Questions homeowners are asking

A reduction in assessed value cuts the bill at the Class 1 tax rate, currently just under 20 percent of each assessed dollar, so every $1,000 of reduction is roughly $198 a year. The realistic size of a reduction depends on how far the city's market value estimate runs above what the home would actually sell for; the checker on the landing page does that arithmetic on your number in a few seconds.

The court fee is $30, fixed by the statute, and it is the only fee the court charges for a SCAR petition. The Tax Commission protest that must come first is free to file. What a consultant charges for running the case is separate and quoted before anything is filed.

A SCAR hearing reviews whether the assessment should come down; it is not a reappraisal that can leave you worse off for having asked. The realistic downside of a weak case is the $30 and the time, which is exactly why the number gets read before anything is filed.

For this year's roll, yes: the SCAR petition requires a Tax Commission protest first, and the Charter allows no extensions. The productive move is to build the case now and file the day the next window opens in mid-January. Assessments carry forward, so an overassessment this year is very likely an overassessment next year too.

Usually not: SCAR reaches 1-3 family homes and the handful of condo units designated tax class 1. For everyone else the money is the co-op/condo abatement, 17.5 to 28.1 percent off the bill for primary residents, and the building's own Tax Commission protest. The checker reads which situation your address is in and answers for that one.

Check anyway, for two reasons. First, the test is not the market value line on the notice; it is whether the assessed value exceeds 6 percent of what the home is actually worth, and the two can disagree. Second, the record can carry errors that have nothing to do with value: a wrong building class, a missed exemption, a benefit that fell off. Two minutes of checking against a year of overpaying is not a close call.

An informal session with a specially trained hearing officer, usually brief. The evidence that moves them is concrete: recent sales of comparable homes, an appraisal, photographs of condition problems, and the arithmetic against the 6 percent standard. The rules of evidence are relaxed by design; it is built so a homeowner can be heard without a lawyer.