Challenging real estate tax assessments in New Hampshire requires compliance with a handful of statutory steps. Among other things, taxpayers must identify the property in question, state the reasons the property is being taxed at a disproportionately higher value than other properties in town, and sign the application. Failure to comply with any of these steps can be grounds for dismissal. The signature requirement continues to cause problems. In the 2011 decision Appeal of Wilson, 161 N.H. 659 (2011), the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the town of Sugar Hill’s decision to deny a taxpayer ..read more

March 2, 2020 is the deadline to challenge your 2019 real estate taxes. Please keep in mind the deadline to challenge your 2019 property taxes is March 2, 2020. Normally the deadline to file an application for an abatement is on March 1. However, because March 1 falls on a Sunday in 2020, the deadline is the next business day, Monday, March 2. In order to request a refund you must use the Muncipal Application form, and it must be postmarked by this date in order for the municipality to grant you a refund. For more information on the application process, please visit our New Hampshire Real Esta ..read more

February 1 is the deadline to challenge your Massachusetts property taxes for most municipalities. If you wait until Punxsutawney Phil emerges from Gobbler’s Knob to look for his shadow, you are too late. Under the law the deadline to file an application for an abatement with the local assessors is on or before the due date of the tax bill. The tax bill should indicate the due date of the tax bill and the deadline for filing an abatement. As most communities bill quarterly, this deadline is generally February 1. For communities that bill twice a year, the deadline is generally 30 days from the ..read more

I was representing a client in a property tax case in court the other day, and I looked behind me to see an almost empty courtroom. I thought to myself, “Why don’t we get bigger crowds for property tax trials?” Admittedly, the expert testimony on the three approaches to value as applied to my client’s property was fairly dry. And I understand that most people, including judges, would rather be doing something other than sitting through a trial on the value of a commercial building. Property tax cases generally deal with principles of economics, the strength or weakness of markets, recent sales ..read more

You should start the new decade off right - by being good to yourself! If you own real estate in New Hampshire, there is one resolution that you should make and keep every year, and that is to appeal your local property taxes by March 1st. No life-style change needed to keep this resolution, only the commitment to follow-through and file for that N.H. property tax refund. Whether you own commercial property or simply own a home, property taxes represent a significant expense in owning this type of property. For homeowners, property taxes are the second largest expense behind the mortgage over ..read more

As the Holidays approach, New Hampshire property taxpayers are receiving the last of the tax bills issued by their towns and cities. Each municipality must wait until the tax rate is set by Department of Revenue Administration’s Municipal and Property Division. This year the earliest tax rate was set on Columbus Day and the latest tax rate just before Thanksgiving Day. Once the tax rates are set, and the tax bills have been sent out, the period in which to appeal an assessment begins, ending on March 1. Individuals cannot appeal the tax rate (although the municipalities have a right to appeal ..read more

Dartmouth College has entered the fray over the 2018 revaluation of property assessments conducted by the Town of Hanover. By doing so, the College brings all the power and resources of this long-standing institution of Hanover to the fight for fair property tax assessments that the Town has found itself embroiled in. Dartmouth joins the many homeowners and commercial property taxpayers who are challenging the 2018 revaluation either through the 400 tax abatements requested or a petition filed with the Board of Tax and Land Appeals by 66 property taxpayers to redo the 2018 revaluation. Dartmou ..read more

We have all done it. Opened a property tax bill and thought, at least for a moment, this assessment is so high it should be criminal. Well in the city of Nashua, NH they are taking it a step further. The Nashua police are investigating Nashua assessing personnel for allegations of mileage fraud and for unexplained reductions in property tax assessments. At the request of Mayor Jim Donchess, Police Chief Mike Carignan opened an investigation into activities in the Nashua Assessing office. Apart from the claims of mileage fraud, there is also an allegation that there were approximately $24 milli ..read more

As the summer draws to a close, New Englanders take their boats out of the water, plan fall hikes and enjoy the last vestiges of warm weather. But what is on the minds of the New Hampshire’s town selectmen and city administrators is what is taking place at the Department of Revenue Administration’s Municipal and Property Division. During the period beginning September 1 and continuing through as late as December 15, the Municipal undertakes and completes the tax rate setting process for all of New Hampshire’s municipalities and counties in order to determine a tax rate for each municipality an ..read more

Hanover property taxpayers alleged that sales chasing made the results of the revaluation illegal and violative of accepted standards of assessing in a petition to the Board of Tax and Land Appeals (“BTLA”) requesting a do-over of the 2018 revaluation. The petitioners have requested that the BTLA declare it invalid and order a reassessment. Hanover becomes the second major municipality in New Hampshire in which the BTLA will analyze the need for a reassessment. As written about previously, Nashua Homeowner Continues to Fight for Fair Assessments, the BTLA is deciding whether it should order a ..read more