Oregon property tax appeals
Review the sourced process overview below, then get the Oregon DIY Appeal Kit with an evidence workbook, filing controls, official links, and an editable appeal letter in one PDF. No parcel-specific comps.
How a Oregon appeal actually works
Every statement below is cited to its primary source and shows the date we verified it. Where we could not confirm something from a primary source, we say so instead of guessing. Dataset last re-verified 2026-08-13.
Missed the main deadline? Oregon has 3 remedies most homeowners never hear about
County pages rarely surface these. Each one is a distinct legal route with its own clock.
Substantial value error - the 20 percent residential rule
ORS 305.288(1): 'The tax court shall order a change or correction applicable to a separate assessment of property to the assessment and tax roll for the current tax year or for either of the two tax years immediately preceding the current tax year, or for any or all of those tax years, if all of the following conditions exist: (a) For the tax year to which the change or correction is applicable, the property was or is used primarily as a dwelling (or is vacant) and was and is a single-family dwelling, a multifamily dwelling of not more than four units, a condominium unit, a manufactured structure or a floating home. (b) The change or correction requested is a change in value for the property for the tax year and it is asserted in the request and determined by the tax court that the difference between the real market value of the property for the tax year and the real market value on the assessment and tax roll for the tax year is equal to or greater than 20 percent.' ORS 305.288(2) adds that the court 'may order a change or correction in the maximum assessed value of the property in addition to the change or correction in the real market value' - which is the only realistic route to moving MAV itself. ORS 305.288(6): 'The remedy provided under this section is in addition to all other remedies provided by law.' This is a genuine second bite covering the current year plus the two immediately preceding tax years, available even where the ordinary appeal deadline was missed, provided the 20 percent threshold is met.
When:
primary source · verified
Good and sufficient cause for a missed appeal
ORS 305.288(3): 'The tax court may order a change or correction applicable to a separate assessment of property to the assessment or tax roll for the current tax year and for either of the two tax years immediately preceding the current tax year if, for the year to which the change or correction is applicable, the assessor or taxpayer has no statutory right of appeal remaining and the tax court determines that good and sufficient cause exists for the failure by the assessor or taxpayer to pursue the statutory right of appeal.' The definition is strict and should be used to set customer expectations - ORS 305.288(5)(b): good and sufficient cause '(A) Means an extraordinary circumstance that is beyond the control of the taxpayer, or the taxpayer's agent or representative, and that causes the taxpayer, agent or representative to fail to pursue the statutory right of appeal; and (B) Does not include inadvertence, oversight, lack of knowledge, hardship or reliance on misleading information provided by any person except an authorized tax official providing the relevant misleading information.'
When:
primary source · verified
Correction of rolls for intervening years during a pending appeal
ORS 305.285: 'Whenever any property tax matter is appealed to the Department of Revenue, Oregon Tax Court or Supreme Court, and during the pendency of the appeal, no appeal is filed for a subsequent year or years, the taxpayer may, on or before December 15 of the year in which a final determination is made by the last body or tribunal to pass on the matter or within six months of the final determination, whichever is later, request the department to order the officer in charge of the rolls for the intervening years to correct all tax and assessment rolls for those years with respect to the property affected by the final determination.' The section adds: 'Notwithstanding any time limit in ORS 305.288, 306.115 or 311.205, the department shall order the corrections it deems necessary.' This prevents a multi-year appeal from producing relief in only one year.
When:
primary source · verified
What evidence wins in Oregon
Real market value is the operative measure, and the appeal is only worth bringing when real market value can be pushed below maximum assessed value. ORS 308.146(2): 'the assessed value of property to which this section applies equals the lesser of: (a) The property's maximum assessed value; or (b) The property's real market value.' Standard appraisal evidence - comparable sales, cost, and income approaches - is used to establish real market value; the comparable sales approach dominates residential appeals. Comparable ASSESSMENTS are not a statutory ground, and Oregon's Measure 50 architecture creates the same structural obstacle to uniformity arguments as California's Proposition 13: because maximum assessed value was seeded from 1995-96 real market value less 10 percent and has grown at up to 3 percent per year since, two identical neighboring homes lawfully carry different assessed values and different assessment ratios. The only productive theory is a real-market-value theory. A distinctive Oregon feature is ORS 305.288(1), which gives the tax court power to correct residential values for the current year and the two preceding years where 'the difference between the real market value of the property for the tax year and the real market value on the assessment and tax roll for the tax year is equal to or greater than 20 percent' - a bright-line materiality threshold that effectively defines when a late or out-of-cycle Oregon case is worth building.
