Property Tax FAQ

These are the questions that produce the same kind of answer in every state we cover — Texas, Florida, California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Michigan, Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, Georgia, Maryland, Indiana, Washington, New Jersey and Minnesota — with the differences stated where they matter. Questions that only make sense inside one state's procedure are kept on that state's own page, starting with the Texas FAQ. Nothing here substitutes for your own notice, your county's instructions or advice from a professional who practices in your state.

Who decides what my property is worth, and who decides what I pay?

They are different bodies in all nineteen states, and that separation is the single most useful thing to understand before you read any notice.

• Texas: the appraisal district determines value; the taxing units set the rates. The notice of appraised value says so on its face.
• Florida: the county property appraiser values the property; the taxing authorities set millage.
• California: the county assessor sets value, while the general levy is limited to 1 percent of taxable value plus the rate needed to pay debt approved by local voters — so what moves your bill is mostly the value side.
• Arizona: the county assessor determines the full cash value and the limited property value; the taxing jurisdictions set the rates that are applied to the limited property value.
• Nevada: the county assessor determines taxable value, but the tax rates are set by the Nevada Tax Commission in the spring from local budgets, and the county treasurer bills and collects.
• Oregon: the county assessor sets the real market value and computes the maximum assessed value as of January 1, and the rate comes from the individual taxing jurisdictions combined in your levy code area — with the Measure 5 limits then applied to cap the tax itself.
• Michigan: the local assessor determines assessed value as of December 31, county and state equalization produce the state equalized value, and the taxing units set the millage rate that is applied to taxable value.
• Colorado: the county assessor sets actual value and the legislature sets the assessment rate that turns it into assessed value — so both sides of the multiplication move independently of each other.
• Ohio: the county auditor values every parcel and applies the state’s fixed 35% ratio; the levies are set by the school districts, cities, townships and counties, and voted in many cases.
• North Carolina: the county assessor values the property on the revaluation cycle and the county, municipalities and fire districts set the rates against it.
• Massachusetts: the city or town’s board of assessors values property and sets the rate within the levy limit of Proposition 2½ — value and rate live in the same municipality, supervised by the Department of Revenue.
• Virginia: the Commissioner of the Revenue or assessor of each locality assesses at 100% of fair market value, and the locality’s governing body sets the rate.
• New York: the city or town assessor assesses at a uniform percentage of market value the municipality chooses, and the school districts and counties split their levies using the state’s equalization rates — which is why two neighboring towns can show very different numbers for identical houses.
• Georgia: the county Board of Tax Assessors values property at market as of January 1 and applies the statewide 40% ratio; the county Tax Commissioner bills and collects, and the levying authorities set the millage (with a rollback mechanism when reassessment inflates the digest).
• Maryland: the assessment is made by the STATE — SDAT values every parcel at 100% of market and certifies the values — while the counties set the rates and mail the bills. The appeal bodies are also state-appointed: the Supervisor, the county PTAAB, and the Maryland Tax Court.
• Indiana: the county and township assessors value with annual adjustment; the state DLGF approves each county’s ratio study and converts local budgets into tax rates, and the circuit-breaker caps are applied on the bill itself.
• Washington: the county assessor values at 100% of market, but the limit that shapes the bill is the LEVY limit — each taxing district’s dollars may grow by about 1% a year, so your bill can rise even when your assessment falls.
• New Jersey: the municipal assessor values as of October 1 of the prior year and the county boards and Tax Court decide appeals on a statewide Division-set calendar; the certified average ratio drives the Chapter 123 band on top.
• Minnesota: the county assessor sets value and classification as of January 2 for the FOLLOWING year’s taxes; local boards (city councils) and the county board hold the appeal meetings, and the class rates set by law do the distributional work no cap does elsewhere.

The practical consequence: a valuation notice is not a tax bill. A rising value and a rising bill are not the same event, and in every state here except California the rate decision happens later and elsewhere — California is the exception, because its general levy is fixed by the constitution at 1 percent of taxable value rather than set annually by a local body.

Where do I file an appeal, and what is the deadline?

Every state here routes the first appeal somewhere different, and no two deadlines are counted the same way. This table is the fastest way to see which state you are actually dealing with.

Note the difference in kind: in Texas, Florida and Arizona the clock starts with a notice, while California sets a seasonal window and Nevada and Oregon fixed dates (Oregon's measured from the tax statement rather than from a separate value notice). That is why advice copied from one state ("you have 30 days from delivery") is simply wrong in another. Nevada adds a second track on top of the table above — an abatement determination is challenged with the assessor by June 30, not with a board. Each state page states the rule it comes from.

Why doesn't the same percentage mean the same thing everywhere?

Because the caps in these nineteen states do not limit the same quantity. The number is only meaningful together with what it is applied to:

