Vermont property tax appeals
Review the sourced process overview below, then get the Vermont 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 Vermont 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? Vermont has 8 remedies most homeowners never hear about
County pages rarely surface these. Each one is a distinct legal route with its own clock.
Mandatory BCA inspection — failure voids the appealed increase (32 V.S.A. § 4404(c))
COMMERCIALLY THE SINGLE MOST VALUABLE PROVISION IN VERMONT. Each property whose appraisal is under appeal 'shall be inspected by a committee of not less than three members of the board who shall report to the board within 30 days from the hearing on the appeal and before the final decision pertaining to the property is given.' The board must then certify its written decision, with reasons, within 15 days from the time of the report, file it with the town clerk, and notify the appellant by CERTIFIED MAIL. 'If the board does not substantially comply with the requirements of this subsection and if the appeal is not withdrawn... the grand list of the appellant for the year for which appeal is being made shall remain at the amount set before the appealed change was made by the listers; except, if there has been a complete reappraisal, the grand list... shall be set at a value that will produce a tax liability equal to the tax liability for the preceding year.' In plain terms: if the BCA blows the three-member inspection, the 30-day report, or the 15-day written decision, the taxpayer's value automatically reverts to the pre-increase figure (or, in a reappraisal year, to a value producing last year's tax bill) — a win by operation of law, with no valuation evidence required. THE MIRROR-IMAGE TRAP: 'If, after notice, the appellant refuses to allow an inspection of the property as required under this subsection, INCLUDING THE INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR OF ANY STRUCTURE ON THE PROPERTY, the appeal shall be deemed withdrawn.' The Vermont Supreme Court has enforced this strictly, including where the owner tried to appeal only part of a contiguous parcel and refused interior access to the main house (Rasmussen v. Town of Fair Haven, 2016 VT 1; Garbitelli v. Town of Brookfield, 2009 VT 109) — a withdrawn BCA appeal leaves the hearing officer with no jurisdiction to reach value de novo. Homeowners must be counseled to grant full interior and exterior access. During a declared state of emergency under 20 V.S.A. ch. 1 the BCA need not physically inspect, but must inspect by electronic means (video or photographic evidence supplied by the appellant at the board's direction) if the appellant requests in writing; failure to facilitate deems the appeal withdrawn.
When:
primary source · verified
Tax credit upon successful appeal (32 V.S.A. § 4469) plus interest
Where a taxpayer's appraisal is reduced on appeal and the tax was already paid on the original appraisal, the taxpayer is entitled to a credit against the tax for the next ensuing tax year and succeeding years until the credit is used up. Where the municipality has voted to collect interest on overdue taxes under 32 V.S.A. § 5136, interest at that same rate is owed by the town on the overpayment — which is why towns commonly issue a prompt cash refund instead.
When:
primary source · verified
Motion for reconsideration to the PVR hearing officer
The Vermont Administrative Procedure Act does not expressly provide for reconsideration, but PVR looks to V.R.C.P. 59(e), which permits a motion to alter or amend within 28 days of the decision. The moving party must detail the substantive errors; the other party has 14 days to respond or the objection is waived. A timely Rule 59(e) motion terminates the running of the appeal period, which restarts in full once the hearing officer grants reconsideration and issues a new decision or denies the motion. The Department of Taxes has no authority to overturn a hearing officer's decision.
When:
primary source · verified
Appeal from the PVR hearing officer to the Vermont Supreme Court
Any person aggrieved by the final decision of the property valuation hearing officer may send a written notice of appeal to the PVR docket clerk in accordance with 3 V.S.A. § 815. (Appeals taken through the Superior Court route instead proceed to the Supreme Court under the Vermont Rules of Appellate Procedure, generally within 30 days after entry of judgment under V.R.A.P. 4(a)(1).)
