FAQ
Ad Valorem Tax is an annual tax that is based on the assessed value of your personal property or real estate. Determining the amount of ad valorem tax depends on the fair market value of your personal property which is estimated by an appraisal expert. Similar to sales tax, ad valorem tax is usually imposed at the time of the transaction.
If a formal hearing before the Appeals Board is necessary, you will not be required to attend it.
We will take care of just about everything; however, we will need your cooperation on a few items. This might include forwarding any correspondence you get from the Appraisal Office to us, or allowing us to visit your property to identify items of depreciation.
You will only get a refund if a value reduction is obtained after your taxes are paid. In most cases, the value is settled prior to tax bills being issued for the current year.
We will send you an invoice when we have documented evidence of your value reduction and tax savings.
“Tax Savings” are computed by subtracting the Final Certified Value from the Notice of Appraised Value for the applicable year, multiplied by the tax rate available at the time of billing. For example, if the Appraisal Office places a preliminary value of $100,000 on your property and the HegwoodGroup reduces that value to $80,000 and your tax rate is 3%, then the savings would be $600. This is a big reason to work with a property tax consultant.
Typically, we prefer to work on a contingency basis where our fee is a percentage of the computed tax savings. With a contingency arrangement, if we can’t reduce your property taxes, our services are free. Although contingency is the preferred fee arrangement, we will also work on a flat fee basis or a combination of the two.
Yes. We handle compliance issues and file returns for several clients. Some of these returns include leased equipment and involve approximately 20,000 assets in several states.
