The city of Philadelphia’s new property tax program is coming and your assessment is likely going up, but it is not all bad news. Still, commercial property owners and residential property owners alike need to understand the basics of the city’s new Actual Value Initiative (AVI) and be prepared to take steps to ensure that they are assessed fairly. In particular, commercial properties often have unique or complex valuation issues, which are frequently overlooked by taxing authorities. Moreover, according to the City Controller’s Office, the AVI is expected to increase property taxes for many small businesses, including 73 percent of the 5,148 commercial properties that have between 1,000 and 10,000 square feet of space. In light of the city’s AVI program, it is particularly vital to analyze the new assessment information and take appropriate steps to manage your real estate taxes.

Philadelphia’s Office of Property Assessment (OPA) recently took a major step in connection with its historic effort to simultaneously reassess the property values for the city’s almost 600,000 residential, commercial and industrial properties. It mailed out its first set of notices to property owners, advising of new property assessments established through the AVI. The AVI aims to reassess each property’s value to reflect the actual market value of the property, i.e., the price the property would sell for in an open-market transaction.

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