General Outline of Appeal Process

The following is a list of general steps in the appeal process, in chronological order:

1. If you have Assessor assessment related issues and/or questions regarding your revaluation, or corrections Please contact your appraiser of record first. The contact number will be listed at the bottom of the Revaluation Notice that was sent to you by the County Assessor. Often, your issues can be resolved at that level.
2. If your issues and/or questions are not resolved or satisfied through your appraiser contact, file a Property Tax Petition (appeal form) with the Board of Equalization by the deadline date noted on your revaluation notice. This ensures that all your rights to due process are protected.
3. The Board of Equalization will review your Petition upon receipt by determining its completeness and timeliness of submittal. If the Petition is incomplete or further information is needed it may be returned to you. As a reminder, please provide a copy of your revaluation notice for record.
4. A Petition number will be assigned to it whereas all information will be logged into our database.
5. The Petition and all supporting data will be forwarded to the Assessor's Office for their review and response. This process is handled through our office beginning July 15th.
6. As per state law, specifically, WAC 458-14-066-Requests for valuation information-Duty to exchange information-Time Limits
7. (2) Requests by a taxpayer for valuation information from the Assessor may be made on the petition form filed with the board, or may be made at any reasonable time prior to hearing. Upon request by the taxpayer, the Assessor must make available to the taxpayer the comparable sales used in establishing the taxpayer's property valuation. If valuation criteria other than comparable sales were used, the Assessor must provide the taxpayer with the information. All such valuation information, including comparable sales, must be provided to the taxpayer and the board within sixty days of the request but at least fourteen business days, excluding legal holidays, prior to the taxpayer's appearance before the Board of Equalization.
8. The Board of Equalization will allow sixty days to lapse before any further process or steps are taken. It is during this sixty day time frame that parties (i.e Assessor and Taxpayer) are encouraged to communicate in hopes of obtaining resolution to your assessment issues.
9. If communication and/or resolution do not occur, the Board of Equalization will begin scheduling Property Tax Petitions for hearing before the local Board of Equalization. Please note that the process of appeal is considerably timely as cases will be scheduled in the order date in which they are filed. Therefore, this is a year round process which runs from July to July each calendar year.
10. If your case is still pending a hearing at the time taxes are due (April 30th), you must still pay the taxes indicated by the Treasurer at that time. Once your hearing is held and a determination by the Board is made, if an adjustment to value has been determined, either a refund will be issued by the Treasurer or a credit may be applied to your second half taxes which are due October 31.

Please note that varied filings of petitions, Assessor responses, taxpayer support documentation, stipulation of values, and withdrawals can occur at any time throughout the assessment or tax year season of appeal.