Guide
How a Michigan assessment actually works
Written for owners, not assessors. If you understand the three numbers on your notice, you can tell for yourself whether an appeal is worth anybody's time.
The three values
Assessed Value
The assessor's estimate of one half of your property's true cash value. The 50% ratio is set by Michigan statute, not chosen locally, which is why doubling Assessed Value gives you the assessor's view of market value.
Capped Value
A ceiling produced by a formula: last year's Taxable Value, adjusted for inflation and for any additions or losses. It exists to stop tax bills tracking a hot market year for year.
Taxable Value
The lower of Assessed Value and Capped Value, and the number your bill is actually calculated on. For a property that has not changed hands in a while, it is usually well below Assessed Value.
The consequence
An appeal argues about Assessed Value. Your bill is calculated on Taxable Value. Winning the argument only changes the bill if the value we can justify falls below your current Taxable Value.
The order things happen in
- Your assessor sets a value and sends you a notice of assessment showing Assessed Value, Capped Value, and Taxable Value for the coming year.
- The local Board of Review sits. For most property this is the first stage of a challenge, and for residential property it is normally a required one before going further.
- The Michigan Tax Tribunal. The appeal body above the local board. Commercial, industrial, and other classifications can, in some circumstances, go there directly.
- A decision applies to the assessment year in question, and the corrected value flows into the following years unless something changes it again.
Dates deliberately omitted. The deadlines at each stage depend on your property's classification and on your local board's calendar. Your notice states the ones that apply to your parcel, and we will confirm them for you against the record rather than print a general date here that might be wrong for you.
Straight answers
Assessment questions
Why are there three different values on my notice?
Assessed Value is the assessor’s view of half your property’s market value. Capped Value is what the cap formula permits Taxable Value to rise to. Taxable Value is the lower of those two, and it is the one your bill is calculated on.
They are three different questions, and an appeal argues about the first one.
What is uncapping?
When a property transfers ownership, the cap on Taxable Value resets and Taxable Value is set to Assessed Value for the following year.
That is why a recent purchase changes the calculation: after uncapping, a reduction in Assessed Value has a much more direct effect on the bill.
What evidence actually moves an assessment?
Sales of comparable property, for a house. Rent rolls, operating statements, vacancy, and capitalisation evidence, for income-producing property. Cost and depreciation evidence, for special-purpose property.
What does not move it: what you paid in taxes last year, what your neighbour pays, or the fact that the bill went up.
When do I have to appeal by?
Michigan runs a fixed annual calendar, and the dates differ depending on how the property is classified and which stage you are at. Your assessment notice states the dates that apply to your parcel.
We deliberately do not print a date on this page. A date that is right for most people and wrong for you could cost you a year, so we confirm it against your parcel instead. Send us the address and we will tell you what applies.
Want us to read yours?
Send the address. We will pull the record, work through exactly what is above, and reply with what it says about your parcel.
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