Property Tax Protest in Alabama: Deadline, Grounds, and Hearing

If you think your home’s appraised value is too high, you can file a property tax protest in Alabama by submitting a written objection to your county Board of Equalization within 30 calendar days of the date printed on your valuation notice. Filing costs nothing. Because Alabama taxes owner-occupied homes at just 10 percent of appraised value, even a modest overvaluation keeps costing you money every year it goes uncorrected.

The 30-Day Deadline

When the Board of Equalization raises your assessed value above the prior year’s figure, the board’s secretary must mail you a statement showing the new numbers no later than July 1, unless the Alabama Department of Revenue sets a different date. You then have 30 calendar days from the date on that statement to file a written objection.¹

Treat that window as firm. The statute does allow any taxpayer to appear before the Board at any time before taxes become delinquent and ask that the assessment be reopened, but only if satisfactory evidence shows the value should be changed. Boards have discretion over late requests, and they are much harder to push through than a timely protest.¹

Your objection must be in writing, describe the property, and state your reason for disagreeing with the value. Keep a date-stamped copy of everything. If you mail it, send it certified with return receipt so you can prove it arrived in time. Hand-delivering to the county office and asking for a date stamp works equally well.

Grounds That Actually Work

Alabama Code Section 40-7-25 governs the protest process, and most successful objections rest on one of a handful of arguments.¹

Overvaluation

The most common argument is that the county’s appraised value is higher than what your home would actually sell for. Alabama defines fair market value as the price a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, neither being forced into the transaction, after considering everything that affects value. If comparable homes in your area sold for less than your assessed figure as of the October 1 lien date, that gap is your strongest evidence.²

Lack of Uniformity

Alabama law requires the Board of Equalization to correct any valuation that does not reflect fair and reasonable market value, whether that means raising or lowering it. If neighboring homes with similar square footage, age, and condition carry noticeably lower assessments, you can argue that your valuation is out of step and needs to be equalized.³

Misclassification

Alabama assesses residential owner-occupied property (Class III) at 10 percent of market value and most other property (Class II) at 20 percent. If your home is mistakenly classified as Class II, the assessed value doubles and so does your tax bill. This happens more often than you’d think with properties that include a small home business, an accessory dwelling unit, or a mixed-use structure. Correcting the class cuts the taxable base in half without anyone having to argue about market value at all.⁴

Evidence to Gather Before You File

The statute requires you to state your reasons, and the Board of Equalization examines witnesses under oath before deciding. Organized evidence makes the difference.³

Start by requesting your official property record card from the county. It lists square footage, bedrooms and bathrooms, lot size, year built, and the other details used to calculate your value. Errors are common and easy to prove. If the county has you down for 2,400 square feet when the house is 2,100, that alone can explain the overvaluation.

Next, pull comparable sales. These are recent sales of similar homes near yours, ideally in the same neighborhood and close to the October 1 valuation date. Most county assessor websites let you search sales data for free. Look for homes with a similar age, size, and condition that sold for less than the county’s appraised value of your property. Three to five solid comparables are usually enough.

If your home has physical problems the county may not know about, document them. Photographs of foundation cracks, roof damage, outdated electrical panels, or water damage show the Board that your home is not in the average condition the mass appraisal model assumed. Written repair estimates from licensed contractors help quantify the hit to value. A professional independent appraisal from a licensed appraiser is the strongest possible evidence, though it will typically run $300 to $600 for a standard residential property.

What Happens After You File

The process has two stages. An informal review comes first, and a formal Board hearing follows only if that review doesn’t settle things.

Informal Review With a County Appraiser

Once the county receives your written objection, an appraiser will contact you to discuss the specifics. In some counties this is a phone call or email rather than an in-person meeting. The appraiser reviews your comparable sales, condition documentation, and any errors on the property record card. If both sides agree on an adjusted value, you receive written confirmation and the matter is done. Many protests end here because once an appraiser sees a factual error or strong comparables, there is no reason to push further.⁵

Formal Hearing Before the Board of Equalization

If the informal review does not produce an agreement, your case moves to the Board of Equalization, a citizens’ panel that operates independently from the county appraisal staff. Hearings typically run from June through September, and the county mails you an appointment letter with your date and time.⁶

You may appear in person, through an agent, or through an attorney. The Board examines you and any witnesses under oath, reviews your evidence, and decides whether the current valuation reflects fair market value. If it does not, the Board corrects the value up or down. A written decision is mailed to you afterward, and the corrected figure becomes your assessed value for that tax year.³

One warning before you walk in: the Board can raise your value, not just lower it. If the evidence shows the county actually undervalued your home, the Board is required to correct the assessment upward. This rarely happens, since the county appraiser already had the chance to increase the value, but it is a legal possibility worth knowing about.

If the Board Rules Against You

You can appeal a Board of Equalization decision to the circuit court in your county. You must file the notice of appeal within 30 calendar days of the date on the Board’s written notice, with both the secretary of the Board and the clerk of the circuit court.⁷

There’s a financial piece to this. You must file a bond with the circuit court clerk, conditioned to pay all costs. To preserve the appeal, your property taxes must be paid by December 31 or you must post a bond in double the amount of taxes due. If the Board has not issued its ruling by November 30, the statute gives you 30 calendar days from the date of the final decision to file.⁷

Circuit court is a real escalation. You are likely to need an attorney, and the bond requirement means real money is at stake. For most homeowners, the Board hearing is the practical endpoint. But if the amount in dispute justifies the cost, the option exists, and the 30-day filing window is strict.

Check Your Homestead Exemption First

Before putting time into a valuation protest, confirm you’re receiving every homestead exemption you qualify for. A missing exemption can cost more than an inflated appraisal, and applying is straightforward. You must own and occupy the property as your primary residence on October 1 of the tax year, and file by December 31.⁸

Alabama’s homestead exemptions shield portions of your assessed value from taxation:

H-1 (under 65, not disabled): exempts up to $4,000 in assessed value from state property taxes and up to $2,000 from county taxes. No income requirement.
H-2 (age 65 or older with adjusted gross income below $12,000, or permanently and totally disabled): exempt from all state property taxes and up to $5,000 in assessed value from county taxes, including school district taxes.
H-3 (age 65 or older with combined federal taxable income of $12,000 or less, or permanently and totally disabled): exempt from all property taxes, state, county, and municipal.
H-4 (age 65 or older with income above $12,000): exempt from all state property taxes and receives the standard $2,000 assessed-value exemption on county taxes.

⁹

The H-3 exemption catches people off guard. A retired couple both over 65 with combined federal taxable income of $12,000 or less owes zero property tax regardless of the home’s value. If you or your spouse recently turned 65 or retired, re-examine your category. The difference between H-4 and H-3 can be your whole tax bill, and getting it right may solve the problem a protest was meant to fix.⁹

1
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 40-7-25 – Estimation of Fair Market Value; Assessment List; Notice; Objections
2
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 18-1A-172 – Fair Market Value Defined
3
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 40-3-19 – Meetings; Hearing Objections to Valuations and Assessments
4
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 40-8-1 – Classification of Property; Assessment Rate
5
Baldwin County. Property Appeal
6
Mobile County Government. Mobile County Board of Equalization
7
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 40-3-25 – Appeals; Procedure
8
Madison County, AL. Homestead Exemption Information
9
Alabama Department of Revenue. Homestead Exemptions