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
The appeal ladder, in Oregon's own terms
- 1
Property Value Appeals Board (PVAB) - formerly the Board of Property Tax Appeals (BOPTA), renamed by 2023 Or. Laws ch. 29
Deadline: ORS 309.100(2) verbatim: 'Petitions filed under this section shall be filed with the clerk of the board during the period following the date the tax statements are mailed or otherwise delivered for the current tax year and ending December 31.' The closing date is therefore DECEMBER 31, not January 1. The window OPENS on the date the county mails or otherwise delivers tax statements for the current tax year - a relative trigger, not a fixed date; Oregon counties are required to mail tax statements by October 25, so the practical window is roughly late October through December 31. Who may petition, ORS 309.100(1): 'the owner or an owner of any taxable property or any person who holds an interest in the property that obligates the person to pay taxes imposed on the property, may petition the property value appeals board for relief... As used in this subsection, an interest that obligates the person to pay taxes includes a contract, lease or other intervening instrumentality.' Content requirements, ORS 309.100(3): the petition must 'Be made in writing,' 'State the facts and the grounds upon which the petition is made,' be 'signed and verified by the oath of a person described in subsection (1) or (4),' state the notice address, and 'State if the petitioner or a representative desires to appear at a hearing before the board.' A defective petition is not silently dismissed - ORS 309.100(5): 'If the board denies any petition upon the grounds that it does not meet the requirements of subsection (3) of this section, it shall issue a written order rejecting the petition and set forth in the order the reasons the board considered the petition to be defective.' Hearing notice: 'at least five days written notice of the time and place to appear.'
Clock starts: Mailing or other delivery of the county tax statements for the current tax year (window opens then and closes December 31)
ORS 309.100(1)-(5) · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Form: Form OR-B-RPP (Oregon Department of Revenue publication number 150-310-063) — Oregon Property Value Appeals Board Real Property Petition official form
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Fee: none
ORS 309.100 prescribes no filing fee, and neither the face of Form OR-B-RPP nor its filing instructions references one. · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
- 2
Oregon Tax Court, Magistrate Division
Deadline: ORS 305.280(4): 'Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section or as specifically provided in ORS chapter 321, an appeal to the tax court under ORS chapter 321 or from an order of a county property value appeals board shall be filed within 30 days after the date of the notice of the determination made by the department or the date of mailing of the order, the date of publication of notice of the order, the date the order is personally delivered to the taxpayer or the date of mailing of the notice of the order to the taxpayer, whichever is applicable.' So: 30 days from the mailing of the PVAB order.
Clock starts: Date of mailing (or publication/personal delivery, whichever applies) of the Property Value Appeals Board order
ORS 305.280(4) · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Form: Complaint filed in the Magistrate Division of the Oregon Tax Court. ORS 305.280(6) requires that a rejected appeal be explained: 'If the tax court denies an appeal made pursuant to this section on the grounds that it does not meet the requirements of this section or ORS 305.275 or 305.560, the tax court shall issue a written decision rejecting the petition and shall set forth in the decision the reasons the tax court considered the appeal to be defective.' official form
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Fee: $50 (statutory)
ORS 305.490(1): 'Plaintiffs or petitioners filing a complaint or petition in the tax court shall pay, at the time of filing for each complaint or petition, a filing fee as follows: (a) For a complaint or petition in the magistrate division, $50. (b) For a complaint or petition in the regular division, the filing fee established under ORS 21.135.' ORS 305.490(2) permits a waiver or deferral application at the time of filing under ORS 21.680 to 21.698, and preserves the original filing date if the waiver is granted or the fee is paid within 14 days of denial. · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
- 3
Oregon Tax Court, Regular Division
Not confirmed from a primary source: ORS 305.501 was not individually fetched and quoted in this session, so the appeal window from the Magistrate Division to the Regular Division is not asserted. Do not rely on the commonly cited 60 days without reading ORS 305.501. Check the official page before relying on this.Not confirmed from a primary source: Form not retrievable from courts.oregon.gov in this session. Check the official page before relying on this.Fee: Set by ORS 21.135 (the standard circuit court civil filing fee), not a fixed tax-court-specific amount (statutory)
ORS 305.490(1)(b): 'For a complaint or petition in the regular division, the filing fee established under ORS 21.135.' · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Who has to prove what
Preponderance of the evidence. ORS 305.427 verbatim: 'In all proceedings before the judge or a magistrate of the tax court and upon appeal therefrom, a preponderance of the evidence shall suffice to sustain the burden of proof. The burden of proof shall fall upon the party seeking affirmative relief and the burden of going forward with the evidence shall shift as in other civil litigation.'
