Property Tax Appeal

The Administrative Process Required For Making An Arizona Property Tax Appeal

The property assessment date in the state of Arizona is the 1st of January of the pretax year. The assessor of the local county in which your property is located will send you a Notice of Value postcard to you in respect of your Arizona property tax assessment not later than the 1st of March. The postcard reflects the legal classification and guidelines based on which the assessor has made the assessment.

The so assessed value as specified on the Notice of Value postcard is also known as the 'Full Cash Value' of your property. The value is in almost all the cases much less than the true market value of your property.

However, if you can produce credible evidence that the value is more than the true market value of your property, you can then go in for an appeal for revision of the assessed value of your property. Alternatively, you can file the appeal also if you believe that the incorrect legal classification has been applied in your case to assess the value of your property.

There are two processes to make an Arizona property tax appeal before the state board of property tax appeals. One of these is known as the Administrative appeal and the other is known as the Judicial appeal.

Under the administrative appeals process you need to file the appeal to the office of the local County Assessor within sixty days of the date on which the above postcard was mailed to you.. This refers to the county in which your Arizona real estate is located. This is the first step of the process.

The second step involves the submission of supporting evidence that makes your appeal strong to the office. Alternatively, you can request a meeting with the authorities in the office. The assessor must consider, decide, and answer all your requests not later than the 15th of August. You can no longer go in appeal if you concur with the assessor's replies to you.

The third step arises in case you do not agree with the replies given you by the assessor. In this case, you need to file an appeal with the Board of Equalization of that county within 25 days of the date on which the decision of the assessor was mailed to you. You also have the option to bypass the equalization board and directly file an appeal with the Tax Court within 60 days of the above mailing date.

As part of the fourth step you can make an appeal to the Tax Court if you are not satisfied with the decision of the equalization board. You need to make the appeal within sixty days of mailing of the board's decision.

You may alternatively file an Arizona property tax appeal through the Judicial process with the Tax Court at any time after receipt of the Notice of Value, but before the 15th of December.