Virginia · Do-it-yourself · $29

Appeal your Virginia property taxes yourself.

A guided workbook for homeowners preparing their own appeal. Turn your notice, property records and supporting documents into an organized filing plan.

Have a notice or a property-record question? Start with a plan.

The $29 kit helps you check what needs investigating, organize the evidence you collect, and work through the filing steps. Use it if you want a structure for doing the preparation yourself.

Need property-specific evidence first? Check available records for your address free. The kit does not determine whether you are overassessed or supply comparable properties. You verify your local requirements and file yourself.

The Virginia DIY Appeal Kit
Work from a checklist instead of a blank page: review your notice, assemble supporting documents, and prepare your letter. $29, paid once.
  • State-specific process guidance with official-source links
  • Evidence organizer and filing checklist
  • Ready-to-edit appeal-letter template
Instant PDF, emailed on purchase · Secure checkout by Stripe · 30-day money-back guarantee

No setup required to buy. Add optional details below for a personalized PDF, or complete the editable fields yourself after download. See a completed preparation example.

Turn your question into an organized preparation draft

Get a preparation plan, the Virginia process guide, three fillable worksheets and an editable letter. Optional setup below carries your question and document list into the paid PDF.

Personalize your included letter and evidence organizer

Text-based PDF, up to 8 MB / 10 pages. Your file stays in this browser. Only details you confirm are included in your order. Photos and scanned notices currently need manual entry.

Copy details from your assessment notice. We use these to prepare your letter draft, worksheets and evidence list. These are your entries, not a verified property analysis. You can also buy now and fill them in later.

Start by checking the property facts and valuation basis. Record a specific question before choosing supporting evidence. Preparation does not reopen an expired filing window.

Optional notes are included in your purchase record and PDF. Do not include sensitive documents, account credentials or other people’s personal information.

Your filing route to verify

your local assessing officer, then your locality's Board of Equalization

your locality's Application for Review / Board of Equalization application

This is the Virginia statewide route. Your county may use its own office, deadline or fee, so confirm those against your assessment notice or the official directory before you file. The jurisdiction exceptions in this guide list the ones we hold.

Open official filing instructions
Add evidence you have already found (optional)

We organize your entries in the paid PDF; we do not verify them or generate comparable sales in the $29 kit. For each record include the address, sale price or assessment, date, official source and why it is relevant. Use the correct valuation date and local evidence rules.

Your Virginia purchase preview

Add your property above to preview your preparation package

Buyer-supplied details · not a verified property match or finding of overassessment

  • Letter draft: editable owner-name field.
  • Preparation plan: i am preparing or am not sure yet.
  • Evidence organizer: 0 of your records supplied; editable worksheets included.
  • Filing instructions: your local assessing officer, then your locality's Board of Equalization; confirm your local form and deadline.
  • Official form autofill is not included for this location. Your kit links to the official filing resources.

Unlocked after purchase: complete state guide, personalized letter draft, preparation plan and editable evidence worksheets.

Still yours to do: verify the facts and deadline, obtain supporting evidence, finish required forms, sign and file. The $29 kit does not establish overassessment or include researched comparable sales. Government forms are free; you pay for the preparation package.

PARTIAL SAMPLE · Virginia DIY kit

See an organized preparation draft

Fictional teaching example: a property record lists 2,400 square feet; the owner’s floor plan lists 2,000. This is a question to investigate, not proof of overassessment or a savings estimate.

See the completed example and what you receive

What we prepare — and where it comes from

  • State guide and filing checklist: official-source links and verification steps.
  • Editable letter and preparation plan: your optional confirmed entries, with editable fields for missing details.
  • Evidence organizer: the records you supply, with space for source, date and relevance. We do not research or verify comparable properties in this kit.

You finish: verify your facts and deadline, collect and attach actual records, complete required official forms, sign and file. Government forms are free.

Need researched property evidence? Preview the separate $49 Audit where supporting records are available.

1. Define the question. Compare the area definitions, dates and source documents before assuming either number is correct.

Notice worksheet: property-record errors to verify

“The two area figures differ. Check whether they measure the same space, and verify the current property record before requesting a correction.”

2. Make an evidence list. Use the filing tracker to separate documents you have from documents you still need.

Filing tracker: evidence index

“To collect and label: current property record, dated floor plan and any measurements needed to resolve the difference. Record each source, date and page number.”

Example preparation summary · fictional, not filed

Question: Do the two area figures use the same measurement definition?

Document index: A — current property record; B — dated floor plan. Add source dates and page numbers before relying on either.

Unresolved: measurement basis, current facts and the appropriate local correction or appeal route.

Next action: verify those points with the official local source before making a correction request.

The useful result: one defined issue and a document checklist. You still verify the facts and the correct local filing route. No correction or tax reduction has been established in this example.

