What does a Nassau County tax grievance service cost?

Honest Abe Tax charges 33% of first-year tax savings, billed once, only after a reduction is final. No reduction, no fee. Typical large firms charge up to 50% of first-year savings.

Do I need a lawyer to grieve my property taxes?

No. Residential assessment grievances do not require an attorney, at the county review stage or at the small-claims appeal stage after it.

How long does a Nassau County grievance take?

Grievances are filed in the winter window starting January 2, and the county typically answers by summer. One real 2026 filing took 134 days from filing to settlement offer.

Honest Abe Tax | Nassau County Property Tax Grievances

Q: Is tax grievance legit?

Yes. Nassau County runs a formal review process, the Assessment Review Commission, that exists specifically to hear these challenges, and hundreds of thousands of Long Island homeowners file every year.

The part nobody says out loud

Questions the big grievance firms hope you never ask.

You've gotten their mailers. Everyone in Nassau has. Here's what they'd rather not put in the envelope.

Q: Why is the fee 50%?

Some of the biggest names on Long Island keep up to half of your first-year savings. My fee is a third, with no add-ons. The whole point is putting money back in your pocket: two of every three dollars saved stay yours.

Q: Why not mention I can file myself?

You can, for free, at the county's website. I'm here for everyone who was never going to spend an evening on assessment ratios and comparable sales.

How it works

Three steps. You do one of them.

Nobody wakes up wanting to learn assessment ratios, comparable sales, and county paperwork. You shouldn't have to. I do the boring part: the analysis, the forms, the filing, the follow-up. Your whole job is one signature.

STEP 01

Sign up in about 60 seconds.

Name, address, email. I pull your parcel details, prepare the paperwork, and send you one authorization form to e-sign. That's the whole job on your end.

STEP 02

I file the day the window opens.

Nassau accepts grievances starting January 2. I file early and confirm the county's receipt the same day, so your appeal is in well before the deadline.

STEP 03

The county answers, typically by summer. You keep two of every three dollars.

If there's a settlement offer, I send it your way with what it means in plain English. If your assessment doesn't come down, you owe me nothing. Not a filing fee, not a service charge, nothing.

Meet Abe

There's no firm. There's a guy named Abe.

Abe Varughese speaking at the NYU Stern podium

ABE VARUGHESE · NYU STERN

I'm Abe Varughese. I live in Nassau County, same as you, and this started the way most good things do: I did it for myself first. I filed my own grievance and watched it work. The filing wasn't the hard part. The hard part was understanding the system: what everything meant, how to do it, how the county calculates the numbers, and how an assessment compares to what a home is actually worth.

That's the part I'm built for. I'm a former real estate agent turned real estate investor and a graduate of NYU Stern. I've spent years analyzing Long Island property values and understand how the whole system works. When you sign up, I pull your parcel, I file the grievance, I handle the back-and-forth with the county, and send you the settlement offer. Worst case, your taxes stay exactly where they are and you owe me nothing.

As for why: I'm the money guy in my family and my friend group, the one always pushing people to track their finances and fight for their own dollars. It's your money. If you don't fight for it, it quietly slips away. An over-assessed tax bill is exactly that kind of leak. It's also one of the easiest to fix. And if you're into free financial education, check out my other website, abvinvest.com, where I share what works for me.

SIGNED,
ABE VARUGHESE

Pricing

They take half. I take a third.

Same filing, very different bill. Everyone in this business works on contingency: no savings, no fee. The difference is what happens when you win.

The typical big firm

50%

of your first-year savings

Up to half your savings, gone
Add-on charges at some firms (court filing, appraisal)
You're one of tens of thousands of files

Honest Abe

33%

of your first-year savings. A third, once, and only if you save

You keep two of every three dollars saved
No add-ons, no fine-print charges
$0 if your assessment doesn't come down

THE HONEST ABE GUARANTEE: NO SAVINGS, NO FEE, NO FINE PRINT.

Fair questions

What homeowners always ask.

Can filing a grievance raise my taxes?

No. Under New York law, your assessment cannot be increased because you challenged it. The worst realistic outcome of a grievance is that nothing changes.

Is this actually legit?

Completely. Nassau County runs a formal review process (the Assessment Review Commission) that exists specifically to hear these challenges, and hundreds of thousands of Long Island homeowners file every single year. Grieving your assessment is a normal, expected part of how the system works.

What's the catch?

The honest catch is time. Grievances are filed in the winter window and the county typically answers in the summer. Our own filing took 134 days. The savings then show up on your following tax bills. It's slow. It's also worth it.

I already signed with one of the big firms. Can I switch?

Not this year. The county only accepts one authorized representative per property per filing year, and duplicate authorizations can get a filing denied. But you're free every new season. Sign up and I'll file for you next window.

Do I need a lawyer for this?

No. Residential assessment grievances don't require an attorney, not at the county review stage and not at the small-claims appeal stage after it. If a case ever genuinely needs a lawyer, I'll tell you that instead of pretending otherwise.

What does it cost, exactly?

33% of your first-year tax savings: a third, versus the half the big firms take. Billed once, only after your reduction is final. If you don't save, you don't pay. There is no other fee, ever.