Tax abatement before the municipal Board of Abatement (24 V.S.A. § 1535)
A separate, non-valuation remedy. The board of abatement may abate in whole or part taxes, interest, collection fees and other municipal charges, including where there is 'a clear or obvious error or a mistake of the listers' (§ 1535(a)(4)), where the taxpayer is unable to pay (§ 1535(a)(3)), or where property was lost or destroyed during the tax year (§ 1535(a)(5)). The board must state in writing, in detail, the reasons for granting or denying abatement and must address the applicant's arguments. Relief may be a refund or a credit against the next ensuing tax year and succeeding years, with interest where the town collects interest on overdue taxes. Municipalities must give clear notice of the right to request abatement when attempting to collect delinquent taxes or fees. PVR notes abatement is often the ONLY recourse where the ordinary appeal and errors-and-omissions windows have closed, though many boards are reluctant to reach back more than one year.
24 V.S.A. § 1535 · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Correction of errors and omissions from the grand list (32 V.S.A. § 4261)
Where real or personal estate is omitted from the grand list by mistake, or an obvious error is found, the listers — with the approval of the selectboard — may supply the omission or correct the error and certify the fact. Listers may correct for a filed or rescinded homestead declaration without selectboard approval. PVR notes there is no specific errors-and-omissions form.
When:
primary source · verified
Town/selectboard objection to the appeal (32 V.S.A. § 4463) — a risk to the homeowner, not a remedy
Within 14 days of the BCA appeal notice being received by the town clerk, the taxpayer, town agent, or selectboard may claim in writing to the Director that an appeal is defective or not lawfully taken. If the appeal was mailed directly to PVR instead of the town clerk, the 14-day objection period runs from the mailing of the PVR docketing letter. A jurisdictional order from a Department of Taxes hearing officer, approved by the Director, either dismisses the appeal or lets it proceed. This is how procedurally defective homeowner appeals get killed in Vermont.
When:
primary source · verified
Only the April 1 owner of record may appeal; assignment of appeal rights
Because ownership and value are fixed as of April 1 (32 V.S.A. § 3651), it is the owner as of April 1 — not a later purchaser — who holds the right to appeal that year's assessment. PVR: 'Because values are established as of April 1 and tax bills are issued to the owner of record as of April 1, only the seller can appeal. However, the seller can designate the new owner as agent to the seller,' by submitting a signed letter to the Board of Listers. The April 1 owner remains ultimately responsible for the consequences of any value change. This is a hard eligibility gate for any homeowner who bought mid-year.
When:
primary source · verified
What evidence wins in Vermont
Vermont recognizes TWO independent statutory theories, and a well-built appeal pleads both. (1) EXCESS OF FAIR MARKET VALUE. 'Appraisal value' means estimated fair market value — 'the price that the property will bring in the market when offered for sale and purchased by another, taking into consideration all the elements of the availability of the property, its use both potential and prospective, any functional deficiencies, and all other elements such as age and condition' — and 'the sale price of the property in question is one element to consider, but is not solely determinative' (32 V.S.A. § 3481(1)(A)). The Vermont Supreme Court has repeatedly called bona fide arm's-length sales 'the most persuasive method of appraising residential property in Vermont' (Sondergeld v. Town of Hubbardton; Barrett v. Town of Warren, 2005 VT 107, ¶ 6). The market-data (comparable sales) approach and the income approach are both accepted; sales occurring AFTER the April 1 valuation date can be considered where the market is shown to be stable (Sondergeld; Jackson Gore Inn, 2020 VT 11, ¶ 48). PVR expressly tells listers that comparable sales need not come from within the same town if the neighboring town's market is similar. (2) INEQUITABLE / UNEQUAL APPRAISAL. 