Birmingham, Alabama
Date-of-death and IRS step-up appraisals in Birmingham, Alabama
When someone inherits a house, the tax return may need its value on the date the owner passed away. We write that value, looking backward, so your tax professional can use it.
A value for a day that has already gone by
A date-of-death appraisal is the formal name for this one. The idea is simple. When a property passes to an heir, the tax return generally starts from what it was worth on the date of passing, and a tax professional will tell you whether that applies to you. The report supplies that figure for the house. What it does with the figure, the basis, the filing, the tax, is for them.
Looking back is mostly a records job
We build the value from sales that closed near the date and from what the house was like then. That takes records: the Jefferson County Tax Assessor's file for the parcel (kept at the courthouse, with a Bessemer assistant office for properties on that side), photographs, insurance papers, permits, and your own memory of the house. Whatever cannot be verified is written in the report as an assumption.
If the house has changed since
That is common. Houses get cleaned out, repainted, listed. The renovation is identified and the value is for the house as it stood on the earlier date. Dated photographs and receipts help most. Please send them even if they look unimportant.
This is a real estate value opinion. It is not tax advice, and we do not calculate the basis or the tax. Your accountant or tax attorney does that, and may have a view on what the report should look like. Ask before the work starts.
Questions people ask
How far back can you value a house?
It depends on what records and sales survive for that time and that neighborhood. Call with the date and the address, and we will tell you honestly whether the evidence is there before you commit to anything.
Will you calculate the stepped-up basis or the tax owed?
No. We write what the house was worth on that day. Working out the basis or the tax belongs to your accountant or tax attorney, who will use our number as one piece of it.
The house has been renovated since the date the owner passed away. Is that a problem?
It is common, and it is workable. The work done since is identified and the house is valued as it stood before it, using photographs, permits, invoices and what you remember. Whatever cannot be confirmed is written down as an assumption.
Tell us about the house
A short call is the quickest way to find out what you need.
Call (205) 732-7383