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Maryland works if you bought recently, and mostly not otherwise.
Works for some owners here, not all. Counties set their own caps as low as 2 to 5 percent a year, Anne Arundel at 2, Prince George's at 3, Baltimore City at 4, Howard at 5, and there’s a three-year phase-in on top. That combination puts most long-held homes well below market. Recent buyers and non-owner-occupied property are the real market.
So Maryland decides these on market value, which means the evidence is recent sales of genuinely comparable homes. What really matters is whether that whole set of sales sits below your assessed value. If they bracket your assessment instead of falling under it, boards usually side with the assessor, because nothing's been clearly disproved.
Now a few things lose almost everywhere. Comparing your assessment to a neighbor's assessment usually doesn't count where the argument's market value. One sale on its own can pretty easily be dismissed as an outlier. And the size of your increase, or the size of your bill, isn't really evidence about what your home's worth.
Deadlines here are set locally rather than by one statewide date, so the one that binds you is printed on your own assessment notice.
And that notice is really the thing to go find today, honestly. It'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 state's Department of Assessments and Taxation sets values, and its website lets you look up your home. Homes are reassessed every three years, a third of the state at a time, and the notice shows your new value phased in over three years.
Next, know where to file. You appeal within 45 days of the date on your assessment notice, and you can file online. The first hearing's with your local assessment office. If they don't lower it, you've got 30 days from their decision to go to the Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board, which is independent of the assessors, and then the Maryland Tax Court.
Then bring the evidence that wins here. Maryland decides these on market value, so the evidence is sales of genuinely similar homes. But honestly, for a long-held home the homestead credit usually limits your taxable value to well below market already, so an appeal mostly helps recent buyers and homes that aren't anyone's main residence.
Also, check your exemptions. Make sure you've applied for the Homestead Tax Credit on the home you live in. It caps how fast your taxable assessment can rise each year, and you only apply once, with the state.
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 Maryland 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.