Real Property Tax
Real property assessment appeals, tax credits, and exemptions.
Personal Property Tax
Personal property tax return preparation and assessment appeals.
Sales & Use Tax
Compliance, refund requests, assessment appeals, audit defense and reverse audits.
Abramoff Bushel LLC is a boutique law firm in Baltimore, Maryland focused on state and local taxation. Known for its work appealing real property tax assessments, the firm also handles real property tax exemptions, tax credits, sales and use tax, and other state and local tax issues. Our attorneys provide representation at all levels of involvement with the State’s taxing authorities, including administrative levels, County Boards, Maryland Tax Court and beyond to appellate courts.
The firm represents clients from a wide range of industries and real property holdings. These include major office and retail complexes, multi-family housing, low-income housing, hotels, nursing homes, universities and hospitals, manufacturing and industrial properties, automotive dealerships, golf courses and private clubs, and historic properties.
Real Property Tax
At the center of the real property tax practice is valuation and assessment analysis and pursuant appeals to the assessing authority of the Maryland State Department of Assessments & Taxation (SDAT). In Maryland, real property is assessed on a triennial basis, with one third of each jurisdiction being re-assessed each year. Every property in a client’s portfolio is reviewed upon reassessment. In off years, assessments are also monitored in the event that a Petition for Review is warranted. Assessment appeals are pursued through the administrative process to the Property Tax Assessment Appeal Boards and through the Maryland Tax Court.
The firm also assists clients in obtaining and maximizing the value of real property tax credits. These credits include the Enterprise Zone Tax Credit, the Brownfields Tax Credit, Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) Tax Credit, Market Rate Rental Housing Credits, and all other real property tax credits in Maryland.
In addition, the firm represents a wide range of nonprofit educational and charitable institutions with regards to real property tax exemptions. This entails assisting the institution with planning for exempt uses of real property, preparation of the exemption application, and litigating disputed exemptions in the Maryland Tax Court and beyond to the State’s appellate courts.
Personal Property Tax
Personal property tax returns are often treated as a compliance function and are therefore overlooked as an area for tax reduction. Tax savings can be found on leased and owned personal property due to improper classification (e.g. tangible vs. intangible, real vs. personal), improper classification under the law for depreciation scheduling, unexploited exemption opportunities and several other areas that can be reviewed to reduce tax liability.
The firm prepares personal property returns as well as handles personal property assessment appeals.
Sales & Use Tax
Our attorneys provide advice as to compliance with sales and use tax laws and advise clients on sales tax issues, assisting in minimizing sales tax liabilities and obtaining refunds. The firm has considerable experience appealing sales and use tax assessments, which is often an effective way of reducing these assessments. Moreover, “reverse audits,” performed in conjunction with the audit and assessment, have in many case transformed assessments into refunds.