• Texas limits the annual increase in a homestead's appraised value (Tax Code § 23.23), before exemptions are subtracted.
• Florida limits the annual increase in a homestead's assessed value to the lower of 3 percent or the change in the Consumer Price Index (§ 193.155).
• California limits the increase in a property's base year value to no more than 2 percent a year, and a separate rule allows a temporary lower assessment when the market falls below the base year value.
• Arizona limits the limited property value — the figure the tax is actually computed on — to a 5 percent annual increase, while the full cash value, the market estimate you appeal, has no cap at all.
• Nevada limits neither a value nor a rate of increase in a value: it limits the tax bill, to 3 percent a year over the prior bill for a claimed primary residence and to no more than 8 percent for other property, and it takes the lower of that figure and the calculated tax. Nevada’s assessors state the consequence plainly: the cap does not limit the increase in assessed value.
• Oregon limits the maximum assessed value at 3 percent — but as a formula, not a flat rate: the greater of 103 percent of the prior assessed value or the prior maximum. The tax base is the lower of that limit or the real market value, and a separate limit from a different ballot measure then caps the tax itself at $5 and $10 per $1,000 of real market value. So an Oregon bill can rise by far more than 3 percent while the 3 percent limit was applied correctly.
• Michigan limits taxable value to the change in the rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is less — but through a formula whose other terms are part of the cap: the prior year’s taxable value less losses, multiplied by an inflation rate multiplier that cannot exceed 1.05, plus additions. And the limit is removed entirely for a year by a transfer of ownership, so a Michigan increase of more than 5 percent is often the rule working rather than failing.
• Ohio, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Virginia have no percentage cap on a property’s value at all — which is itself the answer to “is my increase over the limit?”: there is no limit. Ohio taxes a fixed 35% of true value on a county revaluation calendar, North Carolina holds values from revaluation to revaluation (at least every eight years), Massachusetts limits the municipal levy rather than the assessment, and Virginia assesses at 100% of fair market value with procedural protections instead. In these states the useful question is not “over the cap?” but “does this value reflect market value as of the date the law set?” — and the appeal routes differ accordingly. New York and Georgia belong in this group too: New York’s honest comparison is the assessment against the market-value estimate on the same roll (the uniform percentage makes raw year-over-year numbers meaningless across towns), and Georgia reassesses at market every January 1 with no cap — its offset is that the county carries the burden of proof when it changed your value. Maryland limits the taxable assessment of a principal residence to 10% a year via the homestead credit (on top of a three-year phase-in), and Indiana limits the bill to 1%, 2% or 3% of gross assessed value by property class — two more answers to “what does the cap actually touch?” Washington belongs with Indiana in limiting the money rather than a value — its 101% levy limit bounds what each district collects, not what your property is worth. New Jersey has no value cap but polices the assessment ratio through the Chapter 123 band (±15% around the certified average), and Minnesota has no cap anywhere — class rates set by law distribute the levy instead.

So a "5 percent cap" in Arizona can leave your bill unchanged if your limited value is already far below your full cash value, and a "3 percent cap" in Florida says nothing about your school levy. The by-state comparison of the limitation rules puts all nineteen side by side.

Should I check my own numbers before hiring anyone?

Yes, and it is free. Our assessment checker works where the rule can be tested arithmetically from the numbers on your notice — in Texas and Florida today. The two ask for different figures, because the limitations attach to different ones: the appraised value in Texas, the assessed value in Florida. It is deliberately not offered for California, Arizona, Nevada or Oregon, because the check those states need cannot be made by comparing one year to the next: California measures against a base year value, Arizona measures the limited property value while you appeal the full cash value, Nevada caps the tax bill rather than any value at all, and Oregon caps the maximum assessed value while the tax base is the lower of that limit or the real market value. It is not offered for Ohio, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, Georgia, Maryland, Indiana, Washington, New Jersey or Minnesota either, for a simpler reason: none of those states has a percentage cap on a value that a two-notice screen could test (Maryland’s 10% cap works through a credit on a phased-in assessment, Indiana caps the bill against a value, not a change, Washington limits the levy rather than any value, New Jersey’s test turns on the district’s certified ratio, and Minnesota has no cap at all). Each of those state pages explains the limit — or the absence of one — rather than offering an answer that would be wrong.

Where do I find the questions specific to my state?

• Texas property tax FAQ — protests, ARB hearings, evidence and exemptions under the Texas Tax Code.
• Florida property tax — TRIM notices, the save-our-homes limitation and VAB petitions.
• California property tax — Proposition 13 and Proposition 8, assessed value notices and assessment appeals boards.
• Arizona property tax — full cash value versus limited property value, notices of valuation and petitions for review.
• Nevada property tax — the fiscal-year clock, value notices, the partial abatement that caps the tax bill and the claim that keeps the 3% level.
• Oregon property tax — the maximum assessed value under Measure 50, the changed property ratio for new construction, Measure 5 compression and the December 31 board petition.
• Ohio property tax — the 35% ratio, the six-year reappraisal cycle, and the DTE Form 1 complaint window.
• North Carolina property tax — the revaluation cycle, the Board of Equalization and Review, and the 30-day Property Tax Commission appeal.
• Massachusetts property tax — the first-actual-bill abatement deadline, the three-month deemed denial, and the Appellate Tax Board.
• Virginia property tax — the 100%-of-market-value standard, the 15-day notice, and the de novo circuit court appeal.
• New York property tax — the uniform percentage of market value, the July 1 valuation date, Grievance Day and the 30-day judicial-review window.
• Georgia property tax — the annual market standard with the 40% ratio, the 45-day appeal window with a declared method, and the Bill of Rights.
• Maryland property tax — the state-run assessment, the triennial cycle with the three-year phase-in, and the 45-30-30 day appeal ladder.
• Indiana property tax — annual adjustment, the Form 130 appeal with the 5% burden shift, and the circuit-breaker caps.
• Washington property tax — the levy limit, the July 1 / 30-day Board of Equalization deadline, and the Board of Tax Appeals.
• New Jersey property tax — the April 1 deadline and its variants, and the Chapter 123 common level range.
• Minnesota property tax — the assessment-to-payable-year lag, the board-meeting appeal deadlines, and the direct Tax Court route.