Who will decide my tax petition?

If after sharing information with the assessor, verifying size and age, and analyzing all three approaches to value, there is no agreed upon reduction in value, it is time to prepare the case for trial before the Tax Court. Since most of the information has already been shared through the 90 day disclosure and through negotiations with the assessor, formal discovery is very rare in tax petition actions. However, the property owner will need to engage the services of an expert appraiser who will testify at trial from a written appraisal report and provide the Tax Court judge the appraiser’s opinion of value under the three approaches. At trial, the evidence is essentially a battle of the appraiser and the assessor, with the Tax Court judge responsible for deciding which to believe and which parts of the appraisals to accept in reaching a final value decision.

The Minnesota Tax Court is a three judge, statewide court. The Governor appoints Tax Court Judges and they are part of the executive, not judicial branch. There is no jury but the judges are selected for their knowledge in property valuation. For helpful information about the Minnesota Tax Court, take a look at their website: www.taxcourt.state.mn.us .

Under Minnesota law, there is an assumption that the assessor has correctly valued and classified property. Thus, the taxpayer must overcome that assumption by presenting factual evidence of overvaluation or mistaken classification.

But BEWARE! The Tax Court has the power to increase the valuation, and has used that power, when it found evidence to support a higher value. As a last resort, a loss at the Tax Court can be appealed directly to Minnesota Supreme Court.

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