Here’s a situation your company could find itself in soon: You get a letter from the county or state regarding your recent tax appeal — but you never filed one.

How does something like that happen? Believe it or not, it’s not a fraud attempt or a scam artist — it’s probably a local school district. Many states allow cities and school districts to issue a “reverse appeal” if they think your company’s property tax assessment is too low.

And since most districts get the bulk of their funding from collected property taxes, that’s more than enough motivation to make sure everyone — both individuals and businesses — pay what they owe.

Even if your company gets pulled into court and slammed with a higher assessment, odds are good you can whittle the district or state’s number down.

In one of the most recent cases, Northeastern Pennsylvania’s Wilkes-Barre Area School District filed an appeal against the new Mohegan Sun Casino property. The casino operators agreed to pay the school district $21 million in an out-of-court settlement — lower than the original request, but still a painful hit on the books.

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Tags: Casion, Mohegan Sun, Out of court settlement, Reverse tax-appeal, Wilkes-Barre