Property Tax Appeals · Massachusetts
Appeal your property taxes
in Massachusetts.
In Massachusetts you don’t “appeal” so much as apply for an abatement: a formal application to your city or town’s board of assessors, due when the third-quarter actual bill is due (February 1 in most communities). The assessors rule on it themselves; if they deny it — or let three months pass without acting — you can carry the case to the state Appellate Tax Board, a homeowner-accessible forum where documented valuation evidence decides outcomes. Massachusetts assesses at full and fair cash value as of the prior January 1, so that date is what your evidence must speak to.
Abatement applications are due when the third-quarter “actual” tax bill is due — February 1 in most communities. The date is on the bill.
Proposition 2½ caps how fast your community’s total levy grows — not your individual assessment — so a rising bill usually traces back to your valuation, which is the thing an abatement can fix. Keep paying the tax while the abatement is pending to protect your appeal rights.
The evidence
Boards act on value,
not frustration.
However Massachusetts labels the process, the case underneath is identical: show what your home was actually worth on the assessment date. A licensed, USPAP-compliant appraisal — comparable sales, documented adjustments, a signed opinion of value — is that showing. Start with the $5 check to see if the numbers are on your side before you spend real money.
- Valued as of your assessment date — not today
- Comparable sales with adjustments and citations
- Signed by a state-licensed MA appraiser
- Phone walkthrough — no stranger in your home
- Delivered in 48–72 hours, rush available
Massachusetts counties
Massachusetts questions
The application is due to your board of assessors when the third-quarter actual tax bill is due — February 1 in most communities. Miss it and the assessors lose jurisdiction to grant relief for that year.
It caps the town’s total levy, not your share of it. If your assessment overstates your home’s January 1 value, you’re paying more than your share — that’s what the abatement corrects.
Comparable sales supporting a lower full and fair cash value as of January 1 — the substance of a licensed appraisal. The same evidence carries the case to the Appellate Tax Board if the assessors deny it.
We’re not an AVM, a computer model, or a real-estate agent estimate. Every report is prepared under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and signed by a licensed appraiser in your state — the same qualification required for mortgage appraisals.