These illustrative entries show how to use two fields in the paid worksheets. The paid PDF carries your optional question and document list into editable worksheets and adds a preparation plan for your selected starting point. It does not contain this fictional property or a verified case for your home.

Your starting details

The notice worksheet also helps you record:

  • Property address and parcel identifier
  • State, county, township and reviewing body
  • Assessment year and valuation date

Make this preparation package your own

Add your name, property details and question before buying. Your entries become a personalized letter draft and preparation plan in the paid PDF. You can edit them later; no need to start with an empty letter.

See setup and purchase options · $29

Preview your setup before checkout. You gather and verify evidence, complete required local forms, and file yourself.

After purchase: your preparation plan, 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.

Prepare your Virginia 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

See the Illinois worksheets and evidence organizer. This September 12 walkthrough shows an earlier kit version; today’s kit also personalizes your preparation plan and editable letter from the details you provide. State requirements differ.

42 seconds · Narrated and captioned · Plays when you choose

See the current kit sample for this state →

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 Virginia appeal works

The short version, free. The paid kit adds the evidence workbook, filing controls, and editable letter.

  1. Virginia property tax is run entirely by your city or county, so there is no state form and no state deadline. The Department of Taxation does not hear homeowner appeals.
  2. You first ask your local assessor to review the value, then appeal to your locality's Board of Equalization by the date printed on your assessment notice, and if that fails you can file in your local circuit court.
  3. The law presumes the assessor is right, so you win by producing comparable sales and by showing your assessment is out of line with similar homes. Neighbours' appraisal cards are public once notices mail, which is how you build that.
  4. Your strongest move costs nothing: request the assessor's records in writing. In a residential appeal § 58.1-3379(B) gives them 15 days, and if they miss it the assessor has to present their case first.

What to check on your assessment notice

  • The appeal deadlines. Section 58.1-3378 requires your locality's assessor-review date AND its Board of Equalization date to be printed on the notice itself. Those are your dates; nobody else's apply.
  • The new value against the prior two years, which § 58.1-3330 requires the notice to show. A jump well above both is your opening argument.
  • The land value and the improvement value separately. Errors often live in only one of them.
  • The record-access language. The notice must tell you about your right to view and copy the assessor's records, including the comparables and methodology. Use that BEFORE you file, not after.

Official lookup: Virginia.gov: find your city or county assessor →

What’s inside

✓A plain-English Virginia appeal walkthrough across all three levels: assessor, Board of Equalization, and circuit court.
✓How to find YOUR locality's deadline, and why there is no statewide date to find.
✓The § 58.1-3331 records-request letter that gets you the assessor's own comparables, methodology, and written justification, free.
✓The § 58.1-3379(B) 15-day rule that makes the assessor present first if they stall, the most useful lever a Virginia homeowner has.
✓Dedicated sections for Fairfax, Virginia Beach, Arlington, and Loudoun, whose deadlines range from April 15 to June 30 and whose valuation dates differ.
✓The December 31 evidence cutoff that decides which comparable sales the board may legally consider.
✓An evidence checklist built around the uniformity argument, including how to use neighbours' public appraisal cards.
✓A ready-to-edit appeal letter citing the right Code of Virginia sections.

How it works

  1. Buy the kit — the PDF lands in your inbox instantly.
  2. Read the deadlines off your own assessment notice. Section 58.1-3378 requires your locality to print both the assessor-review date and the Board of Equalization date on it, and those are the only dates that control.
  3. Gather the evidence on the checklist and edit the appeal-letter template.
  4. File the current instrument required by your local assessing officer, then your locality's Board of Equalization before your deadline.

Different process where you live?

Virginia is not one system. These jurisdictions have local filing routes, forms or deadlines that can differ from the statewide overview. The kit covers each one in its own section.

