Mission Statement
The mission of Schmidt Salzman & Moran, Ltd. is quite straight forward. It is to achieve the lowest possible real estate tax for its client’s properties, by carefully analyzing each property and developing the best approach to maximize the client’s tax savings.
The firm has concentrated in developing legal arguments and data which have resulted in millions of dollars of tax savings and tax refunds for its clients over the past 35 years. The firm’s clients’ properties include premier downtown Chicago and suburban hotels, Michigan Avenue and Oak Street flagship retail buildings, local and regional shopping centers, office and industrial buildings and complexes, nursing home and care facilities, multi-unit residential rental, condominium and cooperative apartment buildings, throughout Chicago and its collar counties.
In addition to contesting tax valuations at all administrative levels (see Where Assessments May Be Contested for Cook and Collar Counties.), the firm’s Attorneys have substantial experience litigating tax refund, as well as tax delinquency cases, before the Circuit Court, Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court, and in proposing and drafting real estate tax legislation through the Chicago and State of Illinois bar associations.
Other services that Schmidt Salzman & Moran, Ltd. regularly provides to its clients include:
- Complimentary detailed real estate tax projections for budgeting and acquisition purposes.
- Identifying potential available commercial and industrial tax incentives (See Newsletters) and representation before local municipalities and the Assessor’s Office to secure implementation and maintenance of the incentive.
- Representation of private and not-for-profit owners and developers of senior housing and care developments, and health, training, and educational facilities to achieve tax exemptions or the most favorable tax classification and valuations.
- Representation of property owners confronting tax delinquencies, contest of tax deed proceedings, and statutory indemnity litigation to recover property lost through tax sale.
- Complimentary consultation for drafting tax proration clauses which address such issues as an existing one-year only partial occupancy assessment, scheduled reassessments, open space rollback assessments and commencement and termination of a tax incentive or an exemption.
- Regularly published Client Newsletters providing an analysis of recent policies, trends, court decisions, statutes and ordinances concerning local real estate tax issues.
