How to Appeal a Tax Assessment in Pennsylvania
Property tax on Pennsylvania real estate is administered and collected by the counties, and funds local school districts and municipalities. Each county has its own assessors who are charged with determining the value of each home and property for the purposes of taxation. It is every property owners' right to appeal tax assessments in the State of Pennsylvania. Appeals are relatively straightforward, and are appropriate when the property owner believes that his property has been assigned a value which exceeds the actual value of his property.
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Instructions
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Obtain a Assessment Appeal form from your Pennsylvania county's property assessment office. Common places where you should be able to find the form include the local County Office, the assessor's website, the local libraries and your local municipality's office.
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Complete the form. Mail the form or take it to your local county's property assessment office. Most counties have an annual deadline for filing these forms, so you must make sure you get your appeal form in on time. The assessors will then set a hearing on your appeal, and you will receive at least 20 days notice for the hearing.
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Attend the residential hearing on your appeal of your tax assessment. This is the property owner's opportunity to present evidence that the home is not worth as much as the assessors estimated. You should bring appraisals, comparable sales records (comps), photographs of the house and any other documentation tending to support your argument for a lower value to the property. Present evidence of anything that could possibly lower the fair market value of the property, including whether there are prescriptive easements, problems with the infrastructure such as outdated plumbing, disputes or pending litigation that would impact the property, or unattractive or nuisance properties nearby that would make living there less pleasant. The assessors will evaluate the evidence that you present and determine whether to lower the tax assessment on your property.
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File a new appeal form in subsequent years if you are not satisfied with the decision made by the Assessment Office. There is no limit to the number of years in which you may file an appeal, but you may only file one per year. If you appeal for a second time, it may be worth it to have an appraisal done on your property at a cost of $300 to 500 if it can lower your property tax by that much in a single year.
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