Taxing Long Island: How to look for costly mistakes on your tax bill
Former longtime counsel to the Suffolk County Legislature Paul Sabatino says while tax bill errors are somewhat uncommon, they do happen, and it can be a lengthy process to get your bill corrected.
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Don't be afraid to read the fine print (and do the math).
That's the message property tax bill experts are sharing after last week's News 12 Taxing Long Island report detailing the struggle 78-year-old Nick DeMicco of Ronkonkoma had after a clerical error nearly cost him more than $4,000.
Former longtime counsel to the Suffolk County Legislature Paul Sabatino says while tax bill errors are somewhat uncommon, they do happen, and it can be a lengthy process to get your bill corrected.
"There's over a thousand resolutions adopted every year that just do an adjustment or a correction or a recalculation of tax bills where just mistakes were made," Sabatino said.
RELATED: 78-year-old Ronkonkoma resident sees sudden increase in tax bill
RELATED: Tax bill corrected for 78-year-old Ronkonkoma resident following clerical error, News 12 report
Sabatino, who now works as an attorney in private practice and also prepares tax returns, says there are several things you can do to verify that your property tax bill is correct.
"My first recommendation to everybody is, read everything."
"When that tax bill comes in, you should pull out the one from the year before and do a comparison. You can literally take them, put 'em next to each other and look at the lines, because that's one place where you might pick up something as an error, "Sabatino said.
Sabatino also recommends that you look for big increases or decreases in individual tax district lines year over year. He says you can do the calculations yourself to make sure that percent increase matches up with the dollar amount you are being charged. He also suggests that you make sure any tax exemptions that you qualify for are reflected on your bill, and always keep your records for future comparisons.
"I'm not trying to create the impression that there's 500,000 people out there that have mistakes, but when it's for you, that's your entire world."
