Filed a Value Adjustment Board petition in Florida? How to prepare for the hearing

Most value petitions are filed in September, because the Notice of Proposed Property Taxes (the TRIM notice) arrives in August and the petition is due 25 days after it is mailed. If you filed one, or filed one over a denied exemption, the weeks ahead are about preparation. The value adjustment board page explains the process in full. This post turns it into a checklist for someone who already has a petition in the system.

Expect notice, then an exchange of evidence

Section 194.032 requires at least 25 calendar days' notice of the scheduled hearing. If the time does not work, a petitioner may reschedule once for good cause, meaning circumstances beyond their control that reasonably prevent adequate representation, and a rescheduled hearing needs at least 15 days' notice. At least 15 days before the hearing, both sides must exchange lists of witnesses and documents and copies of the documents. The property appraiser must also provide the property record card for the parcel. Evidence that was not exchanged on time can be excluded, so the 15-day mark is a deadline for you, not for the other side alone.

As an illustration, a hearing set for December 15 puts the exchange date at November 30 or earlier. Count backward from the date on your notice, not from memory.

Know who has to prove what

For a value dispute, section 194.301 sets a sequence. The property appraiser's assessment is presumed correct only once the appraiser shows, by a preponderance of the evidence, that it was arrived at using the statutory criteria and professionally accepted mass appraisal practices. If you then show, by a preponderance, that the assessment does not reflect just value or was arrived at using different appraisal practices than those applied to comparable properties in the county, the presumption is overcome. The board or court then sets the value from the competent, substantial evidence in the record, or remands to the appraiser if the record supports neither value.

In practice, that means your evidence should address the two things the statute names: what the property is worth, and how it compares with similar properties in the county.

What to put in the folder

• The TRIM notice and the property record card.
• Recent sales of comparable properties, with dates, prices and a short note on how each compares.
• Photographs or records of condition problems that a mass appraisal would not see.
• For an exemption denial, the denial notice and the documents the appraiser looked at.
• A one-page timeline of your own, so you can answer quickly.

An informal conference with the property appraiser is available under section 194.011(2), but the statute does not say that a conference extends any deadline, so keep the clocks running either way.

Keep paying: the condition that can end the case

Section 194.014 requires payment before the taxes become delinquent on April 1, regardless of a pending petition. For a value petition, that is all non-ad valorem assessments in full plus at least 75% of the ad valorem tax. For an exemption, classification or deferral petition, it is the non-ad valorem assessments plus the amount of tax you admit in good faith to be owing. If the required payment is not made, the board must deny the petition outright by written decision by April 20, without reaching the merits.

If the board later finds more tax is owed than you paid, the shortfall accrues interest at the bank prime rate from the delinquency date, and an overpayment is refunded with interest at the same rate. An amount that was grossly disproportionate and not offered in good faith can add a 10% annual penalty on the deficiency.

After the decision

The board issues a written decision. If you disagree, section 194.171 allows an action in circuit court, but only within 60 days of the decision, and only after paying the collector at least the amount admitted in good faith to be owing. Both conditions are jurisdictional, so a court cannot hear the case without them. Keep the later years' taxes current as well, since the case can be dismissed if they are not.

Procedures vary by county, and the clerk of the value adjustment board for your county is the place to ask about hearing schedules and local rules. This is general information from the statutes, not legal advice about your property.