MAKING THE CASE FOR UNIQUE PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY

CLIENT

Our client, a large supplier of medical linens used by hospitals and other healthcare industries, had been under examination by a California county assessor’s office for personal property taxes.

CHALLENGE

Unfortunately, the audit was not going well, and the client had received an indication that its assessment was going to triple. The company had worked very hard to comply with all data requests, but the volume of the data was enormous, and there were specific industry-related issues that were not easily explained or understood.

SOLUTION

DMA took over the audit at the client’s request and immediately began working with the assessor’s office to persuade them that the uniqueness of the client’s business required a different assessment methodology. The approach was met favorably, and DMA began to receive buy-in from the assessor’s office by substantiating the revised assessment methodology with real world examples.

RESULT

DMA’s knowledge, expertise, and amicable relationship with the assessor’s office resulted in approximately $60,000 per year in tax savings for our client. In addition, at the assessor’s office request, DMA brought the new assessment methodology to the county’s Assessment Appeals Board for a hearing to help establish a new standard and provide guidance should this issue arise in any other California counties. Through this effort, DMA’s client also received certainty that the issue would be supported during future audits, and that the client will benefit from the same issue in the ten other California counties in which it operates.

WHY DMA?

DMA’s Property Tax Audit Management service provides you with experienced personal property tax professionals to manage all aspects of your personal property tax audit. We work directly with the taxing authority as your partner. Our goal is to provide you with an alternative solution to managing the audit in-house, which can be a daunting task for overburdened tax departments.

DMA’s approach to managing a personal property tax audit ensures liabilities assessed are minimized. And, our approach significantly reduces the amount of time required for the audit by both your internal staff and the auditor.