How do I appeal my property tax in Salt Lake County?

You appeal to the Salt Lake County Board of Equalization, and the deadline is tight. It is September 15, or 45 days after your valuation notice was mailed, whichever is later (Utah State Tax Commission; Salt Lake County Assessor dates and deadlines). You are appealing one thing only — the market value the assessor placed on your home as of January 1 — and the argument that wins is evidence of what homes like yours actually sold for.

I walk Herriman, Riverton and South Jordan owners through this every August as a Realtor with Keller Williams South Valley, usually because the valuation notice arrived and the number looked wrong. Here is the process, what works, and when I tell people not to bother.

The calendar

Step	When	Source
Assessor sets market value as of the lien date	January 1	Utah State Tax Commission property tax calendar
Valuation notice mailed	By late July	Utah State Tax Commission; Salt Lake County Assessor
Truth in Taxation hearings for any entity raising its rate	August	Utah State Tax Commission
Appeal deadline	September 15, or 45 days after the notice was mailed, whichever is later	Utah State Tax Commission; Salt Lake County
Board of Equalization hears appeals	September through the autumn	County Boards of Equalization
Tax notice mailed; payment due	Autumn; due November 30	Salt Lake County Treasurer
Late appeal for qualifying hardship	Limited path, generally until March 31	County Boards of Equalization

Check which municipality you are actually in before you compare anything. White City has a Sandy mailing address and its own government, with services through the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District rather than Sandy City.

Checked September 13, 2026. Verify the current year’s specifics on the Salt Lake County Assessor’s dates and deadlines page before you rely on them.

What you can and cannot appeal

You can appeal the market value. The number the assessor says your home would sell for on January 1. That is the whole appeal.

You cannot appeal the tax rate. Rates are set by each taxing entity — county, city, school district, special districts — through Truth in Taxation hearings in August. If your bill rose because a rate rose, an appeal will not help; the four reasons a Herriman bill goes up are covered separately, and only one of them is appealable.

You cannot appeal because the bill is high. The Board is deciding one question: is the value accurate? “I cannot afford this” is a hardship application, not an appeal, and it goes through a different process. If that is the real problem, the senior and hardship relief programs Utah offers have their own September 1 deadline.

You are not appealing the exemption. If your taxable value is 100 percent of market value instead of 55, your primary residential exemption is off, and the fix is a residential declaration with the assessor, not a Board appeal (Salt Lake County Assessor; Utah Code 59-2-103).

The evidence that wins

Sales of comparable homes. Three to five homes near yours, similar in size, age and condition, that sold in the months around January 1 for less than the assessor’s value on your house. This is what the Board’s own staff use, and it is what they find persuasive. The county’s records and a Realtor’s MLS access both provide it; a listing portal’s estimate does not.

A recent appraisal. A licensed appraisal from a refinance or a purchase, dated near the lien date, is strong evidence. One from three years ago is not.

Your own purchase. If you bought the house in an arm’s-length sale near January 1 for less than the assessed value, the closing statement is close to conclusive. Buying does not raise your taxes in Utah, and it can lower them if the assessor was high.

Condition the assessor could not see. A foundation problem, a failed roof, a house that needs major work — documented with photographs and a contractor’s estimate. The assessor values from the outside and from records; if the inside is worse than the records suggest, show it.

The evidence that does not

• The value went up a lot. Every value in Herriman went up.
• Your neighbor’s value is lower. The Board corrects your value, not the neighbor’s; it is also a good way to raise the neighbor’s.
• A portal estimate. The Board does not treat it as evidence, and neither should you.
• The tax is more than you can pay. That is real and it is not an appeal.

How to file

Salt Lake County takes appeals through the Board of Equalization, with an online option, and the assessor’s site lists the current-year deadline and the forms. File before the deadline with your evidence attached — the Board considers what you submit, and a bare appeal with no comparables is usually a lost appeal. You may be offered a settlement value before a hearing; if it is close to your evidence, take it. If it goes to a hearing, it is short, informal, and about the numbers. Timing is the part people miss, and the full Salt Lake County property tax calendar shows how early the window actually closes.

What an appeal actually looks like, start to finish

The version that works goes like this. The notice arrives in late July with a value that is above what you think the house would sell for. You pull the sales from the last several months within your subdivision, or the nearest similar one, and find three or four finished homes of similar size that closed below the assessor’s number. You put them on one page — address, sale date, size, price — with a sentence saying why each is comparable, add photographs of anything about your house that is worse than those, and file online before September 15 asking for a value in line with the sales. The county’s staff review it, may offer a revised value, and either you accept or it goes to a short hearing. From notice to decision is a few weeks to a few months. It is not complicated. It is just easy to leave until it is too late.

When I tell people not to bother

When the value is right. If comparable sales support the assessor’s number, an appeal wastes an afternoon and changes nothing. In a rising Herriman market, the notice that feels high is often accurate.

When the gap is small. Property tax is a fraction of value. A modest reduction in value produces a small change in the bill. Do the arithmetic before you do the paperwork.

When the real problem is the exemption or a rate. File the declaration, or note next August’s hearing. An appeal is the wrong tool for both.

When it is past the deadline without a hardship reason. The late path is narrow. Plan for next year instead: the valuation notice arrives in late July every year, and the window is roughly six weeks.

The Herriman-specific note

Herriman has more new construction than almost anywhere in the county, and new houses produce the most confusing valuations. A house that was half-built last January 1 was valued at land plus a partial structure; this January it is a whole house, and the jump is not an error. What new construction in Herriman actually costs to carry is its own subject. Appeal the value if the finished house is valued above what finished houses in the same subdivision sold for. Do not appeal because this year’s number is larger than last year’s — on a new build, it was always going to be. Worth separating this from the other exemption people search for: Utah’s homestead exemption protects equity from creditors and has nothing to do with your tax bill.

If you want comparable sales for a specific address before you decide whether to file, that is a fifteen-minute pull for me, and the home value page is where to ask.

— Kelsey Earl, Realtor, Keller Williams South Valley

Note: General information, not tax or legal advice. Tax rules, rates and deadlines change and vary by county — confirm anything here with the county assessor or treasurer and with your own CPA before you act on it.