Your commercial property tax bill will land in your mailbox in January of each year. It can be tempting to file it away to deal with later as you do not have to pay it until April and October of the following year.
When you operate a business, there is always something more pressing to do, so it is easy to keep leaving things you consider non-urgent for another day. Yet that would be a mistake in this case. Here is why:
You have a limited amount of time
While you have till April 30 of the following year to file your appeal, that date can creep up sooner than you think. Constructing a solid appeal case takes time and so the sooner you start and hand it in, the better. Even overstepping the deadline by one day will render your appeal invalid.
The process takes a long time
It typically takes over a year for the Minnesota Tax Court to deal with an appeal. You need to keep paying any taxes due until the appeal is resolved. Hence, if you do not act fast, you increase the chance you need to pay more tax than you budgeted for, even if you can later reclaim it.
You need accurate figures to do your business planning
Commercial property taxes can sometimes be out by a considerable amount. This will make it incredibly hard to create an accurate business plan for the future, which is crucial to success.
If you look at your outgoings, you will soon see that the property tax is one of the most significant amounts. Hence a small percentage change in that could have far more effect than a small percentage change in other bills.
If you are unhappy with your recent commercial property tax bill, seek legal help to start your appeal rolling.