Q. Is registering with the Village League enough?
A. Almost. By registering with the Village League your current contact information will be provided to the County so they can mail you notice of your refund along with claim forms and detailed instructions for submitting your claim. Only you, the owner of record, can submit a claim and obtain a refund. You can await the arrival of your notice and proceed at that time, or alternately, utilize the Treasurer’s website to submit a claim online anytime. You do not need to be noticed prior to submitting a claim.
Q. Why do I have to submit a claim?
A. Utilizing a claim making process allows the Treasurer and taxpayers to ensure every eligible taxpayer gets their refund. Imagine finding everyone after 17 years. Seven years ago when refund checks were issued for the 2006 tax year thousands of mailings were returned by the post office and thousands of checks were never cashed. We want to avoid that outcome this time around. The claims process provides a means for residents and past residents to provide accurate contact information while avoiding the issuance of checks which never make it to the intended recipient.
Q. When will I get my refund?
A. The Treasurer will send your refund after receiving your claim and verifying your information. Claims are processed in the order they are received with priority given to current Washoe County residents. The Treasurer must meet a quota and issuance of checks will be continuous but spread out over time. In deference to the pandemic, the County can elect to start issuance as late as July 1, 2021. This schedule is still years sooner than if the court battle had continued and we won. Remember the last time we prevailed at the Supreme Court refunds from 2006 were not issued until 2013.
Q. Why is my refund $0.00?
A. There are three possible reasons why your estimated refund is zero. All are fortunate for you. Your parcel, unlike the vast majority of residential properties did not have its assessment increased in 2003. So you were lucky. And it was just luck because the assessor’s assessment methods at that time produced wildly different results; mostly greater than 100% increases. But some folks had their values go down. The assessment data provided to us say you were one. Consequently, you did not endure the sky high tax increases of most others from 2003 through 2011. Perhaps you disagree with your assessment history. You can verify your assessment levels at the assessors website https://www.washoecounty.us/assessor/cama/index.php. Contact the assessor if you find an error.
The second reason you may have no refund is because the treasurer already paid your refund years ago. Please check your records.
Finally, you may have appeared before the Board of Equalization in 2003 and convinced them to reduce your 2003 assessment below that from 2002. That was rare but a few folks did succeed.
Q. Why is my refund for 2005 so much less than for 2003 and 2004?
A. Most likely you were one of the nearly 1,000 residents who were represented by the Village League and prevailed against the County in 2005. You already had your assessed values reset during 2005 and were paid a refund. The refund was based on value reset of your 2002 value plus 8%. But that refund may not have been sufficient because Nevada’s tax abatement legislation limited tax increases for primary home owners to 3%. So some additional money is owed you to account for the difference between 3% and 8% increase.
Q. How much of my refund is interest?
A. The amount of interest you will be paid depends on when you are paid. The interest rate is 6% applied over 15 to 17 years. For the vast majority of refunds the excess tax portion is 50% and the interest is 50%.