The informal First Level Review deadline is printed on your annual assessment notice and changes year to year — for recent cycles it has fallen in early fall. The formal appeal to the Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT) is generally due the first Monday in October of the year before the tax year. Miss the window and you generally wait a full year. (Dates are set by the City — confirm on phila.gov.)
Most people never appeal because they don't know whether their assessment is actually too high, and figuring it out means digging through comparable sales by hand. ALKARTIS does that for you in seconds: enter your address, and we compare your Office of Property Assessment (OPA) value against real, recent sales of similar homes nearby. If you're over-assessed, you'll see it — and by roughly how much. Only then do you decide whether to file. Not sure you're over-assessed yet? Start with our quick self-check: Is my Philadelphia home over-assessed?
Enter your address. We compare your OPA assessment against recent comparable sales near you.
Get an estimate of whether your assessment is out of line with similar homes — and by how much — so you know if it's worth appealing.
If it's worth it, get a completed appeal packet with your comparable-sales evidence, formatted for the BRT — ready to submit before the deadline.
The appeal packet is built the way the Board of Revision of Taxes expects to see it: your parcel and current OPA value, the comparable sales that support a lower value, and a clear statement of the assessment you believe is accurate. You review it, sign it, and submit it — the research that usually takes a weekend is already done. Want to understand the process first? Read the step-by-step guide to appealing your Philadelphia assessment, or use our appeal letter template.
While ALKARTIS is in public beta, appeal packets are completely free — check your assessment and download your ready-to-file packet at no charge. The pricing below is what it will be once we leave beta, and we’ll always tell you before anything changes.
Checking whether you’re over-assessed is always free. When packets become paid after beta, the fee will be a one-time 10% of the first-year savings we estimate (minimum $49). We’d never take a cut of later years, and if the City ends up saving you more than we forecast, we’d never charge more.
If your appeal saves you less than we estimated, we refund the difference — verified against the City’s own published assessment — down to the base preparation fee. And in the rare case an appeal leads the City to raise your assessment, you pay nothing: we refund in full, base fee included. We can’t promise how the Board will rule, but we stand behind our forecast. Read the full Fair-Assessment Guarantee.
Compare your OPA value against recent sales of genuinely comparable homes nearby. A meaningful gap is the basis of an appeal — and that comparison is exactly what the free check does.
The informal First Level Review deadline is printed on your annual assessment notice and changes year to year, so it isn't a fixed calendar date — for recent cycles it has fallen in early fall. The formal BRT appeal is generally due the first Monday in October of the year before the tax year. The City sets the dates — confirm them on phila.gov. See our full appeal deadlines guide.
While we're in public beta, everything is free — the check and the appeal packet both. After beta, checking stays free and the packet becomes a one-time fee (10% of the first-year savings we estimate, minimum $49, never a cut of later years). We can't guarantee a reduction; the outcome is the Board's decision, not ours. But we'll back our fee: if the City ends up saving you less than we estimated, we refund the difference under our Fair-Assessment Guarantee, down to the base preparation fee.
It’s uncommon, and we only recommend filing when the evidence points to a reduction — but a review board can adjust an assessment in either direction. That’s exactly why our guarantee covers it: if an appeal leads the City to raise your assessment, you pay us nothing — a full refund, base fee included.
No lawyer required; owners can file themselves — here's how to appeal without a lawyer. And ALKARTIS is an independent company, not the City of Philadelphia — you can always appeal for free directly with the City. We're the faster, evidence-ready way to do it.
Free, plain-language guides to every part of the Philadelphia appeal — from checking your assessment to filing before the deadline.