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Property Tax Appeals, Real Estate Litigation

In a groundbreaking ruling, the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed a tax court decision requiring tax assessors to exclude the airport’s concession fees from rent-based valuations for property tax purposes. The case offers a flight plan to lower taxes at many of the nation’s transportation hubs and underscores the importance for all taxpayers to exclude business

Welcome to Larkin Hoffman’s new series of podcasts discussing issues affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Our senior attorneys will address corporate, employment, real estate, construction, franchise, bankruptcy, insurance, litigation, and other matters in this series. The podcasts are 15 minutes long and can be heard at your convenience. Over the next few weeks, there will

Businesses and real estate of all types are being disrupted and upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. As this pandemic changes the landscape on a daily basis, we will keep you informed of important property tax issues along the way. Currently, there are three upcoming property tax issues in focus:

  • First Half Property Tax Payment: Due

Developers, real estate investors and business owners are appropriately focused on creating profit and high rates of return. Managing property taxes may not be a terribly high priority. However, property taxes are usually the most significant real estate expense incurred by real estate users and have a direct impact on profitability and rates of return.

We frequently get asked about how an assessment will change after an acquisition at a price higher than the assessed value. The answer of course is, it depends.

Assessors use sales ratio studies for the review and equalization of values. A sales ratio shows the relationship between the assessors Estimated Market Value (EMV) and the

Governor Dayton appointed Tamar N. Gronvall to the Minnesota Tax Court for a six-year term, which began in January 2017 and will expire on January 2, 2023.

Before her appointment to the Tax Court, Ms. Gronvall was General Counsel in the Office of Legal Services at the Minnesota Department of Commerce, where she led a

Real estate buyers who purchase property from banks sometimes get the property for a price that seems below market. Assessors frequently dismiss these sales as “bank sales” and therefore irrelevant for property tax valuation. However, these apparent discounts can be the result of actual distress or market influences, rather than because the bank was under

Home improvement retailer, Menard’s, successfully lowered the value of its Moorhead store in tax court. When it pressed its position based only on sales of similar properties, the court replied that valuation is not that narrowly focused.  The appeal covered years 2011 through 2014 and the original value was $11,200,000 for each year. At tax