What happens if, after the tax board makes the decision, you feel that its decision was wrong? The taxpayer has 45 days, after receiving the decision, to appeal. An appeal requires that you first file with the county tax board. If you feel that you are unsatisfied with that decision of the county tax board, then you can appeal directly to the State tax board. The difference is that the State tax board does not require you to rely solely on the history of sales that you received from looking at the market. The State tax board will give you an opportunity to do some additional evidence gathering, which in legal parlance is called discovery. For instance, you can ask the town where your property is located for additional information that might help you support your findings that your home is unreasonably over-assessed. Typically, once you file what they call a complaint with the State tax board, the town generally files an answer to your complaint. And after the answer is filed by the town, the discovery process begins, at which time you can gather additional evidence. Once the evidence gathering phase is over, typically there is a settlement conference with the town and the taxpayer. If that is unsuccessful, then you will typically go to trial.
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