City Of Beverly Real Estate Abatement Application
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3TO: CITY OF BEVERLY PROPERTY OWNERS
SUBJECT: THE ABATEMENT PROCESS
Please read the back of your tax bill and the back of the application form for
important information regarding your rights. Please note that any failure to pay your bill
on time or to comply with abatement filing procedures or deadlines may legally
disqualify your application from consideration by the assessors, or may limit your ability
to appeal a decision by the assessors.
The Board of Assessors has carefully reviewed the arms-length real estate sales
that have taken place in Beverly, with particular attention to sales since January 1, 2014,
in an effort to determine the fair market value as of January 1, 2015 of all properties
within the city. The 2015 sales, of course, do not impact current assessments but will be
the focus of attention for FY 2017. Appeals relying on current market conditions to
support a claim of overvaluation may be denied. It is important to remember that the
assessments for FY 2016 reflect a property’s market value as of January 1, 2015.
In seeking an abatement, the Board of Assessors requests that you review recent
property sales in your neighborhood, with particular attention to sales that have taken
place in 2014. Tax abatements are granted when it can be shown that the assessment
exceeds the fair market value of a property as of January 1, 2015. There are listings of
past sales available for your use at the Assessor’s Office that include all the same sales
that were used to determine your current assessment. You should ask for a copy of your
property record card, review it for accuracy, and then compare it with similar properties
that have recently sold. You should show from your analysis that these sales actually
indicate a different value for your property than that proposed by the Board of Assessors.
The Board will then review your application and your analysis, determine whether an
interior inspection of your home will be required to correct a factual error, and notify you
within three months of the time you file your application if an adjustment is warranted. If
you disagree with the decision, you will have three months from the date of the decision
to appeal it to the Appellate Tax Board (ATB) in Boston.
Abatement applications are frequently filed for reasons that fall beyond legitimate
parameters for granting them. If you were granted a tax abatement in a previous year for
a specific condition, you should not file again for the same reason. An adjustment has
already been made for that condition on your property record and is already factored into
your current assessment. We sometimes hear from people who state that they have lived
in their home for 30 years and have never done a thing to it. We are quite certain that no
one would today accept as a sale price the price he/she paid for the house 30 years ago.
Elderly, retired homeowners frequently cite rising taxes as the reason for filing. No one
questions the legitimacy and the seriousness of that situation. It has, however, no bearing
on the value of their property. The Board of Assessors has no legal right to assess a
property differently because of the financial condition of the homeowner. In fact, we
shudder at the thought that any Assessor should ever be given that right because of the
potential for abuse. We encourage people who are having difficulty paying their taxes to
request information on any exemptions for which they may qualify or consider the tax
deferral program that under certain circumstances permits deferring taxes in part or in
whole until the property is sold in the future.
In short, we encourage everyone who files for a tax abatement to take it seriously.
The more legitimate information you provide in proving your case, the more likely it will
be granted.
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