32 V.S.A. § 4467(b): 'If the hearing officer or court finds that the listed value of the property subject to appeal does not correspond to the listed value of comparable properties within the town, the hearing officer or court shall set the property in the list at a corresponding value.' This is a direct, statutory comparable-ASSESSMENTS (uniformity) claim — the homeowner may win on comparable listed values alone, without proving market value. It is reinforced constitutionally: § 4467(a) directs the hearing officer/court to take account of Chapter I, Article 9 of the Vermont Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment, and 32 V.S.A. § 4601 requires that 'Taxes shall be uniformly assessed on the lists of the persons taxed.' Comparable property record cards and cost sheets are public records the listers must produce on request. (3) COMMON LEVEL OF APPRAISAL / EQUALIZATION — VERMONT-SPECIFIC AND COMMERCIALLY DECISIVE. Determining the correct valuation is expressly 'a two-step process' (Dewey v. Town of Waitsfield, 2008 VT 41, ¶ 2, as restated in Jackson Gore Inn v. Town of Ludlow, 2020 VT 11, ¶ 4): FIRST the fair market value of the property is determined; SECOND that fair market value is 'equalized' — by applying the town's common level of appraisal, expressed as a percentage — 'to insure that the property is listed comparably to corresponding properties in town' (Kachadorian v. Town of Woodstock, 144 Vt. 348, 350 (1984)). Worked example from an actual Vermont decision: in Geddes v. Town of Bolton BCA, the court found FMV of $735,000, applied Bolton's CLA of 99.07%, and set the listed value at $728,000. PRECISION POINT: this two-step equalization is NOT written into the text of § 4467; § 4467(b) speaks only of correspondence with comparable listed values, and 32 V.S.A. § 3481(2) states flatly that ''Listed value' shall be an amount equal to 100 percent of the appraisal value.' The CLA step is a judicially established rule of decision grounded in the uniformity command of 32 V.S.A. § 4601 and Chapter I, Article 9 of the Vermont Constitution, and applied via the CLA that PVR certifies for each town annually from its equalization study. PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCE FOR HOMEOWNERS: where a town's grand list runs BELOW market (CLA under 100%), proving FMV alone is not enough — the winning number is FMV multiplied by the CLA, and a homeowner who proves FMV equal to the current listed value has actually proven he is OVER-assessed by the CLA discount. Conversely, where the CLA exceeds 100%, equalization raises the listed value. The town's certified CLA is published by PVR from the annual equalization study and must be pleaded and proven.
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
The appeal ladder, in Vermont's own terms
- 1
Board of Listers (or municipal Assessor) — "grievance"
Deadline: Written objections must be filed with the listers on or before the grievance-meeting date stated in the town's Change of Appraisal Notice. The listers must mail that notice at least 14 days before the grievance hearing date (32 V.S.A. § 4111(e)). Statutory framework: listers meet 'on or before May 20' and hearings 'shall not be held later than June 2' (32 V.S.A. § 4221), but 32 V.S.A. § 4341 automatically extends every one of these dates by 30 days in towns under 5,000 population and by 50 days in towns of 5,000 or more. Applying those extensions, the Vermont Department of Taxes 2026 Lister Calendar sets: grievance hearings begin June 19, 2026 and end July 2, 2026 in towns under 5,000; begin July 9, 2026 and end July 22, 2026 in towns of 5,000 or more. THE OPERATIVE DEADLINE FOR A HOMEOWNER IS THE GRIEVANCE DATE PRINTED ON THAT TOWN'S OWN NOTICE — it is set town by town. PVR guidance is explicit that a grievance notice received after the stated grievance date is untimely and should not be heard, even if the listers are still hearing continued grievances. The 14 days in § 4111(e) is the MINIMUM NOTICE the town must give the taxpayer; it is not a 14-day filing window.
Clock starts: Mailing/posting by the listers of the notice of change in appraised value (or of allocation) under 32 V.S.A. § 4111(e), which must state the time and place of the grievance meeting and be mailed at least 14 days before it. The filing deadline is the grievance-meeting date named in that notice.
