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DC has an equalization appeal that runs on published assessed values.
The law and the data both work here. DC gives you an equalization ground, so you can argue from what comparable properties are assessed at rather than needing sale prices. Limited mainly by size.
So District of Columbia gives you a ground that runs on published assessed values rather than on sale prices. You're not showing what your house would sell for. You're showing that homes genuinely like yours are assessed lower than yours is, using numbers the county already publishes.
Now that matters more than it sounds, because it means a state keeping sale prices private doesn't stop you. Illinois, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Kansas, Massachusetts and DC all have some version of it, and honestly it's usually the stronger argument even where sale prices are public.
April 1, needs re-checking for 2027 We have flagged this one to re-verify, so check it against your own notice or your county's site before you rely on it.
Miss it and you generally wait a year, so honestly the date matters more than the paperwork does.
And wherever you are, the single most useful thing you can actually do today is go find your assessment notice and read the date printed on it. That's what starts your clock, it's usually a much shorter window than people expect, and there's no getting it back once it's gone.
First, look up your own record. The Office of Tax and Revenue sets your value each year and mails an assessment notice, and it's really worth checking the details on it. You can look up your property and file an appeal online through MyTax.DC.gov.
Next, know where to file. Your first appeal goes to the Office of Tax and Revenue by the deadline printed on your notice. If you disagree with that decision, you've got 45 days to appeal to the Real Property Tax Appeals Commission, which only takes cases that went through the first appeal.
Then bring the evidence that wins here. DC lets you argue from sales of genuinely similar homes or from what comparable homes are assessed at, which honestly makes it easier to build a case.
Also, check your exemptions. Make sure you've got the homestead deduction, which takes a set amount off your home's value and caps your taxable increase at 10 percent a year. If you're 65 or older, or disabled, and under the income limit, the senior and disabled relief cuts your tax by half and tightens the cap to 2 percent.
We only turn a state on once we've read its appeal rules and its actual board decisions, because that's how we make sure what we tell you is right and not generic. It takes a few days per state, and honestly it's the reason our answers are worth anything.
In the meantime our free check runs in parts of Illinois, Washington, Ohio, Georgia, Colorado, North Carolina and Oregon, and in every town in New Jersey. If you leave your email on the check page, we'll write to you the day District of Columbia goes live, and we won't email you before that.
We've screened all fifty states and DC on the same two questions. Does winning a lower market value actually lower your bill, or is there a cap sitting in between? And can you even put the evidence together from public records?
This comes from our own fifty-state screen, where we checked each state's cap, whether sale prices are public, whether there's an argument based on assessed values, and how many appeals actually get filed. Where we've quoted an appeal count, it's from the state or county that published it. If you spot an error, please write to hello@propertytaxbuddy.com and we'll correct it and say what changed.