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Ohio Board of Revision: how to challenge your property value

Every Ohio county has a Board of Revision, and any property owner can ask it to lower the county Auditor's value on their parcel. It is free to file, the form is two pages, and the deadline is March 31. Most owners never do it, and most who do lose for the same avoidable reason: they argue that their taxes are too high instead of proving what the property is worth.

What the Board of Revision is

Under R.C. 5715.02 a county Board of Revision is made up of the county treasurer, the county auditor, and one member of the board of county commissioners. Each of those officials may appoint a qualified employee from their own office to sit in their place for hearing real-property valuation complaints, which is who usually hears a residential case.

The Board is a quasi-judicial body. Testimony is under oath, you may be represented by counsel, and you may cross-examine. It is not a negotiation with the Auditor's office.

The deadline: March 31

R.C. 5715.19(A)(1) requires a complaint for a given tax year to be filed with the county auditor "on or before the thirty-first day of March of the ensuing tax year or the date of closing of the collection for the first half of real and public utility property taxes for the current tax year, whichever is later." A postmark counts.

In practice the filing window is January 1 through March 31, and it challenges the prior year's value. Miss it and the next opportunity is a year away.

Which form

Filing a market-value dispute on DTE 2, or a classification dispute on DTE 1, is one of the routine ways a complaint gets dismissed without ever reaching the merits.

Who may file

The owner, the owner's spouse, an officer or employee or partner or member of an entity that owns the parcel, a trustee, and certain retained professionals: an appraiser licensed under R.C. Chapter 4763, a public accountant under R.C. 4701.10, a broker under R.C. Chapter 4735, or a tax professional holding an IPT or IAAO designation. A commercial or industrial tenant obligated by lease to pay all the taxes and authorized to file may also file. The county prosecutor and treasurer may file, and a subdivision's legislative authority or mayor may, subject to sharp restrictions added in 2022.

Preparing and filing a Board of Revision complaint for someone else is the practice of law in Ohio. An owner may always file for themselves; a non-lawyer may not do it on another person's behalf.

One complaint per three-year cycle

R.C. 5715.19(A)(2) bars filing against a parcel again during the same interim (triennial) period if you already filed against it in that period, unless one of four things happened after the lien date and was not already considered:

  1. The property was sold in an arm's-length transaction.
  2. The property lost value due to some casualty.
  3. A substantial improvement was added to the property.
  4. An increase or decrease of at least fifteen per cent in occupancy has had a substantial economic impact on the property.

These map exactly to the checkboxes on DTE 1, Line 14. If you are filing a second time in a cycle and none of the four boxes honestly applies, the complaint is going to be dismissed. That is also the practical argument for not spending a weak complaint early in a triennium.

The $50,000 line

House Bill 126, effective in 2022, rewrote how school districts participate. A board of education may now file a counter-complaint only against an owner-side complaint that seeks a change of at least $17,500 in taxable value, which is $50,000 in market value. HB 126 also eliminated the old automatic notice to school boards and voided private pay-to-drop settlement agreements between subdivisions and owners.

The practical consequence: a request for a reduction at or above $50,000 of market value invites a represented adversary into the hearing. That is often still the right ask. It should be a decision, not an accident.

How the value math works

Ohio taxable value is 35% of true (market) value. DTE 1 asks for full market value, not taxable value:

Entering taxable value where market value belongs understates the ask by roughly two thirds and is a frequent, expensive mistake.

What actually wins, and what loses

The burden is entirely on the complainant. The Auditor's value carries no presumption of validity, but if you fail to prove a different value, the value reverts to the Auditor's number. Attacking the county's figure without supplying a defensible one of your own is a loss, not a draw.

