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"With Advantax, not only do I have more valuable time to focus on other important tasks, but I also know that my Advantax agents always ensure that we are covering all bases."
Jerry Philipp, Controller, Valeron Strengths Films |  |
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"Advantax offers personalized service, and I know they'll do a top-notch job. And of course, technology -- other companies have it, but other companies don't have what Advantax has."
-Sue Jablonski, McDonald's |
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"Can you hear me
now?"
Advantax proactively resolves
valuation issues for a high-tech manufacturer, saving the company
over $500,000 |
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"Boy, those science classes
sure paid off!"
Advantax identifies non-taxable assets and quantifies economic obsolescence issues
for a chemical manufacturer, saving the company over $1.5 million |
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"Time is money."
PTR by Advantax saves financial service providers
time and money |
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"Advantax uses 'Get out of jail free' card."
Advantax identifies tax-exempt status of global
leader in the correctional facility service industry |
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"Strong as steel, yet
obsolete."
Advantax identifies functional and economic obsolescence issues, saving
company over $600,000 |
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"Advantax packs a punch."
Advantax helps streamline property accounting records for packaging company,
saving over $1.5 million |
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"Advantax knows the importance
of a balanced diet."
Advantax saves food manufacturer over $1 million through litigation support
services |
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"Advantax helps cement
relationship with assessor."
Advantax identifies excessive historic costs, economic
and functional obsolescence issues, saving cement manufacturer over
$300,000 |
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"Cost still doesn't
equal value."
Advantax helps save regional distributor over $50,000
in real property assessment |
Advantax proactively resolves valuation issues for a high-tech
manufacturer, saving the company over $500,000
| Challenge: |
The facility in Arkansas produced and assembled connectors
used in high-tech industries. The taxpayer suspected that
the facility was over-assessed, but was concerned about
the consulting process due to a negative experience with
a previous property tax appeal that led to a strained relationship
with the jurisdiction.
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| Solution: |
Advantax worked with the local facility
to proactively review the jurisdiction's assessment
methodology in conjunction with the assets at the facility.
During the comprehensive review process, Advantax identified
numerous assets included in the assessment, but were not
physically located at the facility, as well as assets that
were permanently
idle. Advantax also determined that a significant portion
of the assets at the facility were misclassified and qualified
to be valued under shorter lives according to state guidelines.
Advantax quantified all the proposed adjustments in a detailed
report, providing substantive documentation to support
the findings. Advantax helped the taxpayer prepare the
tax return and then explained the proposed asset and classification
adjustments to the jurisdiction.
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| Results: |
The jurisdiction accepted the return
as filed, except for the proposed shorter life for tooling
assets. The taxpayer filed an appeal with the local board
to pursue the issue further and was able to resolve it
before the board; based on the statutory analysis and state
guidelines submitted by Advantax. As a result, the overall
value of the facility was reduced from $112 million to
$70 million. In addition to saving over $500,000 annually,
Advantax was able to proactively achieve these results
while enhancing the taxpayer's relationship with
the jurisdiction.
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Advantax identifies non-taxable assets and quantifies economic
obsolescence issues for a chemical manufacturer, saving the company
over $1.5 million
| Challenge: |
The taxpayer operates one of the largest
chemical production complexes in the United States. The company
wanted to ensure that property tax liabilities were reasonable
and
accurate, but did not have the internal resources to do so.
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| Solution: |
Advantax, along with the company's
tax professionals, began by reviewing the jurisdiction's
real and personal property assessment methodology in conjunction
with the assets at the facility. During the review process,
Advantax identified numerous assets included in the
personal property assessment, but were not physically located
at the facility. They also identified assets that were pollution
control devices or permanently idle that should have been
valued at a lower rate according to state guidelines. Advantax
also identified a missed exemption for inventory and documented
the correct adjustment based on a letter ruling from the
department of taxation. Advantax also identified several
structures at the complex that had been demolished, but were
never accounted for by the assessor in the real property
assessment. In previous tax years, Advantax was also able
to document and quantify significant economic obsolescence
at the facility based on a history of low utilization resulting
from less than expected product demand.
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| Results: |
Advantax assisted the taxpayer and legal
counsel in presenting these issues to the local board on
two different occasions. Advantax also helped negotiate a
settlement with the state appraisers responsible for valuing
the facility for property tax purposes. Based on the initial
review, the taxpayer received more than $1 million in real
and personal property tax savings, with an additional $500,000
in savings related to the valuation adjustment for obsolescence.
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PTR by Advantax saves financial service providers time and money
| Challenge: |
In the financial services industry, the
sheer volume of data and the mobility of assets make the
property tax manager's job extremely difficult. Manual
processes and cumbersome spreadsheets cannot efficiently
manage consistently changing data. Tax bills are often incorrect,
and keeping up with changing assessments and jurisdiction
information is overwhelming.
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| Solution: |
PTR by Advantax successfully tracks and
reports 10,000 ATM machines for eFunds, a west coast financial
services provider; 8,000 locations and 14,000 tax bills for
Wachovia, a south eastern banking giant; and over 500 pages
of personal property call center data for yet another financial
services company in the central plains.
