Wait for your final tax bill and pay your taxes: Filing an abatement does not relieve your obligation to pay the tax bill on time. If your abatement is granted, you will receive a refund with interest.
File with the town: After you have received and paid your tax bill, you may then complete an abatement application, which is attached below, or you may pick up an application at the Town Hall.
Deadline: The application must be received or postmarked by March 1.
Good cause: You must provide specific reasons, or “good cause”, for your abatement request. This typically means showing factual errors in the assessment or a disproportionate valuation compared to similar properties. Simply thinking your taxes are “too high” is not sufficient.
Burden of proof: The responsibility falls on you as the taxpayer to prove that your property assessment is incorrect. You should gather as much information as possible such as.
Photographs of your property, inside and outside.
Comparable sales data for similar properties that have been sold recently.
Consider a professional appraisal
Town review: The Town’s assessing officials and the Board of Selectmen will review your application. They may schedule a property visit to verify the details you submitted.
Receive a decision: The town must grant or deny your application in writing by July 1st. If, however, they do not respond by this date, your request is considered “denied”.
Consider an appeal: If the town denies your abatement, you have two options for appeal, which must be filed by September 1st:
Appeal to the New Hampshire Board of Tax and Land Appeals (BTLA). Please note there is a $65 filing fee for this.
