the Fifth District Court of Appeals issued its decision in DARDEN, ET AL., VS. RICK SINGH, ORANGE COUNTY PROPERTY APPRAISER.  The District Court of Appeals, in a case involving tangible personal property, stated that the Property Appraiser must establish that it calculated obsolescence in accordance with professionally accepted appraisal practices.  In simple terms, this decision mandates that the Property Appraiser cannot rely upon the cost approach to determine assessed value, without also utilizing market research to demonstrate that its assessed value reflects current market value.

If you should have any questions concerning our agreement, or our services, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Property Tax Consultants, Ltd.
1484 East Hallandale Beach Blvd.
Hallandale, Florida 33009
Dade:(305) 945-0038
Broward:(954) 454-3600