News & Events
Property Tax Seminars
Our seminar series is designed especially to meet the unique needs of different types of professionals. Whether you are a real estate owner, property manager, attorney, or CPA, you need a specific set of information about property tax issues in Texas.
Check back soon for information on upcoming seminars.
News
John Brusniak Alerts Oil and Gas Industry Executives to Crucial Property Tax Cases Pending in Courts
John Brusniak, Jr., a highly regarded commercial property tax attorney and managing shareholder of Brusniak|Blackwell PC, was a featured speaker at last week's Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA) Conference in San Antonio.
In Brusniak's remarks, he alerted executives from the oil and gas industry to the emergence of three crucial cases working their way through the courts in Texas and Oklahoma. The cases contest a crucial legal question of whether states have the authority to impose property taxes on oil and gas that comes inside their state borders via interstate pipelines. The outcome of these cases could determine whether oil and gas companies are subject to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential tax liabilities to various states, particularly those in the Southwest region, where a large volume of oil and gas originates and is transported by way of interstate pipelines.
The three cases are: The Peoples Gas, Light, and Coke Co. v. Harrison Central Appraisal District (270 S.W.3d 208), which is currently on appeal in the Texas courts; Midland Central Appraisal District v. BP America Production Co. (282 S.W.3d 215), which is also on appeal in Texas; and Missouri Gas Energy v. Schmidt (U.S. Case No. 08-1458), in which the U.S. Supreme Court just denied certiorari last week.
"The legal issues being contested in these cases are dramatic and their outcomes should be closely watched by executives at oil and gas companies nationwide," said Brusniak. "At stake is whether the courts establish a new precedent for how the individual states can tax interstate commerce and the financial implications to oil and gas companies could be substantial."
Brusniak|Blackwell PC is a boutique law firm with one mission: solving commercial property tax issues for property owners throughout Texas. The firm provides a unique combination of legal services and tax consulting to its clients, offering a comprehensive range of strategies and solutions. Their team of property tax professionals provides a seamless process from beginning to end, working with clients from diverse industries and varied property uses including office, retail, hospitality, shopping malls, and personal property (aircraft, equipment, vehicles, etc.). With property valuations coming as soon as late April, business owners should work closely with their tax advisers and consultants to ensure a timely and successful strategy is in place.
Filing Deadline Extended From 45 Days to 60 Days
The deadline for appealing appraisal review board orders to district court is extended from 45 days to 60 days after receipt of an appraisal review board (ARB) order determining protest. (House Bill 986, effective 6/19/09)
House Bill 1030 and the Effect on Taxpayers
Good Cause Postponement
- Property owners and agents may obtain rescheduling of appraisal review board hearings upon a showing of good cause. The chairman of an appraisal review board or the chairman’s representative may consent to a rescheduling. The chairman may act solely upon a request for rescheduling if the postponement date is to occur prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the appraisal review board. Taxpayers, not represented by persons filing fiduciary forms, who fail to appear for appraisal review board hearings may obtain new hearing dates upon a written showing of good cause, filed within four days of the originally scheduled hearing date. “Good cause” for rescheduling or postponing includes errors that were not intentional or were not the result of conscious indifference; however, a postponement may not cause undue delay or injury to an appraisal review board. Effective June 19, 2009.
Recovery of Attorney Fees
- Prevailing taxpayers, in suits pertaining to late challenges filed pursuant to Section 25.25 (c) (clerical errors, multiple appraisals, and property not in the form or location shown on the appraisal roll) and Section 25.25(d) (property over-appraised by more than one-third) may recover attorney’s fees from appraisal districts under the formula available for tax appeal litigation. Effective June 19, 2009, but only to lawsuits filed after that date.
Electronic Access for Homeowners Filing Protests
- In counties with a population of 500,000 or more, appraisal districts are required to set up a system to allow owners of residential homesteads to file protests, obtain discovery, and engage in settlements electronically. Appraisal districts are not required to offer this service to property owners represented by agents or on properties whose valuation factors are unusually complex. Homeowner e-mail addresses provided to appraisal districts must be kept confidential. Effective January 1, 2010.