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| Results: |
These three clients have saved hundreds
of hours in their property tax processes by centralizing
data and automating the property tax process with PTR. Each
client rolls data over in the system from year to year, ensuring
all work done in previous years is preserved. Additions,
deletions, and transfers are easily identified for the new
tax year to ensure the proper value is reported and paid.
By eliminating months of paper shuffling and tracking data
from multiple sources, these financial service providers
have streamlined their property tax operations with efficient
staffing models. Time saved by using PTR is now better spent
on pursuing tax savings opportunities.
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Advantax identifies tax-exempt status of global leader in the correctional
facility service industry
| Challenge: |
This international for-profit corporation
engaged Advantax to provide expertise in exploring potential
real property tax savings opportunities.
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| Solution: |
During the due diligence process, Advantax
determined that in the prior year, the company transferred
ownership of the real property to a state authority, which
was a non-taxable entity. Although the respective assessing/taxing
authorities correctly identified the change in ownership,
they failed to follow through with exempting the real property
from taxation. The client was providing a service in the
facility, although they did not have any ownership interest
in the property.
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| Results: |
Advantax was able to help our client resolve
the situation, resulting in tax savings exceeding $425,000.
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Advantax identifies functional and economic obsolescence issues for a steel manufacturing
facility, saving company over $600,000
| Challenge: |
The West Virginia steel manufacturing
facility under appeal was an integrated steel mill, facing
functional and economic obsolescence issues, including excess
operation costs and decreased production demand.
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| Solution: |
During the valuation and appeal process,
Advantax identified several instances of functional and economic
obsolescence affecting the facility.
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| Results: |
The matter was resolved before two county
boards and with the West Virginia Department of Revenue,
decreasing the value from $225 million to $212 million, resulting
in total tax savings in excess of $600,000.
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Advantax helps streamline property accounting records for packaging
company, saving over $1.5 million
| Challenge: |
The national packaging company faced significant
tax liabilities at its Indiana property.
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| Solution: |
Advantax spent several days on-site, touring
the facility, reviewing all assets and meeting with engineers
from each of the major departments. In the process, Advantax
discovered unrecorded disposals, misclassified assets and
equipment without situs in the jurisdiction.
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| Results: |
The issues were resolved, resulting in
a 50% reduction of reported costs from the previous year.
The company also
received a refund in excess of $350,000 and was able to utilize
the Advantax report to streamline property accounting records.
Over a three-year period, Advantax saved the company over
$1.5 million in property taxes on properties in California,
Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and
Washington.
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Advantax saves food manufacturer over $1 million through litigation
support services
| Challenge: |
A food manufacturer needed help appealing
an assessment in court. The assessor had obtained an appraisal
and our clients were in the process of retaining our appraisal
on their behalf.
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| Solution: |
The Advantax litigation support team assisted
in interrogatory cross examination questions and rebuttal
testimony on theory, methodology, the assessing jurisdiction's
appraisal, use of tables, and appraisal results.
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| Results: |
The judge did not consider the assessor's
appraisal and ruled in favor of our client. Refunds and tax
savings amounted to over $1 million.
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Advantax identifies excessive historic costs and economic and functional
obsolescence issues, saving a cement manufacturer over $300,000
| Challenge: |
The taxpayer operates an integrated cement
manufacturing facility in Alabama that was exempt for 10
years. The company was concerned about the initial assessment
after the abatement period expired.
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| Solution: |
Advantax professionals conducted a thorough
analysis of the operating real and personal property assets
at the facility to identify excessive historic costs, excess
operating costs, pollution assets and what assets were considered
personal property versus real property. Advantax compared
the historic costs to what a modern facility with the same
capabilities would cost to replace the subject property,
and then facilitated an agreement with the jurisdiction to
reduce the basis of replacement cost. In addition, excessive
shipping costs for the raw material were utilized to calculate
obsolescence, while Advantax also identified obsolescence
issues not recognized by the assessor in previous years.
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| Results: |
Advantax submitted a detailed analysis
to the jurisdiction and was able to resolve the matter prior
to the board hearing, resulting in tax savings in excess
of $300,000 per year. Our professionals have reduced the property tax liability of 4 of their clients at 7 different cement plants. This reduction resulted in savings of over $2.75 Million in property tax liability over the last three years.
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Advantax helps save regional distributor over $50,000 in real property
assessment
| Challenge: |
Advantax reviewed the real estate value
for a new distribution warehouse in the Midwest, and then
submitted the findings to the assessment authority who insisted
the value of the property should be valued closer to its
cost.
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| Solution: |
Advantax prepared to file an appeal using
the cost approach to value. A detailed asset listing of the
real estate was secured, and subsequently adjusted for misclassified
items and non-value added expenses. Once these adjustments
were completed, Advantax applied appropriate physical depreciation
to the different ages of construction and applied a shorter
life to depreciate yard improvements. Other depreciation
considerations were made for obsolescence as well. The Advantax
actual cost analyses concluded a higher value than the conclusion
using the market comparables, but remained close enough for
the different approaches to support each other.
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| Results: |
Advantax filed an appeal and reached a
settlement agreement with the assessment authority, resulting
in tax savings of approximately $50,000.
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