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Steps for appealing  Fairfax County Real Estate Assessments

Confirm the most current official appeal steps at the County's Department of Tax Administration web site Also, visit the Board of Equalization home page. Here is an overview of the appeals process:

Background

The Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration (DTA) Real Estate Division handles assessment matters for the county government. DTA generates and distributes annual assessments in late February each year. Real estate taxes are levied on assessments at a rate set by the Board of Supervisors in late April. Additional taxes of from 2 to 20 cents per $100 assessed value are levied in Special Tax Districts. For some properties, additional Service Charges may be levied.

Taxes are due July 28 and December 5 based on assessed values as of January 1 of the calendar year. The deadline for appeals is June 1 annually. Information about taxes is posted on internet at the DTA's web pages.

The steps involved in challenging your real estate assessments follow.

1. Determine the validity of your assessment.

a. Look up your property in the County data base, Enter your property address at the data base search page at http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/dta/re/propadd.asp

1. Check the assessment.
2. Check the County's data about the property by click on the "View Property Details" button.

• If you see errors in this data, contact the DTA (703) 222-8234 [TTY: (703) 222-7594] to ask for correction of the data, and corrected tax bills if appropriate,

b. Look up comparable nearby properties in the same data base, and compare their property data and assessments with yours.

• If your assessment looks reasonable, compared to other properties, terminate your efforts.
• If the assessment does not look reasonable, go to next step.

2. Contact DTA/RE staff to determine how they set your assessment.

a. Call the DTA/RE offices (703) 222-8234 and ask a staff Member for

1. the process by which your assessment is established.
2. a list of properties used to establish your assessment. You will need to provide your address. (May include many homes - get specifics.) Make notes of the addresses provided by staff.

b, Decide if you are satisfied with the process and the comparables used.

• If you are satisfied, keep your notes for the following year's cycle.
• If you are not satisfied with the assessment based on what you learn, go to next step.

3. Initiate appeal steps.

Citizens have two kinds of initial appeal routes:

1. Informal appeals to the DTA.
2. Formal Appeals to the DTA.

a. Informal appeals to the DTA.

• If you find obvious disparities, discuss then with the DTA staff member to determine if informal resolution to your satisfaction might be possible.
• If informal resolution is not possible, then go to next step.

b. Formal appeal to DTA. If you are convinced you have persuasive arguments to support an appeal,

1. Decide what assessed value you believe you are entitle to get and choose the reason for your appeal
   • not uniform
   • overvaluation
   • under valuation
   • incorrect characteristic data
   • a previously unrecognized condition (land or building)
   • other
2. Download the form for appeals to the DTA from the DTA web site.
3. Read the form carefully,
   • If you are still convinced you have persuasive arguments to support an appeal, complete the form using the data you acquired during previous steps,
   • Mall the form to the Department of Tax Administration, 12000 Government Parkway, Fairfax VA 22030.

c. DTA will mail you a formal response to your appeal by letter, accompanied by information about appealing the DTA decision, usually within 5 working days.

• If you are satisfied with the DTA response, file your documents for future use.
• If you are not satisfied with the response, and still believe your have a persuasive case, then prepare an appeal to the Board of Equalization.

4. Submitting an appeal to Board of Equalization

a. Read the information about Board of Equalization appeals on the BOE Appeal Form (pd file).

b. After downloading and printing this form, note especially the standard of proof that you will be faced with if you proceed, and the differences in the justification options. Note also the hearing process and data that have to be submitted to support such an appeal.

c. Complete the BOE form with previously developed information and submit it to the BOE no later than June 1.

• If you still wish to proceed, you may wish to consult with the DTA staff or an attorney for assistance.

Updated December 19, 2003