As the real estate market starts to lag in some sectors, some buyers are preparing to pay taxes on values that exceed the price they recently paid for the property. In Washington’s two-year system, 2019 taxes are based on the 2018 assessed values. Recent buyers may believe that they have no recourse to challenge 2018 assessments because normal administrative appeal deadlines have passed. However, several avenues may still be available. One is to petition the county board of equalization to reconvene to review the 2018 assessment of property that sold between July 1 and December 31, 2018. This avenue is only available if the sale price was less than 90% of the assessed value. The petition must be filed by April 30, 2019. Other possibilities exist for reconvening county boards under other circumstances. Paying taxes under protest is also available to preserve the option of taking the challenge to court.
Date: March 2019
American Property Tax Counsel
