How to determine if you should appeal your assessment

The purpose of this information is to help you identify and correct any inaccuracies or errors that may be associated with your Vermont Real Estate assessment.

Most people agree that they must pay a fair share of taxes to support services such as schools, road maintenance, utility operations, etc. Most people also agree they do not want to pay more than their fair share for these services. In today's economy, everyone is concerned about saving as much money as possible.

Many property owners are not aware of the process for appeals, the information they need, or how to present it. Grieving the assessment on property is a constant source of aggravation for some people.

If you feel your property is over-assessed, or incorrectly assessed, you may file a complaint (grievance) with the Board of Listers.

If your appeal is turned down by the Board of Listers, you can appeal to the Board of Civil Authority...........

If you are turned down by the BCA, you can go to the State Board of Appraisers, or to Superior Court.........

Your next step, if turned down, is to appeal to The State Supreme Court. If you present the correct information, you will win your case. If you present the wrong information, you will in all likelihood be denied your appeal.

With this in mind, let's decide if you should consider appealing your assessment.

There are 3 concepts you can appeal your property assessment on:

1. Your property is assessed for more than Fair Market Value (FMV).
2. Your property is assessed closer to Fair Market Value that comparable properties.
3. There are errors in your assessment record.

In number 1 above you simply need to prove your property is assessed for more than it is worth. An example would be if you recently purchased your property for $100,000 and it is assessed at $120,000. Assuming the sale was an arms-length transaction (not a sale between relatives, or a forced sale such as a foreclosed property or a divorce or an estate sale), the sale price will generally stand as the Fair Market Value. If all other properties in the town are assessed at FMV, then yours should be too. This is rarely the case. Most fall under Concept number 2.

In number 2 above you need to prove 2 issues. First, you must demonstrate the FMV of your property. Once you have established the FMV, you must then demonstrate your property is assessed closer to FMV than other similar properties. An example would be to take the above sale at $100,000 and compare the property to other similar properties. If the other similar properties are assessed at $75,000 then your property should have the same approximate assessment.

In concept number 3 you need to demonstrate obvious errors in your assessment. Obvious errors would include the wrong measurements for the square footage of the dwelling, or items such as incorrect number of bathrooms, a non-existent fireplace, the wrong acreage, etc.

The easiest method to demonstrate Fair Market Value for your property is to find sales of similar homes. Once you subscribe to the sales database in this website, it is a simple method of just searching your town for recent sales. Subscribe now to start searching.