Today we start our newest feature at Florida Property Tax Appeals Lawyers blog: "Celebrity Tax Assessments." Ever wonder about the rarely-disclosed details of the private lives of your favorite Florida celebrities?
Well, here's a chance to find out about their real estate property tax assessments, courtesy of the Florida Public Records Act and the Florida Legislature.
Our first installment involves none other than our home-grown musical duo of Gloria and Emilio Estefan. Click here to see Gloria and Emilio's current tax assessment information.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Weiss is a former Attorney Special Magistrate for the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board. Mr. Weiss now represents commercial, institutional charitable, commercial, high-end residential, agricultural and municipal taxpayers at VAB proceedings throughout the State of Florida. Mr. Weiss handles both valuation and legal claims.
Mr. Weiss has over 25 years property tax experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County taxing authorities in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented taxpayers in property tax matters.
In Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite” issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.
For more information click here
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
FLORIDA HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION--WHY NOT WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR?
Last Friday, March 31st, was one of the busiest days of the year at the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser's Office. What were all those taxpayers doing standing in line? Were they all last-minute filers of tangible personal property tax returns due April 1st annually? Decidely not.
They were post-deadline applicants for the 2006 homestead exemption. The filing "deadline" was March 1st, as it is each year. So what were these folks doing waiting in line 30 days AFTER the filing deadline?
Under a kinder, gentler regime established by the Florida Legislature, taxpayers can now miss March 1st--formerly a "drop-dead" deadline--and file for homestead exemption at any time they can file a Value Adjustment Board petition, namely, until the 25th day following the mailing of the Notices of Proposed Taxes ("TRIM" Notices). TRIM Notices are typically mailed during the second or third week of August each year.
The additional steps necessary after March 1st include the filing of a Value Adjustmenet Board petition, payment of a $15.00 filing fee, and showing of "good cause" for late filing--typically at a subsequent hearing.
Is it worthwhile for all these taxpayers to stand in line and jump through all the extra hoops mentioned above, instead of just waiting till 2007 to apply? You bet!
Remember, homestead exemption from property taxation in Florida is valuable for two distinct reasons. First, it exempts from property taxes the first $25,000 in assessed valuation annually. Depending on the millage or tax rate, this may amount to annual tax savings of $600 or more. Second, and more important, is that the homestead exemption "caps" increases in value at 3% or the cost of living increase--whichever is less--for every year the exemption continues after it is established.
So, the earlier you get the homestead exemption established, the lower your homestead exemption base year assessment--and each subsequent year's assessment--will be. Considering a real estate market that continues to appreciate at record rates, this is something that should clearly been done earlier, rather than later.
One example will drive the point home. Let's look at the home of Coach and Mrs. Pat Riley, of Miami Heat fame. (Isn't the Florida Public Records Act fun?)Click here to see Coach Riley's 2005 tax assessment.
Coach's taxes for 2005 were $248,358. If he had been eligible for and obtained a homestead exemption starting in 1997 instead of 2002 or so when he actually obtained it, his annual tax bill would have been nearly $100,000 less per year; you heard me, about $8,000 less per month--all due to the homestead "cap" and the difference between a homestead exemption base year of 1997 and a base year of 2002.
So if you're entitled to a homestead exemption, apply now--don't wait till next year!
We'll tell you more how to go about doing this in a future blog entry. So watch this space.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Weiss is a former Attorney Special Magistrate for the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board. Mr. Weiss now represents residential, commercial, institutional charitable, commercial, high-end residential, agricultural and municipal taxpayers at VAB proceedings throughout the State of Florida. Mr. Weiss handles both valuation and legal claims.
Mr. Weiss has over 25 years property tax experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County taxing authorities in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented taxpayers in property tax matters.
In Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite” issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.
For more information click here
They were post-deadline applicants for the 2006 homestead exemption. The filing "deadline" was March 1st, as it is each year. So what were these folks doing waiting in line 30 days AFTER the filing deadline?
Under a kinder, gentler regime established by the Florida Legislature, taxpayers can now miss March 1st--formerly a "drop-dead" deadline--and file for homestead exemption at any time they can file a Value Adjustment Board petition, namely, until the 25th day following the mailing of the Notices of Proposed Taxes ("TRIM" Notices). TRIM Notices are typically mailed during the second or third week of August each year.
The additional steps necessary after March 1st include the filing of a Value Adjustmenet Board petition, payment of a $15.00 filing fee, and showing of "good cause" for late filing--typically at a subsequent hearing.
Is it worthwhile for all these taxpayers to stand in line and jump through all the extra hoops mentioned above, instead of just waiting till 2007 to apply? You bet!
