Beginning with the notices of assessment for the January 1, 2019 assessment date, Indiana is establishing a new assessment appeal deadline. This year, some counties have already issued notices for the January 1, 2019 assessment date, thus triggering the new appeal deadline. However some counties have only recently issued notices of assessment for the January 1, 2018 assessment date, which remain subject to the “old” appeal deadline.

Some Indiana counties have elected to use their property tax bills to serve as notice of assessed values. For those counties, the property tax bills issued in March or April of this year would serve as notice of a property’s assessed value for the January 1, 2018 assessment date. Under those circumstances, the “old” appeal deadline found in Indiana Code section 6-1.1-15-1.1 still applies: a taxpayer has 45 days from the mailing of the tax bill in which to file an assessment appeal for the January 1, 2018 assessment date.

However, other counties in Indiana have elected to send a Notice of Assessment (Form 11) separate from a tax bill. These counties have already determined values for the January 1, 2019 assessment date and mailed notices of those values. Under those circumstances, Indiana Code Section 6-1.1-15-1.1 establishes a uniform set of appeal deadlines. If the Notice of Assessment (Form 11) is mailed prior to May 1, then the taxpayer has until June 15 of that same calendar year in which to file an appeal of that Notice of Assessment. However, if the Notice of Assessment is not issued until May 1 or later, then the taxpayer has until June 15 of the following calendar year in which to file an appeal. Essentially, this later deadline recognizes the practice of some counties who elect to use property tax bills as a Notice of Assessment. For instance, a county which chooses to use tax bills to serve as notice of a property’s assessment for the January 1, 2019 assessment date will mail those tax bills in the spring of 2020. Because the date of those tax bills is later than May 1, 2019, the resulting appeal deadline for the January 1, 2019 assessment date would be June 15, 2020.

Looking ahead to 2020, taxpayers should be able to rely on June 15 as the uniform appeal deadline in Indiana. The only variable will be whether the appeal relates to the assessed value on a property tax bill (for those counties using property tax bills as their first notice of January 1, 2019 assessed values), or whether it relates to the January 1, 2020 assessed value stated on a Notice of Assessment, which value will form the basis of property tax bills in 2021.