Hello folks! | have had many of you ask me to post a blog about what I do and the process involved in property tax appeals.
My name is Steve Anderson and you can look me up on our website, propertytaxavengers.com/aboutus.
Why am I qualified to perform this service?
I spent 4 years as a hearings officer for Clackamas County on their Property Values Appeals Board. In my capacity I sat in on just over 2,000 decisions. Those cases involved values from about $4,000 for a single wide manufactured home in Molalla up to and including Clackamas Town Center which was valued at $165 million at the time.
I have since been involved in thousands of cases in Oregon and Washington helping my clients achieve millions of dollars in tax savings.
This blog deals with the rules in Oregon (rules in Washington coming soon!).
In Oregon, the property tax year runs from July 1-June 30. However, the assessment date for that tax year is actually January 1st of the previous year. You receive your bill, usually the third week of October which is about 10 months after the assessment date. I cannot tell you how many times people have reached out to me, after receiving their tax bill, and tell me that the value is incorrect. That is most likely as the value is as of 10 months prior.Â
You have until December 31st to file an appeal, unless December 31st falls on a weekend, like it did this year (2023) in which case, the filing deadline would fall to the following workday (i.e. January 3, 2023).
Your local Property Vax Appeals Board ("PVAB," for short), can meet from the first Monday in February until April 15th of that year. Most of our cases are heard in March.
From my board experience, the biggest mistake I found from the taxpayers was they would walk in with just listed, solds or sale pendings at the time of the hearing, which is roughly 14 months after the assessment date. It is imperative that you use evidence that brackets the assessment date, not the date of your bill or your hearing.
The PVAB panel is made up of taxpayers in that county. When I was on the board, we had a Realtor, a retired Engineer and a retired FBI agent. I am finding more and more retired employees from the county as hearings officers. As a matter of fact, many of them retire from the assessor's office. They are supposed to be an independent third party deeming the parties evidence for a decision.
Most boards follow the assessor's recommendations for their decisions. There is usually a request from the assessor for an interior inspection. If you refuse, I can almost guarantee a negative response from the board to your appeal.
The statute says that the assessor is correct until the taxpayer proves them wrong. Our plan of attack is to get the assessor to review their valuation on the account. Many times that revolves around the interior inspection mentioned prior.
When you file your petition in October, November or December, you usually submit your evidence with the petition.
When you enter the hearing two months later, the clerk will hand you the assessor's recommendation. It usually says one of three things: either they will urge the board to sustain the existing value, recommend a reduction to your requested value, or recommend a value between your requested and their stated value.
Fair huh? The assessor has had your evidence for months and you receive their recommendation when you are walking into the hearing.
You wonder who set this system up? The assessor's, of course.
After the board meets, they are required to issue a written order on the appeal. This usually shows up in your mailbox a week or two after the hearing.
If either party wishes to appeal the decision it has to be within 30 days of the signed decision. That is 30 calendar days, not 30 business days. I have had counties appeal the decision, although it is rare.
By the way, just to show how fair the system is, there is a $50 filing fee for an appeal to the Oregon Tax Magistrate Court paid by the taxpayer. The county pays absolutely nothing to either file or answer your filing. Fair huh? Once again, I wonder who made up these rules.