Mr. Mark Ong

Mark Ong ISA: Independent SALT Alliance - State and Local Tax Network
...
Member Biography - Mark Ong
...
Mark Ong, CMI Managing Member Independent Tax Representatives, LLC 221 Main Street Suite 945 San Francisco, CA 94105 Phone: (415) 495-3333 Mobile: (415) 225-3493
...
Mr. Mark Ong is the managing member of ITR, a company that specializes in real and personal property management, valuation and appeals in the state of California. Immediately prior to founding this company, he was the Director of Property Tax Services in San Francisco office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Results Mr. Ong and his team of specialists completed 18 assessment appeals cases in 5 Northern California Counties and achieved an average of 30% of assessment reduction on behalf of its clients within the first 12 months of ITR's history.

Experience Mr. Ong started his professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. In 1992, he became the Director of Property Tax Services and managed and grew the practice for ten years. In 2002, he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as the Director of Property Tax Services. During the two years that he was with PwC, he and his team members from Andersen produced millions of dollars of tax savings for their clients and exceeded the group's revenue goals every year.

Industry Focus Mr. Ong has extensive experience in providing property services in a variety of industries and property types, including hotels and golf courses, office buildings, corporate campuses, high-end retail, high-tech equipment, mixed-use developments, and high-end residential properties. He has testified before most Assessment Appeals Boards in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Credential and Professional Affiliations Mr. Ong has been a certified member (CMI) of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation since 1993. Mr. Ong is a member of the Society of Auditor-Appraisers and the Bay Area Assessors Association.

Education Mr. Ong attended Beijing Institute of Technology and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from San Francisco State University.

Mark Ong

The idea that the purchase price from the past year is fair market value is a rebuttable one , said Mark Ong , principal and director of property tax services for Arthur Andersen LLP in San Francisco.A lot of commercial property owners who bought in the second and third quarters of 2000 will be challenged this year.The decline in value is amazing when you look back just a short while ago..

Mark Ong, head of valuation services for the San Francisco office of Arthur Andersen, said, "Property owners have a right to get a break.

Finally, Mark Ong, founder of Independent Tax Representatives, gives a reason (beyond the $70 tax break) to keep your homeowner's exemption up-to-date."When parents transfer their principal residences to their children (or grandkids if parents are deceased) they can keep the low Prop.13 tax base if the principal residence has been granted a homeowner's exemption," he says.

It's not enough to be eligible for the homeowner's exemption.By law, the exemption must be in place."If they are eligible but not getting it, they won't be able to transfer the base," Ong said.

Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.E-mail Kathleen Pender at kpender@sfchronicle.com.

In fact, some property owners apply for steeply discounted tax bills-seeking a cut of 50 percent or more knowing that the negotiation process will end up somewhere higher, said Mark Ong, director in the tax division of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which helps many commercial property owners on their appeals.