Tax Appeal Hearing Information

This presentation was developed by the Morris County Board of Taxation to assist taxpayers in properly preparing for tax appeal hearings. The presentation includes general information derived from New Jersey laws which govern tax appeals: Administrative Code Title 18:12 and New Jersey Statutes Titles 54:3 et seq and 54:4 et seq.

Procedures of the Appeal Process

The Morris County Board of Taxation recognizes recent changes in the appeal process have made procedures more complex. This presentation was developed as an aid to the property owner, but it should not be considered as an all-inclusive guide. Most importantly, it is essential taxpayers understand they must prove their assessment is unreasonable compared to a market value standard. Your current assessment is by law assumed to be correct. You must overcome this presumption of correctness to result in an assessment change.

Taxpayer

A taxpayer filing an appeal should consider the following questions.

  • What was the market value of my property of the pretax year?
  • Can I support my conclusion of market value with credible evidence?
  • Is my property assessed in excess of its market value if a reassessment/revaluation was implemented in the current tax year? If a revaluation/reassessment was not implemented, does my assessment exceed market value or does the ratio of my property assessment to its market value exceed the upper limit of the common level range?