32 V.S.A. §§ 4111(c), (e), (g); 4221; 4222; 4341 · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Form: No statewide mandatory taxpayer grievance form. The statute requires only that the taxpayer 'file with them his or her objections in writing' (32 V.S.A. § 4111(g)); § 4222 requires objections be filed 'at or prior to the time fixed for hearing appeals.' The Vermont Department of Taxes publishes an OPTIONAL 'Application for Grievance' template (a .docx towns may distribute with change-of-appraisal notices) — it is a template for municipalities, not a required state form. PVR states: 'Statute only requires a request in writing for grievance.' Case law (Gionet v. Town of Goshen, 152 Vt. 451 (1989)) holds that written notes taken by the chair of the listers at grievance suffice as 'objections in writing' if a taxpayer appears without having filed. official form
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Fee: $0 — no fee prescribed
32 V.S.A. §§ 4111, 4221, 4222 (silent as to any fee; the only property-tax appeal fee in the chain is the $70 entry fee under 32 V.S.A. § 4461 for appeals to the Director of PVR) · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
- 2
Board of Civil Authority (BCA) — town clerk, selectboard members, and justices of the peace residing in the town (24 V.S.A. § 801)
Deadline: 14 days. 'Within 14 days after the date of notice thereof, a person aggrieved by the final decision of the listers under the provisions of section 4221 of this title may appeal in writing therefrom to the board of civil authority by lodging his or her appeal with the town clerk...' (32 V.S.A. § 4404(a)). 32 V.S.A. § 4224 (printed on Form PVR-4224, the towns' Result of Grievance notice) states the taxpayer 'may appeal from this decision to the Board of Civil Authority by lodging his or her appeal with the town clerk within 14 days of the mailing of the written notice of amendments.' The Vermont Department of Taxes 2026 Lister Calendar states: 'Deadline to appeal is 14 Calendar days from date of Mailing Result of Grievance Notices, 32 V.S.A. § 4404.' The appeal must be IN WRITING, must briefly set forth the grounds of appeal, and must be LODGED WITH THE TOWN CLERK (not with the listers and not with the state). Because the trigger is the town's mailing of its grievance result, the calendar date varies town by town: PVR's 2026 calendar shows Result of Grievance notices mailed July 9, 2026 in towns under 5,000 and July 29, 2026 in towns of 5,000 or more, which would put the 2026 BCA deadlines roughly at July 23, 2026 and August 12, 2026 respectively — but the controlling date is 14 days from the actual mailing date on the taxpayer's own notice.
Clock starts: The date of notice / date of mailing by the listers of their final grievance decision (the 'Result of Grievance' notice under 32 V.S.A. § 4224)
32 V.S.A. § 4404(a); 32 V.S.A. § 4224 · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Form: No statewide form. 32 V.S.A. § 4404(a) requires only a written appeal lodged with the town clerk, with the grounds of appeal 'briefly set forth.' Form PVR-4224 ('Result of Grievance Day Appeal') is the TOWN'S notice-out form issued by the listers — it is not a taxpayer appeal form, but it is the document whose mailing date starts the 14-day clock, so the homeowner should keep it. official form
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Fee: $0 — no fee prescribed
32 V.S.A. § 4404 (silent as to any fee) · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
- 3
ELECTIVE — either (a) Director of the Division of Property Valuation and Review (PVR), who assigns an independent Property Valuation Hearing Officer (commonly called the 'state appraiser'), OR (b) the Vermont Superior Court, Civil Division, for the county in which the property is located (heard without a jury)
Deadline: 30 days. 'The appeal to either the Director or the Superior Court shall be commenced by filing a notice of appeal pursuant to Rule 74 of the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure within 30 days after entry of the decision of the board of civil authority. The date of mailing of notice of the board's decision by the town clerk to the taxpayer shall be deemed the date of entry of the board's decision.' (32 V.S.A. § 4461(a)). CRITICAL PROCEDURAL TRAP: the notice of appeal and the fee must be FILED WITH THE TOWN CLERK (V.R.C.P. 74(b)), not mailed directly to PVR or the court; the date the town clerk receives it is the date of appeal. PVR's guidance warns that owners 'sometimes mistakenly appeal directly to PVR or the court, bypassing the requirement under Rule 74(b),' in which case the appeal date becomes the later date PVR received it. Day counting: under PVR Rule 84-1, § 5, the 30 days begin to run the DAY AFTER the town clerk mails the BCA decision (day of mailing not counted), and 'the notice of appeal and the [$70] filing fee must be received... before the close of business on the [30th] day.' The appellant chooses on the face of the notice whether the appeal goes to the Director of PVR or to Superior Court. The Director may, for a complex or unique property, decline to assign a hearing officer and forward the case to Superior Court; such a forwarded appeal is deemed timely filed in Superior Court if it was timely appealed to the Director.
