North Carolina Property Tax

North Carolina runs property tax through its 100 counties: the county assessor values the property and the county (plus municipalities and fire districts) sets the rate against it. The state’s role is the calendar — real property must be reappraised at least every eight years — and the appeal ladder: an informal review with the assessor’s staff, a formal hearing before the county’s Board of Equalization and Review, and a 30-day appeal to the state Property Tax Commission.

In this section

• Revaluation and the valuation date — the eight-year ceiling, why appeals are argued on the last revaluation date’s market, and the burden of proof with its two forbidden arguments.
• The appeal process, informal to formal — the informal review, the Board of Equalization and Review’s convene-and-adjourn window, and the Property Tax Commission.
• North Carolina property tax deadlines — the revaluation calendar, the informal window, the board’s schedule and the 30-day PTC appeal.

Who does what

• The county assessor (usually inside a Tax Administration office) values real and personal property and runs the informal review.
• The Board of Equalization and Review (BOER) is a citizen board appointed by the county commissioners that hears formal valuation appeals.
• The Property Tax Commission (PTC) is the state board in Raleigh that hears appeals from county board decisions.
• The Department of Revenue publishes the property tax rules, the appeal process, and the directory of county assessors.

Revaluation, and why the valuation date is not today

Real property is reappraised at least every eight years; many counties go more often. Between revaluations the value carries over, with off-cycle changes limited to what the statute allows (new construction, and similar). Orange County, for example, completed a revaluation effective January 1, 2025, with the previous one in 2021 and the next planned for 2029 — so 2026 appeals are argued on the property’s worth on January 1, 2025, not on today’s market. The revaluation page explains what this does to your evidence.

The burden of proof — and the two arguments that fail

North Carolina statutes put the burden of proof on the property owner: the owner must show the assessed value is more or less than market value as of the revaluation date, or that it is inconsistent with the assessments of similar properties. Two arguments that feel natural but are not grounds: the percentage increase or decrease in the value, and the owner’s ability to pay the tax. The counties state both exclusions on their own appeal pages.

Finding your property and your county

North Carolina has no single statewide property search — each county runs its own (Orange County’s, for example, centers on the Property Record Card and the county’s comparable sales tool). Find your county assessor through the Department’s official county assessors list, and the local appeal dates on your own county’s tax administration pages — the county below is the verified example, not a substitute for them.

What this does not cover

Present-use value for agricultural land, elderly and disabled exclusions, and business personal property schedules are outside this section. AssessCheck has no data connection to any North Carolina county or the Department of Revenue. The General Assembly’s statute site was not readable when these pages were verified, so General Statute sections are named only where an official page names them.