The Maryland Appeal Ladder: 45 Days, 30 Days, 30 Days

Maryland’s appeal structure is a fixed three-step ladder with day-counts stated in statute, on the Maryland Tax Court’s own procedures page. Every step is counted from the previous decision’s or notice’s date, which makes the whole timeline predictable from the moment your Notice of Assessment arrives.

Step 1 — the Supervisor of Assessments (within 45 days)

The first appeal — on value or classification — is filed with the Supervisor of Assessments for your county within 45 days of the notice’s date. Filing is possible online through the state’s own appeal form. The Supervisor or a designee holds a hearing; the assessor explains the valuation and you present yours. Afterward the Supervisor mails a final notice with the determination.

Two special routes into this same step:

• The petition for review. In the two years of the cycle when no new notice arrives, a petition for review may be filed at any time within three years of the last final notice — but on or before the date of finality for the next taxable year. It is heard by the same Supervisor.
• The new-owner window. An owner whose deed was recorded between January 1 and June 30 may appeal within 60 days of the recording date — the one route that is anchored to your own transaction rather than to the assessment calendar.

Step 2 — the county PTAAB (within 30 days)

If the Supervisor’s final notice does not bring relief, the appeal continues to the county Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board (PTAAB) within 30 days of the final notice. The PTAAB is a citizen board appointed for each county and Baltimore City; it schedules and holds its own hearing, and its members are not SDAT employees — a deliberate structural separation between the assessor and the second review.

Step 3 — the Maryland Tax Court (within 30 days)

Either party — the taxpayer or the Supervisor — may appeal the PTAAB’s final determination to the Maryland Tax Court within 30 days of the decision. The Tax Court is the top of the administrative ladder, and its procedures page states the practical points owners care about:

• Pro se representation is allowed — you can argue your own appeal without a lawyer.
• There is no filing fee at any level of the ladder.
• The postmark is the filing date — a petition mailed on the last day counts.
• The court accepts an informal letter received in time and then requires the formal petition.
• Exhaustion of administrative remedies is required — you must go through the lower levels first (counties with their own appeal boards are excepted).

From the Tax Court, further review is judicial (the state’s circuit courts and beyond) — that is outside the administrative ladder this page describes.

Worked timeline (illustrative)

Illustrative dates with a notice dated December 26, 2026 — your own dates run from your notice and each decision.

1. December 26, 2026: Notice of Assessment arrives. The 45-day clock starts.
2. By ~February 9, 2027: appeal filed with the Supervisor (45 days).
3. Spring 2027: Supervisor’s hearing; final notice mailed. The 30-day clock starts at its mailing.
4. Within 30 days: appeal to the PTAAB, which schedules its own hearing and issues a final determination.
5. Within 30 days of the PTAAB decision: appeal to the Maryland Tax Court — postmark counts.

What this tells you: the ladder is long — three hearings are possible — but each step’s deadline is knowable the day the previous decision arrives. Missing the 45-day window cannot be fixed later, because the two 30-day windows only open from decisions that follow a timely first appeal.

What it does not tell you: hearing lead times (the Tax Court’s docket, in particular, can run months), and whether the value is worth appealing — that is a question about market evidence, which the Supervisor’s hearing is where you present.

What this page does not cover

The three counties that operate their own appeal boards in place of the standard ladder, and judicial review after the Tax Court, are outside this page. The Tax Court’s procedures page, cited below, is the authority for the ladder itself.