Pennsylvania Property Tax Appeal Deadline 2026: County by County

If you look up "Pennsylvania property tax appeal deadline" you will be told September 1. For most of the state that is right. For two of its largest appeal markets it is wrong by a month, and acting on it means your appeal is rejected before anyone reads it.

This guide lists the actual 2026 deadline for each major Pennsylvania county, verified against that county's own published notice rather than the statewide default.

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Why Pennsylvania has no single statewide deadline

Under the Consolidated County Assessment Law, 53 Pa.C.S. §8844(c)(1), the annual appeal must be filed on or before September 1. That is the default, and it is where the number in every generic guide comes from.

But §8844(c)(3) expressly lets a county designate a different date, so long as it is no earlier than August 1. A county that exercises that right controls its own deadline, and the statewide figure simply does not apply there. Two large suburban Philadelphia counties have done exactly this.

Philadelphia is a separate case entirely: it is a first-class city operating under its own law through the Board of Revision of Taxes, not under §8844 at all.

Pennsylvania appeal deadlines by county (2026)

Montgomery County: August 1, 2026

This is the one that catches people out. The Montgomery County Board of Assessment Appeals states it plainly: "Effective immediately, the deadline for filing annual assessment appeals is August 1. Please be advised that this deadline also applies to applications for real estate tax exemption. See Title 53 Pa.C.S.A. §8844(c)(2)."

That is a full month before the date most guides quote. Montgomery is Philadelphia's largest suburban county and is taxed off a 1996 base year, so the common level ratio does heavy lifting in an appeal here.

The county also publishes a standing warning that delayed USPS postmarks have been causing timely-mailed filings to be recorded late. Hand-deliver or use a trackable service rather than relying on a postmark.

Full process and contacts: Montgomery County appeal guide.

Bucks County: August 3, 2026

Bucks also sets its own earlier date. The Board of Assessment Appeals requires the application, the filing fee, and the supporting documents to be on file or postmarked on or before August 3, 2026.

Bucks is taxed off a 1972 base year, which makes the common level ratio conversion especially important: the assessed figure on your notice bears no resemblance to current market value, and the ratio is what translates between them.

Full process and contacts: Bucks County appeal guide.

Allegheny County: September 1, 2026

Allegheny follows the statutory default, but with an important caveat: it moved off its old March 31 deadline effective tax year 2026. Any guide still telling you March 31 is stale and will cost you the year.

The 2027 annual appeal window runs from July 1, 2026 through September 1, 2026. Allegheny's common level ratio has historically made it one of the strongest appeal counties in the state.

Full process and contacts: Allegheny County appeal guide.

Philadelphia: October 5, 2026

Philadelphia runs under its own first-class-city law through the Board of Revision of Taxes. The city states that the deadline to file a 2027 market value appeal is October 5, 2026, the first Monday in October.

Philadelphia also operates a separate, informal First Level Review with the Office of Property Assessment, which runs on its own earlier schedule and is not a substitute for the formal BRT appeal. Confirm both dates directly with the BRT.

Full process and contacts: Philadelphia appeal guide.

What is the deadline in every other Pennsylvania county?

September 1, 2026, under §8844(c)(1), unless your county has designated an earlier date. Because any county may move it to as early as August 1, the safe assumption is that you do not know your deadline until you have checked your own county's board, not a statewide article.

Call or check the website of your County Board of Assessment Appeals and ask one question: what is the filing deadline for the annual appeal, and does the filing fee and evidence have to be in by that date too? In Bucks, they do.

Do I have a case worth filing?

Pennsylvania gives you two arguments, and they are different.

Overvaluation. Recent arm's-length sales of similar homes show that the market value the county is implicitly asserting is too high. Because most Pennsylvania counties tax off an old base year, you get to that implied market value by dividing your assessment by the county's current STEB common level ratio.

Uniformity. Under the Pennsylvania Constitution, article VIII, §1, comparable assessment-to-value ratios show you are assessed higher than similar properties. The Supreme Court's Downingtown decision, 590 Pa. 459 (2006), is the leading case on proving non-uniformity with ratio evidence.

The mechanics of the common level ratio, the §8844(e)(2) 15% rule, and how to build either argument are covered in our full Pennsylvania appeal guide.

Check your own number first

We hold live parcel and assessment data for Pennsylvania's three largest appeal markets: Allegheny, Montgomery, and Bucks. Run your address through the free calculator and it will pull comparable properties from public records and show you where your assessment sits against them. No signup, and if the answer is that you are fairly assessed, you have saved yourself a filing.

If you are over-assessed, you can file yourself for free using your county's own application, or use the flat $49 kit to skip the comp research and get a filing-ready packet. You keep 100% of whatever you save either way.

For the statewide process summary, the common level ratio explainer, and contacts for every county board, see our Pennsylvania property tax appeal guide.

Deadlines above were verified on July 26, 2026 against each county board's own published notice. Pennsylvania counties can and do change these dates. Confirm with your board before you rely on any of them.

Check Your Pennsylvania Address

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