By Drew Nelson, Attorney
The Davidson County Tax Assessor’s Office is currently performing property revaluation in 2021. The current schedule in Davidson County for revaluation of property is every six years, with the last one being completed in 2015. This can vary by county with other jurisdictions typically performing revaluations every four to eight years. Notices from the Davidson County Tax Assessor will be mailed out starting in January and will be entitled “Notice of Real Estate Assessed Value”.
The Notice will state the assessed value, any deferred value, and the taxable value. It will also give a summary of the legal description used to identify your property as well as the Parcel Identification number used by the county. Currently, the base tax rate for Davidson County is 0.5400 per $100 value. This does not include tax rates for the city or any other assessments for local authorities.
The Notice of Real Estate Assessed Value permits for the filing of an informal appeal if you disagree with the value of your property, whether it be appraised at more than the fair market value or less than the fair market value. However, the appeal must be timely filed – within 30 days of receipt of the Notice.
An informal appeal process is started by completing the appeal form at the bottom of the Notice and returning it to the Davidson County Tax Assessor. You must state the reason of your appeal on the form. You may not appeal the value based on (1) the percentage increase over the previous value, (2) your personal opinion of the value, (3) your financial ability to pay the taxes, or (4) insurance values. A property owner is entitled to have an actual visitation to the property to verify the accuracy of the property characteristics. It is often helpful to have the opinion for a licensed realtor or a recent appraisal of the property to provide evidence of the current fair market value of the property. If the matter cannot be resolved with the tax assessor’s office, the taxpayer may file a formal appeal.
A formal appeal is filed with the Board of Equalization and Review which typically begin their deliberations around the beginning of April. The Board is appointed by the Davidson County Commissioners.
If the decision by the Board of Equalization and Review is not favorable, the taxpayer may appeal to the State Board of Equalization and Review, known as the Property Tax Commission. This Commission meets monthly in Raleigh to decide questions on valuation and exemptions. The Commission is a trial court and is required to follow the North Carolina Rules of Evidence. When the taxpayer appeals, the taxpayer has the burden of proof to demonstrate the current value assessed by the tax assessor’s office is not accurate.
Filing an appeal, whether it be on a local level or state level, can be a complicated process. It may be necessary to engage the services of a realtor to look at comps of near-by properties to establish a fair market value or hire an appraiser. It is always a good idea to engage an attorney to develop a strategy and ensure proper evidence is presented for the best chance of obtaining the desired assessed value.
An increase in your assessed property value can result in an increase in taxes owed not just for the current year but future years. A successful appeal of your increased property tax value can result in the savings of hundreds or even thousands of dollars for the taxpayer.
If you feel your new assessment is calculated incorrectly, please contact Brinkley Walser Stoner, PLLC at (336) 249-2101 to discuss your situation.