Appeal your Michigan property taxes yourself.
Everything you need to appeal your Michigan assessment yourself: why the March Board of Review is mandatory and skipping it kills your whole year, which of your two values an appeal can actually move, and a ready-to-edit petition.
- State-specific process guidance with official-source links
- Evidence organizer and filing checklist
- Ready-to-edit appeal-letter template
See a worksheet excerpt before buying
PARTIAL SAMPLE · Michigan DIY kit
Your notice and deadline worksheet
Three blank fields from the worksheet included in your paid PDF. Copy these details from your notice; they are not a property analysis or an official filing form.
Property address and parcel identifier
State, county, township and reviewing body
Assessment year and valuation date
After purchase: the complete state guide, three fillable worksheets, official-source links and editable appeal letter. The full evidence organizer and letter are not included in this excerpt. You gather evidence and file yourself.
Your filing plan, ready to work through
Get the Michigan process guide, three fillable worksheets, official filing links and an editable appeal letter. Gather your evidence and file yourself.
Personalize your kit (optional)
Copy details from your assessment notice. We add these to your worksheets and your address to the letter. These are your entries, not a verified property analysis. You can also buy now and fill them in later.
Property: [Your property address]
County / municipality: [From your notice]
Assessed value: [From your notice]
Parcel: [From your notice]
Assessment year: [From your notice]
After purchase: the complete guide, editable worksheets and letter. No comparable sales or savings estimate included. Confirm your filing deadline before buying.
Prepare your Michigan property tax appeal
Have a current notice? Check its deadline and reviewing office, verify the property details, then organize evidence that supports the correction you are requesting. Confirm official forms and fees before filing.
Preparing for a future window? Use the worksheets to review property records, list errors to investigate and plan your evidence. Buying now does not reopen a closed deadline or guarantee lower taxes.
The kit organizes those steps into a reusable guide and worksheets. It does not find comparable properties for you, file an appeal or replace your local authority’s instructions.
See what comes in the $29 DIY kit
Inside the Illinois kit: fillable worksheets, an evidence organizer and an appeal-letter template. Your state's guidance and filing requirements may differ.
Watch the walkthrough · 42 seconds · captioned
Read the video transcript
Want to appeal your property assessment without starting from a blank page? Here is what AppealMyTax's $29 DIY kit includes: a guide to the process, a worksheet to check your notice and deadline, fillable fields to organize comparable-property research and supporting evidence, a filing and hearing tracker, and an appeal letter you can copy and customize. Choose your state and pay once. Your kit is delivered by email. You gather the evidence, confirm your local requirements, and file yourself. See what is included at AppealMyTax.
On screen: pages from the Illinois kit, including its notice/deadline worksheet, evidence organizer and filing/hearing tracker. You complete required forms and file yourself.
How a Michigan appeal works
The short version, free. The paid kit adds the evidence workbook, filing controls, and editable letter.
- Your assessor mails a Notice of Assessment in late February showing your Assessed Value, State Equalized Value, and Taxable Value. It must go out at least 14 days before your local Board of Review meets.
- You protest to your LOCAL MARCH BOARD OF REVIEW using Form 618 (L-4035). For residential property this step is mandatory, and skipping it permanently blocks the state appeal for that year.
- The Board mails its written decision by the first Monday in June, along with your Tax Tribunal appeal rights.
- If still over-assessed, file a Small Claims petition with the Michigan Tax Tribunal by July 31, free if you have a Principal Residence Exemption of 50% or more. And under MCL 211.30c, any reduction you win becomes the basis for next year's assessment too.
What to check on your assessment notice
- The Board of Review date, time, and location, and whether letter protests are allowed. This varies by city and township and the notice is the only reliable source.
- Is your Assessed Value more than 50% of what your home would actually sell for as of December 31 of the prior year? Double the Assessed Value. If that number is higher than market, you have a case.
- Is your SEV above your Taxable Value, and by how much? If the gap is large, a valuation win may not reduce this year's bill at all. Check this before you spend a day on evidence.
- Is your Principal Residence Exemption percentage right (it should be 100% for an owner-occupied home), and is the classification "residential"? A 0% PRE means you are paying roughly 18 extra school operating mills.