Clock starts: Date the town clerk MAILS notice of the Board of Civil Authority's decision to the taxpayer (statutorily deemed the 'date of entry' of the BCA decision); the 30-day count starts the following day
32 V.S.A. § 4461(a); V.R.C.P. 74; PVR Rule 84-1, § 5 (Time for Appeal) · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Form: No numbered statewide property-tax appeal form. The filing is a written 'notice of appeal' under V.R.C.P. 74, lodged with the TOWN CLERK, stating which venue (Director of PVR or Superior Court) the appellant elects, with the fee, and copying the other party. For the Superior Court route the Vermont Judiciary states the notice of appeal should at minimum contain the appellant's name, the name of the order appealed, the name of the agency that made the decision, the date of the order, and that the appeal is to the Vermont Superior Court; supporting Judiciary forms include Notice of Appearance for Self-Represented Litigant (100-00265), Certificate of Service (600-00264), and Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs (600-00228). No PVR-issued taxpayer notice-of-appeal form was located on tax.vermont.gov. official form
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Fee: Director of PVR (state appraiser) route: $70.00 entry fee, payable with the notice of appeal filed with the town clerk; the Director may waive, reduce, or refund it in cases of hardship or to join appeals regarding the same parcel. If no fee accompanies the notice, PVR gives the appellant a period to forward it or the appeal is dismissed. Superior Court (civil division) route: $295.00 filing fee, waivable by filing an Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs (form 600-00228). Under § 4461(b), where a town agent appeals on application of taxpayers holding at least 3% of the grand list, the $70 fee is paid by the applicants per separately listed property. (statutory)
32 V.S.A. § 4461(a), (b), (d) ($70 PVR entry fee, special-fund credit); Vermont Judiciary published fee for V.R.C.P. 74 agency appeals ($295) · primary source · verified 2026-08-12
Who has to prove what
Two-stage 'bursting bubble' presumption. Step 1 — the taxpayer must produce admissible 'evidence fairly and reasonably tending to show that [the] property was appraised at more than fair market value,' or that it was not listed equitably compared to the rest of the neighborhood or municipality. The threshold concerns admissibility rather than credibility, so 'the evidence required to burst the bubble is... modest' (In re Bilmar Team Cleaners, 2015 VT 10, ¶ 11) — an independent appraiser's testimony, or even a credible owner's opinion of value, has been held sufficient. Step 2 — once the presumption disappears it has no independent probative value, and the town must then show either that it substantially complied with the relevant statutory and constitutional requirements (uniformity and fair market value) or that its valuation is supported by independent evidence of fair market value (Vanderminden v. Town of Wells, 2013 VT 49, ¶ 8; New England Power Co. v. Town of Barnet). Step 3 — the taxpayer still bears the burden of persuasion on the correct value. Hearings before the PVR hearing officer and the Superior Court are DE NOVO (32 V.S.A. § 4467(a)); new evidence may be introduced at each level and the taxpayer is not confined to what was submitted at grievance.
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
When values are set
Valuation date is fixed annually: April 1 is the statutory date for determining ownership and value of each parcel (32 V.S.A. § 3651, as stated in Vermont Department of Taxes GB-1241), and listers compile a grand list every year — so a homeowner has an annual right to grieve. But a full REAPPRAISAL is not annual. Under 32 V.S.A. § 4041a(d), 'Each municipality shall commence a full reappraisal not later than six years after the commencement of the municipality's most recent full reappraisal unless a longer period of time is approved by the Director.' This six-year mandate is the product of recent legislation — § 4041a was amended by 2023, No. 68 (eff. July 1, 2023 and, as to § 2, January 1, 2025) and by 2023, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.) (eff. June 3, 2024) — replacing Vermont's historic absence of a fixed statewide interval. Separately, under § 4041a(b) the Director of PVR must order a municipality to reappraise if its education grand list has a COEFFICIENT OF DISPERSION GREATER THAN 20 or if it has not timely reappraised; the town gets 30 days to contest or submit a compliance plan, and non-compliance triggers withholding of education, transportation and other state funds under § 4041a(c). Municipalities receive $8.50 per grand list parcel per year from the General Fund for reappraisal and grand list maintenance (§ 4041a(a)). Between reappraisals, town listers must still update values for new construction, improvements, and corrections. A separate 'lock-in' matters commercially: under 32 V.S.A. § 4468 the value fixed on appeal by the Director/hearing officer or court governs the appeal year AND THE NEXT TWO ENSUING YEARS, unless the property is materially altered, changed or damaged, or the municipality undergoes a complete revaluation (PVR confirms: 'The state board decision stays for three years unless: you do a reappraisal within that timeframe; there is a major change to the property'). That three-year lock is a strong economic argument for pursuing an appeal all the way to the state appraiser.
