Can you appeal your Scottsdale property's assessed value?

Yes. The Maricopa County Assessor says the appeal process lets an owner ask for a review of the Assessor's Full Cash Value and the legal classification of the property, but not the Limited Property Value. You start with the Assessor, and if you disagree with the answer, there are two more places to take it, which I cover below. An appeal asks for a review. It does not mean the value will change, and the Assessor decides.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, and I'm the agent people call at every stage of their life. Property tax comes up whether you're buying or selling, so I read what the Maricopa County Assessor, the Arizona Department of Revenue and the Arizona statutes say about appeals and put it here with the source named next to each fact.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice, and I'm not a tax professional. I checked each source on November 7, 2026. Deadlines are set by law and can change, so the date printed on your own notice and the Assessor's Office are the final word.

It's the document the Assessor's Office mails each year with the values for your property. The Assessor's handout says the office is required to send it between January 1 and March 1, and the Department of Revenue says the same, that the Assessor may send the real property notice any time from January 1 to the last day of February. The Assessor's frequently asked questions page says that in most cases no action is required, and that if you disagree with the value, an appeal is how you say so.

It matters because the appeal clock starts on the day the Assessor mails it. The state's instructions for the residential petition, published by the Arizona Department of Revenue, say to file within sixty days of the date postmarked on the notice, so find that date on your own notice and put it on your calendar the day it arrives.

Only the Full Cash Value. The Assessor's frequently asked questions page says Full Cash Value is synonymous with market value and is the appealable value, and that the Limited Property Value may not exceed the Full Cash Value and is not an appealable value. The state's petition instructions describe the form the same way, as the way to appeal the full cash (market) value or the classification of the property shown on the notice. Classification, which is how the Assessor categorizes the property, can be appealed too.

How the two values work, and the yearly limit on the Limited Property Value, is in my post on how Arizona's property tax cap works for a home in Scottsdale. The tax bill itself comes from the Treasurer, and I explain how to look up your Scottsdale property tax bill in a separate post.

You file a Petition for Review of Real Property Valuation with the Assessor, within sixty days of the mailing date of the Notice of Value. The Arizona Department of Revenue says the same sixty days in its guide to property tax appeals, and so does the Arizona statute that covers it, A.R.S. 42-16051. The Assessor's handout says owners or their representatives can file online at mcassessor.maricopa.gov.

The statute and the state's revenue department both say the petition has to state your opinion of the property's full cash value and back it up with supporting information. You can file on your own, or you can name an agent to represent you. The department says a registered property tax agent or an attorney can act for you, and its petition instructions say an agency authorization form has to go with the petition if you name one.

The petition instructions also say to keep a copy of everything you send, and that all the issues you want reviewed have to be on the petition. If you want to meet with the Assessor's staff, the form has a box to request that.

Evidence that matches the way you're arguing the value. The petition instructions say you must name the method of valuation your appeal is based on and give information that justifies your opinion. If you're using the market sales approach, the instructions say to include the full cash value of at least one comparable property in the same geographic area as your property, or the sale of your property itself. If you're using the cost approach, they say to include all the costs to build or rebuild the residence, plus the land value. The statute describes the same market and cost approaches, and it also lists an income approach.

The instructions say the evidence should be in written form. They don't say how many comparable sales are enough or how recent they have to be, and the Assessor's materials I read don't either, so I'm not going to give you a number. The Assessor's Office can tell you what it looks at.

If you bought the home recently, the sale of your property is one of the things the instructions name. If you're thinking about buying or selling and want to see recent sales near a home, call me and I'll pull them, though I can't tell you what the Assessor will do with them.

You can take it to the State Board of Equalization. The Assessor's handout says that if you're not satisfied with the Assessor's decision, you may file with the State Board within twenty-five days of that decision, and the department's guide says the same twenty-five days, counted from the day the Assessor mailed the notice of decision. The petition instructions say that in Maricopa and Pima Counties the second-level appeal goes to the State Board of Equalization, and in other counties it goes to the county board. So for a Scottsdale home, it's the State Board.

The department's guide says the Assessor must rule on real property appeals by August 15, and that the Board of Equalization holds a hearing on the petition and issues its decision. Both the Assessor's handout and the department's guide call these two steps administrative appeals, and the guide says the Assessor has to send you the reasons in writing if it denies your petition in whole or in part.

Yes. The Assessor's handout says owners can file with the Arizona Superior Court, either as a tax court case or a small claims case, if they missed the Assessor's deadline, if they're appealing the Assessor's or the State Board's decision, or if they want to skip the administrative steps altogether. There are two court deadlines, and the Assessor's handout, the department's guide and the statute all give both. To go straight to court, file on or before December 15. If you filed with the Assessor first, a court appeal is due within sixty days after the most recent administrative decision.

Small claims has its own rules for which properties qualify, and the Assessor and the department describe them differently, so I'm not going to summarize them. The Assessor's handout lists a phone number for the tax and small claims court, and the Superior Court's website is superiorcourt.maricopa.gov. If you're thinking about court, ask the court which rules apply to your property, and consider talking with a property tax professional or an attorney.

On the notice, and on the Assessor's site. The state's guide says that deadlines, procedures and requirements can vary from county to county, so for a Scottsdale home the Maricopa County Assessor's Office is the one to ask. If you've lost the notice, here's how to look up a Scottsdale property's owner, value and tax records, which includes the Assessor's search.

Also check the mailing address the county has on file for the home, because the notice goes there and the clock starts when it's mailed. If you have an appeal open and you're wondering whether anything changes about paying your tax bill, ask the Assessor's Office and the Treasurer's Office before the bill is due.

Here's how to look up your Scottsdale property tax bill, and here's how Arizona's property tax cap works. If you're buying, here's my guide to buying a home in Scottsdale.

If you have a home in mind and want to see recent sales around it, get in touch or call me at (480) 203-6605. For anything about your own notice or your own appeal, the Maricopa County Assessor's Office is the place to ask.