Since property tax is comparatively low in relation to the property value, even a noticeable percentage correction in value often only has a moderate effect on the annual tax burden.
Before commissioning an appraisal report, it is therefore worthwhile to carry out a rough preliminary estimate as to whether the expected annual savings exceed the one-off appraisal costs over a realistic period of several years.
For very valuable properties or standard land values that appear significantly excessive, however, the effort can already pay off after one to two years.
If an appraisal report is already needed for another purpose, such as in inheritance or equalization of accrued gains proceedings, it can, under certain circumstances, also be used for property tax purposes, thereby significantly improving the cost-benefit ratio.
In the long term, especially when considered over several years of the assessment period, an initially small-seeming annual saving can in total prove to be quite worthwhile.
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