Personal Property Tax Analysis

The Importance of Exceeding Expectations

More and more companies now need personal property tax expertise outside their existing resources because of increased workloads and decreased staff. When selecting a personal property tax consulting firm, determine which firm best understands your needs, which firm will meet these needs and which firm will provide the best results while considering your unique situation.

At General Financial and Tax Consulting, our clients choose us because of our expertise, our unique approach, and the results we provide. More importantly, we take the time to understand their needs and expectations. We couple an asset inventory process with our detailed property tax review to substantially increase tax savings, as well as provide clients with accurate fixed asset records.

We use state-of-the-art systems to perform our work and modify our review plans to meet the specific needs of our clients. Our procedures include:

• Utilizing our system enables us to calculate tax savings on an asset by asset basis and reconcile the corrected values to your fixed asset ledger.
• Comparing the results of our fixed asset inventory to the existing fixed asset records.
• A detailed review of the classification and tax status of every asset, which identifies non-existent, obsolete and parent–child assets. Our methods also include identification of exempt assets, assets subject to double taxation, a depreciation analysis and a functional obsolescence review.

GFTC believes in exceeding our clients’ expectations in order to build a long-term business relationship. Our clients demand the best, and we stand ready to provide the best.

How It Works

Initial Client Meeting Either in your office or by phone, we will discuss with you your needs, time frames, expectations and other considerations that may have an effect on the property tax review. We believe in asking what you need and expect, as opposed to telling you what we will do. This initial meeting is the first step in establishing ongoing communication with you, our client.

Asset Ledger Review Our personal property tax review begins with a detailed analysis and reconciliation of your fixed asset ledger for each location. We compare this information to the most recent business property tax return to identify assets that may qualify for special exemptions or reclassification based on state law. Additionally, this enables us to identify specific assets or in some cases, entire processing and assembly lines that may provide tax benefits. In addition, we audit all environmental assets to ensure the maximum exemptions are received. We also use this review to prepare our questions prior to the site inspection and finalize our review plan.

Site Inspection We perform a detailed inspection of every location we are engaged to review. A GFTC tax manager performs this inspection, and is assigned to manage the entire project. We summarize our initial findings and discuss the potential benefits with the client to determine the next step in the process.

Client Recommended Adjustments After we review our results with the client and our conclusions are approved, we prepare a report, detailing the tax savings, on an asset-by-asset basis. We ask the client to review and approve our findings before we take any additional steps. Historically, we are able to find property tax savings for more than 85% of our clients. In those rare instances where no savings are found, no fee is incurred.

Get Started

Whether you are ready to get started or have additional questions, the first step is to contact GFTC. We want to hear your questions and explain how we can work with you. Many of our clients have similar questions, and you may be able to benefit from their experience. Start by filling out and submitting the contact form on this web site. If you would like additional information, have more questions, or want to discuss your situation, call us at (800) 733-5252 ext. 7000.