March 31, 2024 is the deadline for property owners in Allegheny County to appeal their real property assessment for the 2024 tax year. The Pennsylvania State Tax Equalization Board (STEB) has announced that the common level ratio (CLR) applicable to 2024 (through June 30, 2024) is 54.5%. The purpose of the CLR set for Allegheny County is to adjust current fair market values of real property for tax assessment purposes to the level of what the property’s theoretical value was in 2012, i.e., the “base year”, which is the year of the most recent countywide reassessment for Allegheny County. This is done in order to render an element of fairness to the assessed values of real estate, particularly properties that have recently sold within the past year or two. Such sales are generally the triggering event for reassessment by the taxing bodies such as the county, the municipality and the school district where the real property is located.

The current CLR for Allegheny County reflects a dramatic reduction over the past three years from 86.2% in 2021 to 63.5% in 2022 and from 63.6% in 2023 to 54.5% in 2024. Because of this dramatic reduction in the CLR over the past roughly 2 years. Any homeowner in Allegheny County should consider and evaluate whether an assessment appeal for the current year is economically advisable. Many homeowners in Allegheny County by pursuing an assessment appeal can achieve a substantial reduction in their assessment and therefore their real property tax payment. If you are interested in possibly pursuing an appeal of your real property tax assessment in Allegheny County, or have contacts who may be interested, please share this information and let them know I can assist in this process and successfully represent them in an appeal of their real property tax assessment.