Chester County Tax Assessments and Appeals

In Chester County a taxpayer has the right to appeal the tax assessment on their property.  The appeal must be taken within 40 days following receipt of an Assessment Change Notice. The taxpayer also has the right to take an annual assessment appeal. The annual assessment appeal must be filed by August 1. Any appeal taken will be prospective to the next annual tax year. 
           
The last property tax assessment in Chester County occurred during 1996 and 1997 becoming effective January 1, 1998.  During this assessment period the assessment office converted to a computer assisted mass appraisal system(CAMA). The CAMA system used in Chester County is known as the Integrated Assessment System (IAS). The computer uses building valuation models for all types of neighborhoods based on statistical neighborhoods and then current market data.  Assessments effective since the 1996/1997 reassessment are derived from the computer system using these models.  This reassessment process will continue until a future reassessment occurs.

Assessors are assigned municipal “territories” that are visited on a rotational basis for data collection purposes, based on reported building permits, use and occupancy permits and discoveries.  The property data is collected and entered and the assessment is derived without consideration of the current sale price or cost.  Theoretically the CAMA/IAS derives an assessment that would be consistent with that derived if the improvement had existed in the 1996 base year. In Chester County the data collection, data entry, and assessment derivation are all performed by assessors who are Certified Pennsylvania Evaluators.
           
Each Assessment change generates an Assessment Change Notice, which is provided to the taxpayer, school district, municipality and the County Treasurer. These notices provide specific information for the assessment change including the amount of the change and the effective date. 

In the event that the taxpayer or any of the tax jurisdictions believe that the assessment indicated on the Assessment Change Notice is not representative of the value of the subject property an appeal may be filed challenging the value.  To begin an appeal the taxpayer may file a Notice of Intent to Appeal with the Board of Assessment Appeals.  This appeal must be filed within 40 days of the change notice or if an annual appeal by August1st. Upon receipt of the notice the board will schedule an appeal hearing. The taxpayer and tax jurisdictions will notified by the board in writing of the date and time for the hearing.

At the hearing the taxpayer must present documentation of the current market value of the property under appeal. This documentation may include recent photographs, a recent appraisal, documentation of recent sales of similar properties, and any other documentation that supports value. The Board may consider such evidence and the Board may also undertake its own research to determine an estimated current market value for the subject property.  The Board will then take the estimated current market value and multiply it by the CLR (common level ratio) when the CLR is below 85 to derive an assessment. The board’s decision is reported in writing to the taxpayer and each tax jurisdiction.  In the event that a taxpayer is not satisfied that the board’s decision adequately reflects the properties’ value, further appeal may be taken through the court system.  

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