Pasadena, CA
Tax Lawyer at Pasadena, CA
Practice Areas: Tax
OUTCOME: Taxpayer won
Assessor applied the step-transaction doctrine to ignore the presence of a recently extended long-term lease when analyzing whether a subsequent sale of the property was reassessable. The Court of App ... eal held that the step-transaction doctrine did not apply, and that the lease was entered into for legitimate business purposes that were unrelated to property taxes or the ultimate sale.
OUTCOME: Taxpayer lost
California Supreme Court overturned favorable decision of Assessment Appeals Board and ruled that as a matter of law, tenant improvements were owned by landlord when the ground lease was less than 35-y ... ears, and where the landlord would obtain ownership of the improvements at the end of the lease.
OUTCOME: Taxpayer won
Court of Appeal agreed with taxpayer that taxpayer had the right to amend his property tax assessment appeal application.
OUTCOME: Taxpayer won
Court of Appeal upheld favorable decision of Superior Court in which taxpayer established that the value of taxpayer's property was much lower than the County asserted.
OUTCOME: Taxpayer won.
Court of Appeal agreed with taxpayer that valuation done in a prior case was binding on the County for purposes of determing the taxpayer's property tax assessments, and ordered that taxpayer's assessm ... ent be substantially reduced.