To prevent my blog followers from having an anxiety attack over whether they are going to owe more in property taxes, I believe it would be helpful to explain “manifest error”. WAC 458-14-005(14) defines “manifest error” as

an error in listing or assessment, which does not involve a revaluation of property, including the following (a) An error in the legal description; (b) A clerical or posting error; (c) Double assessments; (d) Misapplication of statistical data; (e) Incorrect characteristic data; (f) Incorrect placement of improvements; (g) Erroneous measurements; (h) The assessment of property exempted by law from taxation; (i) The failure to deduct the exemption allowed by law to the head of a family; or (j) Any other error which can be corrected by reference to the records and valuation methods applied to similarly situated properties, without exercising appraisal judgment.

The obvious issue here is how could the Assessor rely on “manifest error” to collect more property taxes from under assessed properties when the law specifically states that a manifest error is one that DOES NOT involve the revaluation or property?

From my reading of the Seattle Times article, it sounds like the Assessor will attempt to take a course of action that is prohibited under the same statute upon which he is relying. That is, revalue property as a result of manifest error.

How will Mr. Hara increase prior assessments without revaluing property? If you know please enlighten me.

Your property taxes are based on your assessed value. Therefore, the most common way to challenge your property taxes is to challenge the property’s assessed value.

Your assessed value is the result of an assessment conducted by the assessor. An assessment is similar to an appraisal except it’s done on a mass scale. During the assessment the assessor determines 1) the value of your land and 2) any improvements done to the property (i.e. house, building, etc.). Further the assessor only physically inspects your property once every six years, so there is a greater chance that an error will occur.

Because an assessment is based on market value, the best way to check the accuracy of your assessment is to compare it to similar properties. Most county assessors’ have websites that allow you to look up the assessed value of your property and compare it to others. If you find that similar properties have a similar value to your property, chances are you probably aren’t being over assessed. However, if the values are much lower, you and the assessor might have something to talk about.

Now that you know what an assessment is and have an idea on how to determine the value of your property, let’s discuss challenging the assessed value. In Washington, you have two options to challenge your assessed value and ultimately taxes. First, you can file a claim with the County Board of Equalization (“BOE”). This is an independent state agency that reviews the assessor’s valuation. Assuming the BOE agrees with the assessor, you can appeal the decision to the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA). If you don’t want to roll the dice with these agency’s and waste two years of your life consider the second route.

Option two is to pay your taxes under protest and file suit challenging the tax. In order to properly pay under protest, you have to follow the strict requirements of RCW 84.68.030 and WAC 458-18-215. I suggest contacting an attorney to make sure you comply with these provisions because failure to do so could ruin your entire claim. Once you’ve drafted your payment under protest, send it in along with your taxes. Also, it’s a good idea to send both documents certified mail so you have proof the assessor received both your taxes and your payment under protest.

Assuming you satisfy these requirements you will have almost a year to file suit in superior court challenging your assessment. If you don’t file suit within that year, you forfeit your ability to obtain a refund for that year’s property tax, but can still challenge taxes paid in the future. The filing and service fee to file suit will be around $320.00, and you have to hire an attorney.

Alright, that is all for now. I will periodically update this blog with more info, but for now, remember “PAY YOUR TAXES UNDER PROTEST!” It costs nothing and preserves your right to file suit in the future.

Ryan