primary source · verified 2026-08-12
How counties differ
Vermont has NO county assessment administration — property tax appeals are TOWN-BY-TOWN, run by elected listers (or an appointed/contracted assessor) and by each town's own Board of Civil Authority (town clerk + selectboard + resident justices of the peace, 24 V.S.A. § 801). Counties matter only for choosing the Superior Court venue at Level 3. Three sources of local variation must be handled per-town: (1) GRIEVANCE DAY VARIES BY TOWN. The taxpayer's grievance deadline is the grievance-meeting date printed on that town's Change of Appraisal Notice — there is no statewide grievance date. (2) POPULATION-DRIVEN STATUTORY SHIFT. 32 V.S.A. § 4341 extends every statutory date by 30 days in towns under 5,000 population and by 50 days in towns of 5,000 or more. Vermont Department of Taxes 2026 Lister Calendar: abstract grand list filed and Change of Appraisal Notices mailed by June 4, 2026 (<5,000) or June 24, 2026 (>=5,000); grievance hearings begin June 19, 2026 (<5,000) or July 9, 2026 (>=5,000) and end July 2, 2026 (<5,000) or July 22, 2026 (>=5,000); Result of Grievance notices mailed July 9, 2026 (<5,000) or July 29, 2026 (>=5,000). (3) CHARTER CITIES OVERRIDE THE CALENDAR AND SOMETIMES THE LADDER. Section 4341 expressly provides that 'Nothing contained in this section shall in any manner change the date fixed in a municipal charter.' EXAMPLES — BURLINGTON: has a City Assessor and a BOARD OF ASSESSORS rather than the ordinary lister-grievance structure, and a BOARD OF TAX APPEALS at the City Clerk's office in place of the usual Board of Civil Authority. Per the City's published appeal procedures, an owner has 14 calendar days from the date of the Change of Appraisal Notice to appeal to the Board of Assessors, and then 14 days from the mailing date of the Board of Assessors' value decision letter to appeal to the Board of Tax Appeals; under section 87 of the Burlington City Charter, Board of Assessors valuation hearings are held before May 25 each year, typically over three or four consecutive days in the third week of May. Grievances are filed by letter or through the City's OpenGov portal. SOUTH BURLINGTON: follows the standard lister/assessor then Board of Civil Authority ladder; the City published a 2026 grievance deadline of 4:00 p.m. on June 22, 2026, with hearings held by appointment, email or telephone at City Hall and in-person attendance not required, and advises contacting the Assessor's Office in mid-to-late May. Further appeals go in writing to the Clerk of the BCA. RUTLAND CITY: has a City Assessor's Office and a Board of Civil Authority that conduct grievance hearings in May (Assessor grievance-hearing minutes are published on rutlandcity.org), but no current-year grievance date could be verified. OPERATIONAL RULE FOR THE PRODUCT: never publish a statewide Vermont grievance date. Pull the grievance date and the BCA appeal date from the individual taxpayer's own Change of Appraisal Notice and Result of Grievance notice, and treat charter cities (Burlington in particular) as separate rule sets. Burlington and South Burlington dates above are drawn from those cities' official .gov appeal pages via search summaries; direct page retrieval was blocked, so they carry lower confidence and must be re-confirmed on the city site before being shown to a homeowner. The Rutland City grievance date is an explicit gap.
Vermont appeal deadline
Deadlines varyVermont 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 Vermont 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 Vermont 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.