EvidenceResult
Recent arm's-length sale of the property itself, below the Auditor's value, with the deed and closing statementWins
Competent appraisal, with the appraiser appearing to testify, valuing the unencumbered fee simpleWins
A rigorous comparable sales analysis: similar, recent, arm's-length, adjusted for differencesWins if rigorous
Certified contractor estimates for major structural defects, tied to a loss in valueSupportive
Owner's opinion of value, supported by dataSupportive
Owner's opinion of value with nothing behind itLoses
Comparing the Auditor's assessed values of neighboring parcels (equalization)Loses
Asking price, MLS listing, an offer, or a pending saleLoses
Sheriff's sale, foreclosure, or other forced or related-party transferLoses
Deferred maintenance and routine repairs, already reflected in the valueLoses
Relying on the county to put on no evidenceLoses

The single strongest case is a recent arm's-length sale of the subject property. Ohio law treats such a sale as presumptive evidence of true value, and since a 2012 amendment to R.C. 5713.03 the Auditor "may" rather than "shall" adopt it, making it a rebuttable presumption rather than a conclusive one. See Berea City School Dist. Bd. of Edn. v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of Revision, 2005-Ohio-4979; Cummins Property Servs., L.L.C. v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of Revision, 2008-Ohio-1473; and Terraza 8, L.L.C. v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of Revision, 2017-Ohio-4415. R.C. 5713.04 runs the presumption the other way for forced sales.

Two further rules that decide cases quietly. R.C. 5715.13 says the Board shall not decrease a value without a written application verified by oath and signature showing the facts, which is why DTE 1 must be notarized. And R.C. 5715.19(G) requires the complainant to give the Board all information within their knowledge or possession affecting the property; evidence held back at the Board generally cannot be introduced later on appeal. Put the whole case in the first time.

Getting dismissed on a technicality

County boards routinely dismiss complaints that never reach the merits. The recurring causes:

Appeals

A Board of Revision decision may be appealed within 30 days of the mailing of the decision, either to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals under R.C. 5717.01 or directly to the county court of common pleas under R.C. 5717.05, where review is de novo. The notice of appeal is filed with both the chosen forum and the Board of Revision, and whichever forum is filed in first takes exclusive jurisdiction.

Common questions

What is the deadline to file an Ohio Board of Revision complaint?

R.C. 5715.19 requires the complaint to be filed with the county auditor on or before March 31 of the tax year following the one being challenged, or the close of first-half collection for that year, whichever is later. A postmark counts. There is no general extension and the deadline is jurisdictional in practice.

Which form do I use, DTE 1 or DTE 2?

DTE Form 1 is for market value. DTE Form 2 is for everything else: classification, CAUV denial or conversion, agricultural-land valuation, and the child-care partial exemption. DTE 1M replaces DTE 1 for a manufactured or mobile home taxed like real property. Filing the wrong form is a common reason complaints get dismissed.

Can I file more than once in the same three-year cycle?

Generally no. R.C. 5715.19(A)(2) bars a second complaint on the same parcel within the same interim (triennial) period unless one of four things happened after the lien date and was not previously considered: an arm's-length sale, a casualty loss, a substantial improvement, or a change in occupancy of at least fifteen per cent with substantial economic impact.

Will the school board get involved?

Only above a threshold. Since House Bill 126 (2022), a board of education may file a counter-complaint only against an owner-side complaint seeking a change of at least $17,500 in taxable value, which is $50,000 in market value. Below that line the school board has no entry point.

What happens if I lose?

The value reverts to the county's figure. There is no penalty for filing, but a complainant who puts on no competent evidence does not get a compromise; the auditor's number stands, and the one-complaint-per-triennium bar may have been spent.

How do I appeal a Board of Revision decision?

Within 30 days of the mailing of the decision, either to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals under R.C. 5717.01 or directly to the county court of common pleas under R.C. 5717.05. The notice is filed with both the chosen forum and the Board of Revision. Whichever forum is filed in first takes exclusive jurisdiction.

Filing in your county

Everything above is statewide law and applies in all 88 counties. Where you actually send the complaint is not: counties differ on the mailing address, whether they accept an electronic filing, whether a paper form must be notarized, and how many days before the hearing your evidence is due. Each page below carries that county's own published filing detail.

Start with your parcel

Before anything else, look at what the county actually has on your property: the assessed value, how it moved across the last reappraisal and update cycles, the recorded sales on your street, and whether the building record the value rests on is even accurate. A value built on the wrong square footage or a bathroom you do not have is the easiest case there is.

Look up your parcel on PlatBook

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