How to dispute and appeal your assessed property tax value in Maryland

If you feel that your Maryland assessed property tax value is wrong, it really isn't that hard to make an appeal and get your tax assessment lowered. 

It does take a little bit of time and effort, so you need to consider how much you feel you can get your value lowered by before committing.  The benefit once it is lowered combined with the Maryland homestead tax credit is that your new assessed tax bill can only increase by 10% or less each year (for principal residences), so your wallet will see the fruits of your labor as long as the property maintains your principal residence!

I recently did this for my home in the Kentlands in Montgomery County, mainly as a learning experience, however, I was able to get my value changed after the first step - Supervisor's Level.  I was able to get my assessed value lowered by 6%, so it is not impossible!

The bulk of the information on how to appeal can be found on the SDAT's Assessment Appeal Process Website.

A brief summary on how to do it: 

Appeals may be filed on three occasions:

1. Upon receipt of an assessment notice; (this is sent every 3 years - you sign the bottom of the form and return it)
2. By a petition for review (this must be done by January 1 in the two years your property is not valued in order to be effective for the next tax year beginning July 1 - Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation Petition for Review of Real Property
3. Upon purchase of property between January 1 and June 30 (must file within 60 days of the transfer).

After you have filed an initial appeal, the 3 levels of the appeal process consist of:

1. Supervisor's Level (This is an informal presentation of your case to an assessor, you should present why you feel your value is inaccurate.  After this they will review what you have presented and send you a final notice in the mail)
2. Maryland Property Tax Assessment Appeal Board (There is an independent appeal board comprised of 3 local residents in each of the counties and Baltimore City, similarly you present your case)
3. Maryland Tax Court

The behind the scenes of the tips and tricks on how to actually get your assessed value lowered:

• Make a note that you want to schedule a date for a hearing, a face-to-face meeting will give you insight onto what they look for and what might or might not help you if you need to take the process to further levels, additionally, it will give you an opportunity to present any new evidence that you may not have had during your initial submission
• Use a combination of www.franklymls.com or another real estate website where you can look up recently sold properties (in general, use comparables within the last 6 months and you want at least 3)
• To find recently sold properties in your neighborhood on FranklyMLS search for your street or zip code, find a property for sale, once you are viewing that listings' page - under "community" click the "Sold" button (sometimes Realtors use a different community name, so you may have to check a few in your neighborhood)
• The Maryland State Departments of Assessments and Taxation Website has a search feature where you can also look up what comparable properties have sold for - though this is much tougher to sift through
• Try to pick comparable properties as close and similar to your subject property as possible

My last tip is to just do it!  If you have evidence and enough reason to believe your assessed value is too high and the time to commit, go for it.  I only went to the first level (Supervisor's level) and was able to get mine lowered (I probably spent a total of 3 hours at most on the entire process).  Good luck!