Appealing your Philadelphia property tax assessment is more approachable than it looks — no lawyer required. The whole process comes down to one question: is the City's value higher than what comparable homes near you actually sell for? Here's how to answer it and file, step by step.
The short version: Check whether you're over-assessed, gather three to five comparable sales, then file a First Level Review with the Office of Property Assessment (deadline September 1, 2026) or a formal Board of Revision of Taxes appeal (deadline October 5, 2026). Both dates are set each year — confirm them on your notice and at phila.gov.
Every year the Office of Property Assessment (OPA) assigns your home a market value using mass appraisal — a model that prices hundreds of thousands of parcels at once. Because it can't walk through your home, it routinely lands individual houses above what the market would actually pay. Start by comparing your assessed market value to recent sales of genuinely similar homes near you. If comparable homes have been selling below your assessed value, that gap is the basis of an appeal. Our over-assessment self-check walks through the math.
Philadelphia appeals are won on comparable sales. Pull three to five recent sales of homes that match yours on size, age, condition, and location, and that sold below your assessed value. Then check your OPA record for plain factual errors — an overstated square footage, a wrong number of units, a finished-basement or extra-story flag that doesn't match reality. A record error is one of the cleanest grounds for a reduction, and it costs nothing to verify.
Philadelphia gives you two tracks, and you can use either or both:
Neither requires a lawyer. Many owners file the FLR first and keep the formal BRT appeal as a backstop.
This is the part that trips people up, because miss the window and you wait a year. For the current cycle:
Both dates are set each year, so always confirm the current year's deadlines on your assessment notice and at phila.gov before you rely on them. Our deadlines guide keeps the current dates in one place.
Submit your comparable sales and any record corrections with your filing. A BRT appeal may include a brief hearing where you present your case; there's a what-to-expect guide for that. If your value is lowered, the reduction isn't a one-time win — at Philadelphia's roughly 1.4% effective rate (1.3998% of assessed value), the lower base cuts your tax bill every year until the next reassessment.
Steps 1 and 2 — the research — are where most people stall. TaxAssessmentIQ does exactly that part: enter your address for a free, no-sign-up verdict on whether you're over-assessed, drawn from the City's own recorded sales. If your home looks over-assessed, you can get a ready-to-file appeal packet for a flat, one-time price, backed by a money-back guarantee. If it isn't worth filing, we tell you that too, for free, before you pay anything.
For the current cycle, the First Level Review deadline is September 1, 2026 and the formal Board of Revision of Taxes appeal deadline is October 5, 2026 — the first Monday in October. Both dates are set each year, so confirm them on your assessment notice and at phila.gov before you file.
No. Homeowners can file a First Level Review or a formal Board of Revision of Taxes appeal themselves, with no lawyer required. The hard part is the research — finding comparable sales and checking your record — which is what TaxAssessmentIQ does for you.
A First Level Review (FLR) is an informal request that the Office of Property Assessment reconsider the value it set, using the form on your notice. A Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT) appeal is the formal, independent process with a hearing. They have different deadlines, and you can pursue either or both.
The strongest evidence is recent sales of genuinely comparable homes — similar size, age, condition, and location — that sold below your assessed value. Factual errors in your OPA record, such as an overstated square footage or wrong unit count, are also clean grounds for a reduction.
Filing an appeal yourself with the City is free. If you want the research and paperwork done for you, TaxAssessmentIQ gives a free, no-sign-up verdict on whether you're over-assessed, and — only if it's worth filing — a ready-to-file appeal packet for a flat, one-time price with a money-back guarantee.
TaxAssessmentIQ gives you a free, honest verdict from the City's own recorded sales — just enter your address, no sign-up and no account. If your home looks over-assessed, you can get a ready-to-file appeal packet for a flat, one-time price, backed by a money-back guarantee. If it isn't worth filing, we tell you that too — for free, before you pay anything.