McDermott & Associates
continues to thrive because we focus continuously
on our clients, understand their goals, and tailor
our services to meet their business requirements.
This focus, combined with our professional expertise
and unparalleled reputation is a recipe for success for
our clients. We
measure success in two ways:
-
Client Satisfaction
-
Tax Minimization Results.
Take
a moment to read about recent McDermott successes
and contact us today to learn how your company can
begin realizing successes like these below.
SUCCESS STORY No 1
The Opportunity
A Fortune 100 Manufacturer was a tenant in a build
to suit 200,000 SF industrial building located in
northern Connecticut. The Town’s 2002 quadrennial
revaluation set a fair market value of $23,000,000.
This property had been the subject of a landmark Supreme
Court case, which had been found in favor of the Town.
Our Role
With a new revaluation year, the taxpayer wished to
resolve the tax situation in an amicable fashion,
while maintaining good relations with the Town. Because
of timing issues, we were given this assignment less
than one week before the assessor was to sign the
grand list, and less than three weeks from the appeal
deadline.
The Results
Through our Property Value Analysis, we were able
to develop both functional and economic obsolescence
issues that enabled us to achieve a 30% reduction
in fair market value to $16,000,000. Our result saved
the client over $170,000 annually.
SUCCESS STORY No 2
The Opportunity
A top three taxpayer in Fairfield County, Connecticut
asked us to review a 5 property office portfolio totaling
520,000 S.F., and two vacant parcels with a total
FAR of 200,000 S.F. The properties were assigned a
fair market value by the Town of $112,000,000.
Our
Role
We received this assignment two weeks prior to the
conclusion of the informal revaluation hearings. We
were able to obtain copies of the revaluation company’s
work product. During our analysis, we learned that
the Town only utilized 2001 economic data in their
valuation. Our data showed that there had been a significant
market downturn in 2002 that had not been recognized
by the Town.
The Results
With the production of substantial supporting data,
the revaluation company revised their valuation methodology
for this class of properties. As a result, we were
able to achieve an overall reduction in fair market
value of 24% to $85,000,000. Our client realized an
annual tax savings of $375,000.
SUCCESS STORY No 3
The Opportunity
Our Client, a multi-state manufacturer contacted us
to defend an audit relating to their personal property
tax exemption for manufacturing equipment. Initially,
the examination looked fairly routine, and involved
only one issue surrounding equipment transferred to
the company in a business acquisition. However, the
State, embroiled in a fiscal crisis, quickly began
to challenge many items related to the exemption.
Our Role
We worked to not only defend the existing exemption,
but also worked to achieve a significant expansion
to the current exemption program. Our work included
photos and write up’s of the existing manufacturing
process, as well as significant forensic accounting
work including researching items acquired in previous
transactions.
The Results
The net success for our client was a refund of over
$400,000 and future year’s exemptions resulting
in an additional $250,000 of tax savings.
