Homeowners In Philadelphia Can Pay Last Year’s Real Estate Taxes Pending Tax Assessment Appeal

What many residential property owners in Philadelphia, however, do not realize is that the City of Philadelphia recently passed a law, granting them temporary real estate tax relief if they appealed to the Board of Revision of Taxes the increase of their real estate tax assessments from 2013 to 2014.

Under the new law, if a property owner of a residential property filed a timely tax assessment appeal to the Board of Revision of Taxes and the appeal is still pending, the property owner may pay what he or she paid in real estate taxes in 2013. If the property owner loses the tax assessment appeal, the property owner then has 30 days from the date of the administrative ruling to pay the remaining real estate tax arrearage without accruing any penalties or interest.

The City of Philadelphia’s Department of Revenue is legally obligated to notify affected property owners in writing of this amendment to the Philadelphia Code. To the dismay of many, the Department of Revenue has not met its burden and, thus, many Philadelphians are unaware that their current real estate tax burden has not yet increased.