Property Tax Appeals - The Process
Assign us as Your Agent
When you sign with us, we will immediately file the AOA (appointment of agent) form with your respective county to alert them that we will appeal your property values on your behalf.
2. We File the Protest
When the the preliminary values are released by the county (Typically April 15th), we will update you on the county’s preliminary assessment and then file the NOP (Notice of Protest) which alerts the County that we will be appealing the value.
3. Hearing Date Assigned
The County will issue us a hearing date for which our appeal case will be heard in front of a board (Typically a 3 person panel) as well as the County Appraiser.
4. Informal Negotiations
Before the hearing date, we will attempt to informally negotiate the property values with the County to achieve a reduction based on our detailed evidence report. This can be very effective as the County wants to minimize the number of hearings they have to attend and prepare for and they typically come ready to negotiate. If a value is agreed upon, the process stops here and the reduced value is issued.
5. Formal Board Hearing
If the value cannot be agreed on during informal negotiations, we will decline their offer and move to attend the formal board hearing. We will prepare our case with the best evidence, target value and effective strategy and present the case to the board on your behalf. The board then decides on the new value after hearing the appeal evidence and the County evidence and a new value will then be issued.
6. Finalized Value
Once the reduced values are signed off on, we will calculate the estimated tax savings and our service fee for billing based on the most recent tax rates, exemptions and values. This completes the process of our tax appeal services.
FAQs
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Nope! We prefer the structure that we only win if our clients win. If we cannot get your taxes reduced, we do not charge a fee!
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Once the finalized values are certified (typically in late July), the County begins work certifying the tax rates (typically in September). Once they have the rates and values completed, they will send out the new estimated taxes for the coming year in October. This notice will be the most accurate tax estimation for the next year and will reflect our reduction.
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Once you sign with us, we begin an ongoing relationship where we will continuously monitor values and be ready to appeal them anytime they attempt to go up. From here on, we will be proactive in reducing values for years to come so you don’t have to worry about a thing. If you choose to discontinue our services, we will have you sign a single form that releases us as your agent so you don’t have to worry about being locked in a contract you cannot get out of.
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Absolutely! We welcome any additional evidence you might have of a previous roof leak, damage to property or information that would deem it worth less than the County thinks. We will use this evidence in the negotiations and during the hearing to help us reduce the value.
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Market value is what the county estimates the property value to be as of January 1 of the respective tax year. This is the number they start with to determine your taxes and the value we directly appeal. Taxable value is the market value minus any exemptions or reductions such as a homestead exemption, 65+ exemption or Ag exemption. The taxable value is what the county then used to calculate your taxes.
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As described in the FAQ above, sometimes the taxable value due to exemptions is much lower than the market value that we appeal. When we cannot get the market value below the taxable value, we are unable to reduce your taxes. This is most common when owners have major exemptions such as homestead, 65+ exemptions or Agricultural exemptions.
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Absolutely! We have incredible success appealing investment properties, rent homes or non owner occupied homes due to having no exemptions. These properties we are able to get major savings which can greatly reduce holding costs.
