Each county in Oklahoma has a county assessor. They evaluate the property in their county and put a value on it in the first part of each year.
Property owners are generally notified of assessment market value changes between February and May, depending on individual county schedules. If the owner of the property does not agree with the value put on the property for tax purposes, they have 30 days to officially file a protest with their county assessor. The assessor will then set a hearing date for the owner to explain his challenge.
The property owner may protest the value themselves or hire a property tax consultant Oklahoma. In most cases a property tax consultant has the expert knowledge to get a good result for the property owner.
The owner meets with the assessor and shows them their evidence that the value is too high. Then the assessor has 10 days to answer this argument. If the assessor agrees with the owner, then the change is made in the assessor’s records.
But if no agreement is reached, property owners may appeal their protests to the county Board of Equalization. Like the assessor offices, the board will schedule a hearing date to hear owner arguments. Protests are generally limited to the evidence already presented to the assessor. The board usually takes these arguments under advisement, notifying the property owner of its ruling in a letter.
If the board proves unable to resolve this dispute, the property owner may appeal to district court. At that time the owner will have to get a lawyer to handle the case. Suing the assessor in district court may be successful but will take years and cost a lot of money. The owner must pay the challenged property tax while the case remains under the court’s review, with the county keeping those funds on hold until the issue is resolved.
Once the Board of Equalization finish their session and the assessor finalizes all assessments, county treasurers will prepare individual property tax bills, based on their taxable values, for mailing in October. Property owners may then pay these bills either in whole amounts, due at the end of December, or in two parts, one half due in December and the remainder in March.