For more information, visit our Legislative Updates.
Three Year Pilot Program Established in 6 Texas Counties
Effective January 1, 2010, House Bill 3612 establishes a three year pilot program in Bexar, Cameron, El Paso, Harris, Tarrant and Travis counties providing for alternate appeals of appraisal review board orders to the State Office of Administrative Hearings (“SOAH”). Properties, other than industrial properties or mineral properties, with values of $1,000,000 or more as determined by appraisal review board order may utilize this remedy.
To appeal, a property owner must file a notice with a chief appraiser within 30 days of receipt of an appraisal review board order along with a $300 filing fee. Soon thereafter, the chief appraiser will forward the appeal to SOAH along with a request for appointment of an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”). Not later than 30 days after the date a hearing is concluded, the ALJ shall issue a written determination that includes a rationale for the ALJ’s decision. ALJ determinations are final and are not appealable.
Click here for more information.
Proof of Valuation
Effective January 1, 2010, appraisal districts will be required to consider all available property-specific evidence when determining the market value of a property. If the appraised value of a property was lowered as a result of an appraisal review board hearing or a lawsuit, the chief appraiser may not increase the value of the property for the subsequent tax year unless the increase is reasonably supported by substantial evidence. If the reduction in value was the result of an equity challenge, the appraisal district may not increase the value of the property unless it can prove the inequality of the property in contrast to comparable properties has been corrected. The burden of proof is on the chief appraiser to support an increased value in a subsequent tax year. (SB 771, effective January 1, 2010).
Click here for more information.
Didn’t Get Your Notice? It’s Not Too Late to Protest!
It’s really no surprise that appraisal districts and appraisal review boards frequently fail to deliver notices correctly. Did you know that you have a right to protest their failure? Although the protest must be filed on time, the legislature has extended the deadline.
As soon as you become aware that a notice has not been delivered, you must use the rights and remedies contained in Texas Property Tax Code 41.411. Failure to do so may result in a waiver of the constitutional right to notice (Denton Central Appraisal District v. CIT Leasing Corp., 115 S.W.2d 261 (Tex. App. ?] Fort Worth 2003, pet. denied) petition for cert. denied 543 U.S. 869 (U.S. 2004)). Further, be aware that courts have held that the receipt of a timely tax bill is sufficient to inform a taxpayer of these rights, notwithstanding the lack of any information on a tax bill to call a taxpayer’s attention to this belated right.
The deadline for filing a written notice of protest complaining of the lack of delivery of a required notice previously was the tax delinquency date. This date has not changed if you timely received a tax bill. But if you did not, the deadline to file the protest is now extended to the 125th day after the date that one or more of the taxing units first delivered written notice of the taxes due.
Don’t forget, if you are able to successfully establish an entitlement to a hearing, the appraisal review board is required to conduct a hearing on the merits of any complaint that could have been timely protested. You should file an accompanying notice of protest setting forth all grounds sought to be heard with the protest of failure to deliver notice. Hearings on the merits typically take place immediately upon a determination that a failure to deliver notice has occurred, so you should be prepared to proceed on the merits of the underlying complaint at the time of the hearing on the protest of failure to deliver notice.
Events
August 19, 2010: Dallas, TX
Institute for Real Estate Professionals, Inc. (IREP)
Texas Property Tax Law 2010
John Brusniak, Melinda Blackwell, Rick Duncan & Josh Estes (Instructors)
http://www.irep.com
October 7, 2010: Location TBA
Institute for Real Estate Professionals, Inc. (IREP)
Texas Property Tax Law 2010
John Brusniak, Melinda Blackwell, Rick Duncan & Josh Estes (Instructors)
http://www.irep.com
October 31-November 3- Austin, TX
IPT Property Tax Symposium
www.ipt.org
November 11, 2010: Location TBA
Institute for Real Estate Professionals, Inc. (IREP)
Texas Property Tax Law 2010
John Brusniak, Melinda Blackwell, Rick Duncan & Josh Estes (Instructors)
http://www.irep.com
December 14, 2010: Austin, TX
UT Austin- Property Tax Institute
John Brusniak (Speaker)
