Maryland assesses property at 100% of market value on a three-year cycle. When a reassessment raises your value, the increase is not applied all at once β it is phased in over the three years of the cycle, in equal steps.
So your notice carries two numbers. The full new value is what the state says the property is worth. The phase-in value is the lower figure your tax bill is calculated on this year.
An appeal argues the full value. Your bill only moves if the value you win lands below the phase-in figure.
This is the difference between a win on paper and a win on your bill, and it is the easiest thing to get wrong in Maryland.
The size of the gap varies enormously by area. We have measured Montgomery County neighbourhoods where nothing is phasing in at all and others where nearly the whole increase still is.
We calculate it before recommending an appeal, because selling someone a reduction that cannot reach their bill is not a service.
A Montgomery County property is reassessed from $3,826,833 to a full value of $4,420,700 β an increase of $593,867 still phasing in.
Winning a reduction from $4,420,700 down to $4,100,000 sounds like a $320,000 victory. But the owner is taxed on $3,826,833 this year, and $4,100,000 is still above that. The bill does not change.
A reduction below $3,826,833 is the point where real money starts moving.
One is the full new market value from this cycle's reassessment; the other is the phased-in value you are taxed on this year. Maryland spreads assessment increases across the three years of the cycle rather than applying them immediately.
Not pointless, but the saving may be zero this year and only appear in later years of the cycle as the phase-in catches up. We show you which situation you are in before you decide.
It is structurally similar to Florida's Save Our Homes cap or a Texas homestead cap β the taxed value trails the market value. The mechanism differs: Maryland's is a scheduled phase-in of a known increase, not an annual percentage limit.