Massachusetts Property Tax Alert: What To Do If You Disagree With Your Assessment

The deadline to appeal Fiscal Year 2020 assessments to municipal Boards of Assessors in Massachusetts is February 1, 2020, which is a Saturday.  As such, you must file/mail the application for abatement, which is the first required step in the process of appealing real and personal property assessments in Massachusetts, no later than Friday, January 31, 2020.  The standard abatement application form, State Form 128, must be used by taxpayers to file an appeal with their local board of assessors.  

After the application for abatement is filed, the municipal Boards of Assessors have three (3) months to render a decision.  The Boards of Assessors may invite a taxpayer for a meeting to discuss the application for abatement and/or request supplemental information as part of the process, however, it is highly unusual that such requests are made. 

Once the municipal Board of Assessors renders its decision, a taxpayer has three (3) months from the date of the Board of Assessors’ decision to file an appeal with the Appellate Tax Board.  If a municipal Board of Assessors does not render a decision within three (3) months of a taxpayer’s filing of an application for abatement, the appeal is deemed denied by the municipal Board and the three-month time period for filing an appeal with the Appellate Tax Board begins to run at the end of the initial three-month period.  

Although a taxpayer may have an unresolved appeal pending at the Appellate Tax Board from a prior Fiscal Year, it is extremely important to note that appeals of a parcel’s assessment must be taken annually to preserve the taxpayer’s appeal rights from year to year. 

Pullman & Comley LLC attorneys located in our new Springfield office can guide you through the appeal process in Massachusetts.

For more information, please contact Laura Bellotti Cardillo at 413-314-6166 or lcardillo@pullcom.com.