PENNSYLVANIA · 2026 FILING SEASON

Pennsylvania Property Tax Appeal Deadlines for the 2026 Season

Sixty-seven counties, three different deadline regimes, and a separate 40-day clock on every reassessment notice. Here is the full Pennsylvania calendar for commercial owners filing this season.

How PA Appeals Work

Aug 1

Deadline in over half of PA counties

Sep 1

Statutory default deadline

40 days

To appeal a reassessment notice

Pennsylvania Filing Deadlines

Aug 1 / Sep 1Annual county deadline

Jul 3–Sep 1Allegheny County window

1st Mon. OctPhiladelphia BRT

Pennsylvania has no statewide appeal deadline. The Consolidated County Assessment Law sets September 1 as the default, counties may move it to August 1, and Allegheny and Philadelphia run their own calendars entirely. An appeal filed this season applies to next year's tax bill.

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Pennsylvania is the only state where we routinely have to ask a new client one question before anything else: which county? Not because the law changes across county lines, but because the single most important date does. A commercial owner in Montgomery County and one in Allegheny County, holding identical buildings with identical over-assessments, are working against deadlines more than a month apart.

This guide lays out every date that matters in the Pennsylvania appeal calendar: the statutory default, the counties that move it earlier, the two counties that operate on their own schedules entirely, and the interim clock that overrides all of it. EPTA represents commercial owners across Pennsylvania, alongside Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Georgia.

The Deadline You Are Filing Against Is Next Year's

Start here, because it reverses most people's intuition. Pennsylvania's annual assessment appeal is prospective. The application you file by August 1 or September 1 of this year challenges the assessment that will produce next year's tax bill. By the time a bill lands in your mailbox, the window to contest the assessment behind it closed months earlier.

The framework comes from the Consolidated County Assessment Law (53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 88), which governs every county except Philadelphia and Allegheny. It sets September 1 as the annual deadline and permits counties to adopt August 1 instead. The practical result is a patchwork: more than half of Pennsylvania's counties now use the earlier date, and the list is not intuitive enough to guess from.

THE PENNSYLVANIA APPEAL CALENDAR

Every Deadline in Order

Pennsylvania runs three parallel deadline regimes plus an interim clock. Find the one that applies to your parcel, then work backward from it.

August 1 — More Than Half of Pennsylvania Counties

A majority of counties have adopted the earlier of the two statutory dates, including Bucks, Chester, Cambria, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Indiana, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and York. If your property sits in one of these, your effective planning deadline is mid-July — you need the value analysis done and the application in hand before the calendar turns. Confirm the current date with the county assessment office each year rather than relying on last year's.

September 1 — The Statutory Default

Counties that have not adopted the earlier date use the Consolidated County Assessment Law's September 1 deadline. A countywide reassessment year can also extend the window to September 1 in counties that normally use August 1. Do not assume the extension applies to you without confirming it — the cost of guessing wrong is the entire tax year.

July 3 to September 1 — Allegheny County

Allegheny County operates outside the Consolidated County Assessment Law and now runs a defined filing window rather than an open season ending on a deadline. For the 2027 tax year the window runs from July 3 to September 1, 2026, and filings are only accepted inside it. That is a meaningful change from the county's older March 31 regime, and it means an Allegheny owner who starts thinking about an appeal in the spring is early, not late. Appeals go to the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review (BPAAR).

First Monday in October — Philadelphia

Philadelphia uses its own body, the Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT), and its own deadline: the first Monday in October of the year before the tax year. For the 2027 tax year that is October 5, 2026. The BRT specifically asks commercial owners to submit rent rolls and two years of income and expense statements with the appeal, so a Philadelphia filing takes more preparation than a one-page form suggests.

40 Days — Any Reassessment or Interim Notice

This clock overrides everything above. When a change-of-assessment or interim notice is mailed — after new construction, a subdivision, a substantial improvement, or a countywide reassessment — you generally have 40 days from the mailing date to appeal that notice, whatever the annual calendar says. Owners who have just completed a project are the most exposed here, because the notice arrives while attention is on the building rather than the assessment. See our guide to appealing a new construction assessment.

30 Days — Appeal to the Court of Common Pleas

If the board's decision falls short, you have 30 days to appeal to the county Court of Common Pleas. Pennsylvania assessment appeals are heard de novo at this level: the court takes new evidence and determines value itself rather than reviewing the board record for error. That makes Common Pleas a real second opportunity, and it is where most substantial commercial reductions are ultimately negotiated or decided.

BEFORE YOUR COUNTY'S DEADLINE

Pennsylvania Filing Self-Check

Work through these before your county's date arrives. In Pennsylvania a missed annual deadline costs a full tax year, and boards have almost no discretion to accept a late application.

I confirmed this year's exact deadline directly with my county assessment office

I know whether my county requires the application to be received, not just postmarked

I understand this filing affects next year's tax bill, not the one I just paid

I checked whether any parcel received an interim notice that started a 40-day clock

I applied the current common level ratio to test whether my assessment is actually high

For Philadelphia parcels, I have rent rolls and two years of income and expense statements ready

I've reserved the 30-day Common Pleas window in case the board decision falls short

PENNSYLVANIA DEADLINE FAQ

Questions Pennsylvania Owners Ask Us Every Summer

It depends entirely on your county. Under the Consolidated County Assessment Law the default annual deadline is September 1 of the year before the tax year, but a county may move it up to August 1 — and more than half of Pennsylvania's 67 counties have done exactly that, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and York. Allegheny County runs a separate July 3 to September 1 window, and Philadelphia uses the first Monday in October. There is no statewide date to rely on, so confirm yours with the county assessment office before you plan around it. Our Pennsylvania property tax appeals page covers the process end to end.

Your 2027 bill. Pennsylvania's annual appeal is forward-looking: the appeal you file by the August or September deadline in 2026 challenges the assessment used for the 2027 tax year. The 2026 bill was set by last year's deadline, which has already passed. This trips up owners who open a high tax bill in the spring and assume they can appeal it — by then that year is closed, and the only thing left to protect is the year ahead. The one exception is an interim assessment notice, which opens its own 40-day window whenever it arrives.

Separate from the annual deadline, any change-of-assessment or interim notice starts its own clock — generally 40 days from the mailing date of the notice. This matters most after new construction, a subdivision, a renovation that triggers a reassessment, or a countywide reassessment year. The 40-day window runs independently of August 1 or September 1, so a notice arriving in February gives you a February deadline. Read the mailing date on the notice itself, not the date you opened it, and note that during a countywide reassessment the annual window often extends to September 1.

Usually not. Most Pennsylvania boards of assessment appeals require the application to be physically received by the deadline, and a postmark on the last day will not save a filing that arrives on the second. This is one of the most common ways a Pennsylvania appeal dies before it is heard. Treat the stated deadline as a received-by date, file well ahead of it, and keep proof of delivery. Some counties now accept electronic filing, which removes the problem — check whether yours does.

You have 30 days from the board's decision to appeal to the county Court of Common Pleas. Unlike the record-based review used in some states, a Common Pleas assessment appeal is heard de novo — the court takes fresh evidence and decides value itself, which makes it a genuine second chance rather than a paper review. That said, a strong board presentation still shapes settlement posture and keeps costs down. Most commercial matters resolve before trial. Start with a free review so the board filing is built for what follows.

COUNTY DEADLINES ARE WEEKS APART

Find Out What Your County's Deadline Is Before It Passes.

We'll confirm your county's filing date, apply the current common level ratio to your assessment, and tell you whether an appeal is worth filing this season.

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State capitol building representing Pennsylvania county assessment appeal deadlines