In the Battle Against Exemption Fraud Property Appraiser gets New 'Smart' Weapon

Property Appraiser Pedro J. Garcia has announced another major development in his efforts against property tax exemption fraud.

Investigators in the Property Appraiser's Office are now using a new software program, GRM Insight, which increases their ability to more quickly and accurately detect illegal exemptions by mining and analyzing multiple databases nationwide.  In essence, it adds intelligence to raw data. 

Mr. Garcia says initial use of the new software program, developed by the Michigan-based technology company, Manatron, Inc., has identified hundreds of potentially illegally held property tax exemptions.  Based on the preliminary findings, Mr. Garcia projects that his office will issue liens for more than $5 million in back-taxes. Collected revenues will be distributed to Miami-Dade taxing authorities, such as the School Board, County Government and the municipalities. 

Florida law requires that where fraudulent or improper exemptions are detected, the Property Appraiser must recover the exempted taxes going back up to ten years, and apply a 50% penalty plus 15% interest.

The Property Appraiser's latest move against exemption fraud follows a 2011 initiative when the investigative staff was doubled, and six detectives from the Economic Crimes Bureau of the Miami-Dade County Police Department were assigned to the Property Appraiser's Investigative Unit. The overall result has been a more than 300% increase in liens issued from 2007 to 2011.   Since January 1 of 2012, the increase in staff and the new GRM software have identified violations expected to generate more than $22 million in liens.

While no one can accurately predict the returns from anti-fraud efforts, Mr. Garcia says, the Property Appraiser's Office will relentlessly pursue property tax cheats in Miami-Dade County. Those who cheat the system, he said, place an unfair burden on the majority of property owners who pay their fair share of taxes.