home is where the house is — or is it?, the practical tax lawyer

Notes from The Economist 2021 General Counsel Summit

At the beginning of the month, I attended The Economist’s General Counsel (GC) summit in London, which brought together a cross-section of senior in-house counsel from a range of industry sectors. Here are some of the themes discussed across the day.

Leading and managing in-house legal teams

The Centre for Legal Leadership’s latest webinar, hosted in conjunction with Practical Law, looked at leading and managing in-house legal teams. This post highlights the main themes covered in the discussion. Leadership is a mindset Being a leader is about more than simply being a manager; it’s a mindset.

Legal Geek 2021

Last week I attended Legal Geek and, embracing the new hybrid working world, my first day was online and the second was at the venue in Brick Lane, London.

Building your resilience, reputation and personal networks

Last week The Centre for Legal Leadership hosted the latest in its series of webinars in conjunction with Practical Law on building your resilience, reputation and personal networks. This post discusses the key themes that were covered during the session.

Developing your career in-house

At the end of June, The Centre for Legal Leadership hosted the third in a series of webinars in conjunction with Practical Law on developing your career in-house. This post explores some of the themes that the panellists discussed during the session and that were raised in questions from an online audience.

Structuring and resourcing your legal team

Last month, The Centre for Legal Leadership hosted the second in a series of webinars in conjunction with Practical Law on structuring and resourcing your legal team. This post highlights some of the themes discussed.

What is property tax bill?

The property tax bill is tied to a report prepared by the local tax assessor, based on the assessor's estimation of the market value of your property. Property assessing is an inexact science, so you may have grounds to challenge your bill ...

How often do localities reassess property?

Some localities reassess property values every year, others do so every four or five years. Some assessors value each property individually. Many others value your property based on area surveys. Your locality also sets its own appeal process for property owners to dispute tax assessments.

What happens if the square footage on a property record card is incorrect?

For example, if the square footage on the property record card is incorrect, it is possible that the tax assessor has overvalued your property. If any of the information on the record card is incorrect, contact your assessor’s office to get it corrected.

How long do you have to appeal a property assessment?

Make sure to do so within the appeal period. How long you have to appeal varies. In most counties and cities, you must file an appeal within 30 to 90 days after you receive your annual property assessment notice or letter.

How to check your property record card?

Check Your Property Record Card. The first thing to do is check the record card for your property (these records are almost all online, so they are no longer on “cards," but this terminology is still used). You can usually check your record card online at your tax assessor’s website. You can find a link to your assessor’s website ...

What happens if the value of your property decreases after the assessment?

If the value of your property decreases after the assessment, you may end up paying taxes on a sales price that you can no longer receive on the open market. There are several ways you can show that your property’s assessed value is too high:

Is property assessed value too high?

Even if the information on your property’s record card is accurate, your property’s assessed value may be too high. Tax assessors use the sale of comparable properties at the time of the assessment to establish the market value of a property. You are effectively taxed on the amount for which you could sell your property at a certain point in time. ...