Mandatory Income and Expense Questionnaires Issued to Maryland Commercial Property Owners

Approximately one-third of commercial property owners in Maryland should have received Income and Expense Questionnaires from the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT). Compliance with these surveys is compulsory and used by the SDAT to help determine real property tax assessments. Local Maryland jurisdictions assess realty on a triennial basis, with one-third of each county (or Baltimore city) assessed each year. Information is requested only once every three years for each property. Taxpayers currently receiving the questionnaires are in the final year of their current assessment “cycle” and will next be assessed for the ensuing tax year 2023-2025 triennial. 

Please note the forms provide that the requested information must be submitted to the respective taxing local authority on or before May 15. However, a one-month grace period is applied prior to penalty; therefore, taxpayers have until June 15 to submit the requested information. Timely compliance with the original deadline is generally recommended, with some exceptions.

Penalty for noncompliance only applies to property currently with an assessed value in excess of $5,000,000. Therefore, for properties assessed for $5,000,000 and under, taxpayers may elect not to comply unless such compliance is deemed potentially beneficial. However, noncompliance for properties assessed in excess of $5,000,000 will result in “a penalty of $100 per day up to a maximum equal to 0.1% of the value of the property listed on the assessment roll.” As such, for these properties, compliance is strongly encouraged. Please note the following two key points:

1) These forms are mailed to the address on record per SDAT, and taxpayers not in receipt of the requests are responsible regardless of nonreceipt.

2) In the past, the forms explicitly provided for the aforementioned penalty for failure to submit the requested information, whereas this year, that specific verbiage has been removed.  

If you own property in Maryland and have not received Income and Expense Questionnaires, we recommend you follow up. The Maryland tax experts at Ryan can assist owners and operators in reviewing the forms prior to submission to ensure accuracy and no superfluous information is being provided unnecessarily at the taxpayer’s expense.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION CONTACTS:

Cutchin Powell
Principal
Ryan
202.470.3094
cutchin.powell@ryan.com

Shawn Eskow
Director
Ryan
571.481.9427
shawn.eskow@ryan.com

Ted Haran
Director
Ryan
571.481.9410
ted.haran@ryan.com 

Michael Owen
Director
Ryan
703.746.0022
michael.owen@ryan.com

The material presented in this communication is intended to provide general information only and should solely be seen as broad guidance and not directed to the particular facts or circumstances of any individual who may read this publication. No liability is accepted for acts or omissions taken in reliance upon the content of this piece. Before taking (or not taking) any action, readers should seek professional advice specific to their situation from Ryan, LLC or other tax professionals. For additional information about this topic, please contact us at info@ryan.com.