Charleston tax ratio

[Tommy McGraw]

I have a 4-plex in downtown Charleston that kicked my *** in taxes last year. Property taxes went up 167% from what the previous owner paid. No property enhancements were made. I bought the property in the name of an out of state entity and am therefore taxed under a 6% ratio instead of a 4% ratio.

Can anyone from Charleston that offer advice on how to mitigate this problem?

[Troy Gandee]

@Ken Schwarz As far as I know, there are no third parties that do tax assessment contesting.

Not trying to criticize, but due diligence should have made apparent that the previous owner was likely getting a 4% rate on an old assessment value. The tax records show what assessments have been made and the tax rate applied. There are great calculators with most counties that estimate new taxes based on the new assessed value and tax ratio. In SC, there is a maximum 15% cap on assessment increases. This does not apply when there has been a sale or change in title. At point of sale, it is reassessed closer to the sales value when the county receives the recording documents from the attorney. 

You should have received a tax notice in late summer that has an attached form to submit a dispute, but it's probably too late now. They don't often accept the dispute because they're usually in the right to tax the way they do.

The only other alternative is called the ATI tax exemption, which is a 25% reduction in the new tax bill from the old tax bill, but you have to meet a number of criteria for this to be accepted by the County. They have recently started allowing this to be accepted the following tax year, so I would look into this ASAP and call the County. Once you miss the window for this, you no longer have a legal argument to receive it. I think this is your only option.