Official lookup: Michigan Tax Tribunal: Small Claims filing, forms, and fees →
What’s inside
How it works
- Buy the kit — the PDF lands in your inbox instantly.
- Read your Notice of Assessment for YOUR local Board of Review dates and whether letter protests are allowed. The statutory default is the second Monday in March, but townships may shift it and home-rule cities set their own by charter. The notice is the only reliable source.
- Gather the evidence on the checklist and edit the appeal-letter template.
- File the current instrument required by your local city or township Board of Review (not the state) before your deadline.
Different process where you live?
Michigan is not one system. These jurisdictions use a different agency, a different form, and an earlier deadline than the rest of the state. The kit covers each one in its own section.
- Deadline
- In 2026 the Assessor Review ran February 1 to February 22 by 4:30 p.m., with mailed appeals postmarked by February 22; the March Board convened March 3 with APPEALS DUE by 4:30 p.m. on March 9, sitting as needed through no later than April 6. Re-confirm the current year's dates on the city's assessor page before relying on them.
- Filed with
- The February Assessor Review (Office of the Assessor), then the Detroit Property Assessment Board of Review, then the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
- Form
- Detroit's own appeal form, filed online, in person at the Detroit Tax Service Center, or by letter to the Office of the Assessor.
- Deadline
- The Assessor's Review runs the first two full weeks of February: in 2026, February 2 to 13, with letter appeals postmarked by February 13 and forms received by 5:00 p.m. that day. The Board of Review then sat March 3 to 20 by appointment only, with appointments scheduled no later than March 16. The February window shifts each year, so confirm it.
- Filed with
- The Assessor's Review (a mandatory first step under the City Charter), then the City Board of Review, then the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
- Form
- The city's Assessor's Review form, then a Board of Review appeal by letter or appointment.
- Deadline
- The Board meets starting the Monday of the THIRD week of March, for four days. Notices of Assessment mail around the first week of March, and appearances are by appointment. The city posts a Board of Review Public Notice with the year's exact dates.
- Filed with
- The Ann Arbor City Board of Review, members appointed by the Mayor with Council approval, then the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
- Form
- Appeal forms are provided by the Assessor's Office on request; Form 618 (L-4035) is the STC-prescribed alternative.
- Deadline
- Four sessions a year: an early-March organizational session that receives the certified roll and hears NO appeals; a mid-to-late March session for valuation, classification, and hardship appeals, typically beginning the third Monday in March; then mid-July and mid-December for qualified errors and hardship exemptions. The city publishes exact dates annually. The published date controls, not "third Monday."
- Filed with
- A six-member Board of Review appointed by City Council, sitting as two three-member committees, then the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
- Form
- Form 618 (L-4035) or the city's equivalent petition, by appointment.
What Michigan charges to file
These are your county or state’s fees, not ours. Listed so there are no surprises.
- Board of Review: FREE. No filing fee is prescribed or charged for Form 618 (L-4035), anywhere in Michigan.
- Michigan Tax Tribunal, Small Claims: NO FEE for a petition disputing State Equalized Value, Taxable Value, or an ad valorem exemption if the property has a Principal Residence Exemption of at least 50% for all tax years at issue at the time of filing. For the typical owner-occupied Michigan home, the Tribunal appeal costs nothing.
- No fee either for petitions disputing denial of a poverty exemption or a disabled veterans exemption.
- $25 to contest denial of a Principal Residence or Qualified Agricultural exemption; $75 to contest classification; $100 for a special assessment or non-property tax appeal.
- Residential WITHOUT a qualifying PRE pays half the Entire Tribunal schedule, tiered by the amount in dispute: $125 where the amount in dispute is $100,000 or less, $200 from $100,000 to $500,000, and $300 above $500,000.
- Add $25 for each additional contiguous parcel owned by the same person in one assessing unit, capped at $1,000 total in Small Claims. (The $2,000 cap that circulates online is the Entire Tribunal cap, not Small Claims.)
- Motions: $50 for immediate consideration or summary disposition, $25 for other motions, and nothing to withdraw a petition or to request a telephonic, video, or in-person hearing. A fee waiver request form exists.
- Fees change by rule amendment. Confirm current amounts at michigan.gov/taxtrib/fees before filing, and note the Tribunal states that where its fee calculator and the Rules disagree, the Rules control.