New TurboAppeal.com seeks to help homeowners streamline their property tax appeals

When homeowners receive their property tax notices, they have a window of time to file an appeal to reduce those taxes.

That involves filling out a form for free at their local township office or perhaps talking to an attorney for help. Or homeowners may feel intimidated by the process or are too busy and may do nothing.

That's where Badal Shah of Barrington Hills comes in. Shah, 32, along with business partners John Guidos, 35 of Lakewood, and Mehmet Dalkilic, 52, of India, aim to change how you seek a tax appeal. They have launched Chicago-based TurboAppeal.com, which is no relation to TurboTax.

Homeowners can register at the site and ask TurboAppeal to appeal their property taxes. About 1,500 Cook County homeowners have already registered and done appeals. It's available only in Cook County so far. More surrounding counties are expected to be added by next year, Shah said.

“I decided to create something like this after I tried appealing my own property taxes,” said Shawh, CEO of TurboAppeal. “It was a very upsetting experience and I had even had a law firm help and there were no results.”

Besides the January launch of the website and service, the partners will head to Austin, Texas, this weekend to pitch their startup, almost like the TV show, “Shark Tank.”

The event is called Tech Cocktail, which allows technology entrepreneurs the chance to pitch and demonstrate their businesses before venture capitalists and angel investors.

Whatever happens in Texas could help the partners return home and further expand their business.

In the meantime, the partners plan to add more surrounding counties for tax appeals and add more employees to handle the extra load. The company currently employs 8, including the three business partners.

If the homeowner receives a property tax savings, then TurboAppeal takes a 30 percent fee based on the savings for the first year. If there is no savings, then there's no fee, he said.

Shah said the site, which is encrypted, does not offer legal assistance and only seeks to reduce your property taxes. The site also does not do tax appeals for commercial or industrial buildings.

“We can also do appeals for condo owners, but we need to work through the condo association for that,” he said.

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