Remember, homestead exemption from property taxation in Florida is valuable for two distinct reasons. First, it exempts from property taxes the first $25,000 in assessed valuation annually. Depending on the millage or tax rate, this may amount to annual tax savings of $600 or more. Second, and more important, is that the homestead exemption "caps" increases in value at 3% or the cost of living increase--whichever is less--for every year the exemption continues after it is established.
So, the earlier you get the homestead exemption established, the lower your homestead exemption base year assessment--and each subsequent year's assessment--will be. Considering a real estate market that continues to appreciate at record rates, this is something that should clearly been done earlier, rather than later.
One example will drive the point home. Let's look at the home of Coach and Mrs. Pat Riley, of Miami Heat fame. (Isn't the Florida Public Records Act fun?)Click here to see Coach Riley's 2005 tax assessment.
Coach's taxes for 2005 were $248,358. If he had been eligible for and obtained a homestead exemption starting in 1997 instead of 2002 or so when he actually obtained it, his annual tax bill would have been nearly $100,000 less per year; you heard me, about $8,000 less per month--all due to the homestead "cap" and the difference between a homestead exemption base year of 1997 and a base year of 2002.
So if you're entitled to a homestead exemption, apply now--don't wait till next year!
We'll tell you more how to go about doing this in a future blog entry. So watch this space.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Weiss is a former Attorney Special Magistrate for the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board. Mr. Weiss now represents residential, commercial, institutional charitable, commercial, high-end residential, agricultural and municipal taxpayers at VAB proceedings throughout the State of Florida. Mr. Weiss handles both valuation and legal claims.
Mr. Weiss has over 25 years property tax experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County taxing authorities in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented taxpayers in property tax matters.
In Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite” issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.
For more information click here
Famous Property Tax Quotations
Our favorite quotations regarding taxation, after 25 years of commercial property tax practice in the State of Florida:
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.
--John Maynard Keynes
The Eiffel Tower is the Empire State Building after taxes.
--Anonymous
Governments last as long as the undertaxed can defend themselves from the overtaxed.
--Bernard Berenson
To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.
--Edmund Burke
Read my lips. No new taxes!
--George Bush
Taxes are the sinews of the state.
--Cicero
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money.
--Arthur Godfrey
Death and taxes are inevitable.
--Thomas C. Haliburton
The promises of yesterday are the taxes of today.
--William Lyon MacKenzie King
The power to tax involves the power to destroy.
--John Marshall
Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.
--F. J. Raymond
The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don't know when its through, if you are a crook or a martyr.
--Will Rogers
What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.
--Mark Twain
Never before have so many been taken for so much and left with so little.
--Van Panopoulos
The tax collector must love poor people--he's creating so many of them.
--Bill Vaughan
The thing generally raised on city land is taxes.
--Charles Dudley Warner
___________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Weiss is a former Attorney Special Magistrate for the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board. Mr. Weiss now represents residential, commercial, institutional charitable, commercial, high-end residential, agricultural and municipal taxpayers at VAB proceedings throughout the State of Florida. Mr. Weiss handles both valuation and legal claims.
Mr. Weiss has over 25 years property tax experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County taxing authorities in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented taxpayers in property tax matters.
In Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite” issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.
For more information click here
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.
--John Maynard Keynes
The Eiffel Tower is the Empire State Building after taxes.
--Anonymous
Governments last as long as the undertaxed can defend themselves from the overtaxed.
--Bernard Berenson
To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.
--Edmund Burke
Read my lips. No new taxes!
--George Bush
Taxes are the sinews of the state.
--Cicero
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money.
--Arthur Godfrey
Death and taxes are inevitable.
--Thomas C. Haliburton
The promises of yesterday are the taxes of today.
--William Lyon MacKenzie King
The power to tax involves the power to destroy.
--John Marshall
Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.
--F. J. Raymond
The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don't know when its through, if you are a crook or a martyr.
--Will Rogers
What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.
--Mark Twain
Never before have so many been taken for so much and left with so little.
--Van Panopoulos
The tax collector must love poor people--he's creating so many of them.
--Bill Vaughan
The thing generally raised on city land is taxes.
--Charles Dudley Warner
___________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Weiss is a former Attorney Special Magistrate for the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board. Mr. Weiss now represents residential, commercial, institutional charitable, commercial, high-end residential, agricultural and municipal taxpayers at VAB proceedings throughout the State of Florida. Mr. Weiss handles both valuation and legal claims.
Mr. Weiss has over 25 years property tax experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County taxing authorities in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented taxpayers in property tax matters.
In Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite” issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.
