2027 Reassessment: The New Application
The Office of Property Assessment (OPA) is conducting a countywide reassessment for tax year 2027. As you may be aware, the certification deadline for all 580,000+ parcels of real property in the city and county of Philadelphia is March 31st; however, in reassessment years, the OPA is often running behind. So, while the 2027 values have not yet been certified and disclosed to the public, rest assured, new values are coming. To prepare, you should set a calendar reminder to check your properties on the OPA website at least by September 1st, so you have plenty of time to evaluate whether you will be filing any appeals to the Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT) to challenge the OPA’s new valuations. You might also want to check out the BRT’s appeal requirements, which are set forth on the BRT’s 2027 Market Value Appeal form. If you do check out the 2027 Market Value Appeal form, you will notice some changes this year.
First, while, previously, you would need to submit an appraisal if the OPA had valued your property at $1 million or more, this year, you will only need an appraisal if the OPA has valued your property at $1.5 million or more.
Second, the options you may select for the reason you are challenging the market value selected for your property have changed. The 2025 Market Value Appeal form gives applicants the following options to explain the reason(s) for their appeal:
However, the 2027 Market Value Appeal form gives applicants these options:
The major difference, as you can see, is that now you may file a market value appeal on the grounds that the OPA has applied a 10-year tax abatement incorrectly. I previously wrote about this issue and have filed mandamus actions in part on the fact that taxpayers had no option to appeal the OPA’s determination of the amount to be abated when it implements an approved 10-year tax abatement. Thus, from my perspective, this is a most welcome change to the BRT’s appeal process.
In my next post, I will explain the main reason developers may want to consider filing a 2027 market value appeal if they expect to complete construction in calendar year 2026.
As always, please feel free to reach out directly with any questions.