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
When values are set
Values are determined annually, but the taxable figure is governed by the Measure 50 cap rather than by market movement. ORS 308.146(1): 'The maximum assessed value of property equals 103 percent of the property's assessed value from the prior year or 100 percent of the property's maximum assessed value from the prior year, whichever is greater.' ORS 308.146(2): 'Except as provided in subsections (3) and (4) of this section, the assessed value of property to which this section applies equals the lesser of: (a) The property's maximum assessed value; or (b) The property's real market value.' ORS 308.146(3) carves out exception events that reset the calculation under ORS 308.149 to 308.166 - new property or new improvements, partition or subdivision, rezoning used consistently with the rezoning, omitted property first taken into account, disqualification from exemption or special assessment, and lot line adjustments. Constitutional source: Or. Const. art. XI, sec. 11 (Measure 50, 1997), which seeded maximum assessed value at the property's 1995-96 real market value reduced by 10 percent and capped subsequent growth at 3 percent per year.
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
How counties differ
The PVAB deadline is statewide by statute (December 31), but the OPENING of the window is county-dependent because it is keyed to 'the date the tax statements are mailed or otherwise delivered for the current tax year' (ORS 309.100(2)). Each of Oregon's 36 counties convenes its own Property Value Appeals Board and the petition is filed with the clerk of that board (in practice the county clerk / board of property tax appeals clerk), using the single statewide Department of Revenue form OR-B-RPP. ORS 309.104 authorizes the Department of Revenue to prescribe rules permitting electronic filing of PVAB petitions, so e-filing availability may differ county to county.
Oregon appeal deadline
Deadlines varyOregon deadlines are set locally.
The deadline is almost always printed on the assessment notice your local assessor mails you. Use that date, it is the one that counts.
Are you missing a Oregon exemption?
Exemptions cut your bill before any appeal even starts, and most homeowners never claim all the ones they qualify for. Answer four questions:
Is your Oregon home over-assessed?
The whole appeal hinges on one comparison: your assessed value (from your tax notice) versus your home's market value (what it would sell for today). Put both in:
How to find your home's real market value (free) →
- Pull free estimates. Look up your address on Zillow (“Zestimate”) and Redfin (“Redfin Estimate”). Average them, algorithms run high or low, so two beats one.
- Find 3-5 real comparable sales. Same neighborhood, similar size, beds/baths, age, and condition, sold in the last 6-12 months. Recent sales (not listings) are the strongest evidence a board will accept.
- Adjust for differences. Knock value off comps that are bigger or renovated; add for ones that are smaller or dated, so you're comparing like-for-like.
- Compare to your assessment. If your assessed value sits clearly above that adjusted market figure, you have grounds to appeal.
One catch: some states assess at a fraction of market value (an “assessment ratio”). If your notice shows a ratio or an “equalized” value, compare your implied full value to market, not the raw assessed number.
How property tax appeals generally work
Most states follow the same basic path: your local assessor mails an assessment notice with a value and a deadline; you file an appeal (often called a protest, grievance, or petition) before that deadline; you present comparable sales of similar homes; and a local board reviews the evidence and can lower your value.
The exact form, deadline, and board can vary by county. Use the current assessment notice and the official sources linked above to confirm the controlling local requirements. The paid kit organizes that verification, the evidence, the filing steps, and your editable letter in one place.
Want to see the depth we build per state? Take a look at our Texas, Florida, and Georgia guides.