Fairfax County
All Fairfax County real property owners, the largest jurisdiction in Virginia, on an annual assessment cycle.
Deadline
Two separate dates. The administrative appeal to DTA closes April 1; the Board of Equalization appeal closes June 1 (postmark, or 4:30 p.m. receipt), moving to the next business day if June 1 falls on a weekend or county holiday. Notices mail in mid-February.
Filed with
The Department of Tax Administration for administrative review, then the Board of Equalization of Real Estate Assessments.
Form
Real Estate Assessment Appeal (DTA) and Application for Equalization of Real Property Assessment (BOE).
Virginia Beach
All City of Virginia Beach real property owners. Note the different valuation date. This city does not use January 1.
Deadline
Requests for Reappraisal are accepted March through April 30; Board of Equalization appeals March through June 30 (received or postmarked). Assessments are effective July 1 of each fiscal year and are based on data available through December 31 of the prior year, so your comparable sales must predate that December 31.
Filed with
The Real Estate Assessor's Office (Request for Reappraisal), then the City Board of Equalization.
Form
Board of Equalization Appeal Application.
Arlington County
All Arlington County real property owners. Arlington's deadline is materially earlier than its Northern Virginia neighbours', which is the clearest proof that Virginia dates cannot be generalized.
Deadline
Departmental review with the assessor closes around March 1 and the Board of Equalization around April 15, each moving to the next business day if it falls on a weekend. Arlington's own guidance: if you have not received a first-level result by April 1, file with the board anyway to preserve the second-level appeal. Confirm the current year's dates on the county's assessments page before you rely on them.
Filed with
The Department of Real Estate Assessments, then the Board of Equalization for Real Estate Assessments.
Form
Online Board of Equalization application, with separate residential and commercial forms.
Loudoun County
All Loudoun County real property owners, valued as of January 1.
Deadline
The Application for Review to the Commissioner closes in mid-March; the Board of Equalization begins accepting appeals in mid-April and ALL appeals and ALL evidence are due June 1, moving to the next business day if June 1 falls on a weekend or county holiday. Notices mail in February.
Filed with
The Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue (Application for Review), then the Board of Equalization.
Form
Real Estate Assessment Application for Review, then the Board of Equalization appeal application.
Deadline: There is no Virginia deadline. There is a pattern, and it is set locally by ordinance. Under § 58.1-3378 the governing body of any county or city may set by ordinance the date by which applications for relief must be made, and that date may not be earlier than 30 days after the assessor's own objection window closes under § 58.1-3330. The same section supplies the lookup: "All such deadlines shall be clearly stated on the notice of assessment." So the sequence is: your locality mails a change-of-assessment notice at least 15 days before the assessor's protest hearing date, and that notice must state both the assessor's objection window and the Board of Equalization deadline. You appeal to the assessor, then to the Board of Equalization by your locality's ordinance date, then to circuit court. Only the court step has a statutory limit: § 58.1-3984(A) gives you three years from the last day of the tax year, or one year from the date of assessment, or one year from a final determination under § 58.1-3981, whichever is later. Reassessment cycles vary too: cities at least every two years, counties every four (or three by vote), with longer cycles permitted in smaller localities and any locality free to adopt annual or biennial assessment.

What Virginia charges to file

These are your county or state’s fees, not ours. Listed so there are no surprises.

  • Assessor-level review: no fee is published by any of the large localities reviewed (Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, Virginia Beach), and no statute authorizes one.
  • Board of Equalization: no fee is published. Board members are compensated by the locality under § 58.1-3375, not by applicants.
  • Because both of the above are inferred from statutory silence and published locality schedules rather than an affirmative "no fee" statute, confirm with your own locality before you file. Fees are set locally and can change.
  • Circuit court: a § 58.1-3984 application is a civil action, so clerk's fees under § 17.1-275 apply, plus service-of-process costs. The amount varies by locality because of local add-ons. Use the Supreme Court of Virginia's fee calculator at vacourts.gov/ccfees_calc_app or call the circuit court clerk before filing.

Questions

Why is this $29 and not $49?
The Property Assessment Audit provides the filing or valuation output supported by your property's available evidence. Check your address and preview the available evidence before buying. This $29 kit is the state process guide, filing materials, evidence checklist, and appeal-letter template; you gather the property evidence yourself.
When is the Virginia property tax appeal deadline?
There is no Virginia deadline. There is a pattern, and it is set locally by ordinance. Under § 58.1-3378 the governing body of any county or city may set by ordinance the date by which applications for relief must be made, and that date may not be earlier than 30 days after the assessor's own objection window closes under § 58.1-3330. The same section supplies the lookup: "All such deadlines shall be clearly stated on the notice of assessment." So the sequence is: your locality mails a change-of-assessment notice at least 15 days before the assessor's protest hearing date, and that notice must state both the assessor's objection window and the Board of Equalization deadline. You appeal to the assessor, then to the Board of Equalization by your locality's ordinance date, then to circuit court. Only the court step has a statutory limit: § 58.1-3984(A) gives you three years from the last day of the tax year, or one year from the date of assessment, or one year from a final determination under § 58.1-3981, whichever is later. Reassessment cycles vary too: cities at least every two years, counties every four (or three by vote), with longer cycles permitted in smaller localities and any locality free to adopt annual or biennial assessment.
What form do I file to appeal my Virginia property assessment?
your locality's Application for Review / Board of Equalization application (Application for Equalization of Real Property Assessment), filed with your local assessing officer, then your locality's Board of Equalization. The kit explains the filing steps and includes a ready-to-edit appeal letter.
Do you file the appeal for me?
No — this is a do-it-yourself product. You file with your local assessing officer, then your locality's Board of Equalization. The kit provides the preparation workflow, evidence organizer, filing checks, and ready-to-edit letter.
What if it doesn't help?
30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. If the kit isn't useful, reply to your delivery email and we'll refund you.
Is this legal or tax advice?
No. It's general information to help you file your own appeal. Always rely on the date and instructions printed on your own assessment notice and confirm current requirements with your county.
Get the Virginia DIY Appeal Kit — $29 ↑