For more information click here
FLORIDA PROPERTY TAX--THE "NEGLECTED" TAX
It's April--"tax time"--right? Don't we all think of federal income tax as soon as someone mentions the word "taxes"? Yes, we do. How come no one thinks of real estate taxes, even if the tax bill in November is bigger than the tax bill on April 15th? Is it because the bank or other mortgagee quietly takes a monthly payment and puts it in escrow and makes the tax payment on our behalf in November of each year?
Probably. Be that as it may, let's take a moment to talk about Florida property taxes and what can be done to reduce their impact on our wallet. In fact, let's not just talk about it in April; let's talk about it frequently, starting today.
What's the most popular measure available for reducing property taxes on residential property? If you said homestead exemption, go to the head of the class.
Homestead exemption is valuable for two important reasons. First, it exempts from property taxes the first $25,000 in assessed valuation. Depending on the millage or tax rate, this may amount to annual tax savings of $600 or more. Second, and more important, is that the homestead exemption "caps" increases in value at 3% or the cost of living increase--whichever is less--for all years after the exemption is first established.
For some property owners, the homestead exemption means that more than half the value of the property is exempt!
Now that we've convinced you of the value of having the exemption, let us tell you how to get it. All that is required is the filing of a simple application form with your County Property Appraiser. Click here to contact your County Property Appraiser. http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/dor/property/appraisers.html
Some counties, including Broward County, allow you to apply online for your homestead exemption. Click here for Broward. http://www.bcpa.net/index.cfm?page=homestead
If you're very well informed, you may know that March 1 was the filing deadline for homestead exemption. What you may NOT know is that you can still file until some time in August or September by filing a Value Adjustment Board petition (and paying a $15.00 filing fee) at the same time you file you late homestead exemption application. Believe me, it's well worth the trouble! More about this later.
Well, that's the property tax lesson for today. Stay tuned for more pointers about how to maximize the property tax benefits available to you.
And when someone mentions "taxes," don't think only federal income tax, think "property tax," too. There's lots you can do about, not just on residential property, but to an even greater extent on commercial real estate. More about this in past and future blog entries.
________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Weiss is a former Attorney Special Magistrate for the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board. Mr. Weiss now represents residential, commercial, institutional charitable, commercial, high-end residential, agricultural and municipal taxpayers at VAB proceedings throughout the State of Florida. Mr. Weiss handles both valuation and legal claims.
Mr. Weiss has over 25 years property tax experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County taxing authorities in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented taxpayers in property tax matters.
In Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite” issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.
For more information click here
Probably. Be that as it may, let's take a moment to talk about Florida property taxes and what can be done to reduce their impact on our wallet. In fact, let's not just talk about it in April; let's talk about it frequently, starting today.
What's the most popular measure available for reducing property taxes on residential property? If you said homestead exemption, go to the head of the class.
Homestead exemption is valuable for two important reasons. First, it exempts from property taxes the first $25,000 in assessed valuation. Depending on the millage or tax rate, this may amount to annual tax savings of $600 or more. Second, and more important, is that the homestead exemption "caps" increases in value at 3% or the cost of living increase--whichever is less--for all years after the exemption is first established.
For some property owners, the homestead exemption means that more than half the value of the property is exempt!
Now that we've convinced you of the value of having the exemption, let us tell you how to get it. All that is required is the filing of a simple application form with your County Property Appraiser. Click here to contact your County Property Appraiser. http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/dor/property/appraisers.html
Some counties, including Broward County, allow you to apply online for your homestead exemption. Click here for Broward. http://www.bcpa.net/index.cfm?page=homestead
If you're very well informed, you may know that March 1 was the filing deadline for homestead exemption. What you may NOT know is that you can still file until some time in August or September by filing a Value Adjustment Board petition (and paying a $15.00 filing fee) at the same time you file you late homestead exemption application. Believe me, it's well worth the trouble! More about this later.
Well, that's the property tax lesson for today. Stay tuned for more pointers about how to maximize the property tax benefits available to you.
And when someone mentions "taxes," don't think only federal income tax, think "property tax," too. There's lots you can do about, not just on residential property, but to an even greater extent on commercial real estate. More about this in past and future blog entries.
________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Weiss is a former Attorney Special Magistrate for the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board. Mr. Weiss now represents residential, commercial, institutional charitable, commercial, high-end residential, agricultural and municipal taxpayers at VAB proceedings throughout the State of Florida. Mr. Weiss handles both valuation and legal claims.
Mr. Weiss has over 25 years property tax experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County taxing authorities in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented taxpayers in property tax matters.
In Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite” issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.
For more information click here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
