We mentioned previously that NC law requires that counties revalue their real property at least once every 8 years. Some counties wait the full eight years, while other counties revalue more often, typically every 4 years. Also, previous plans about when a revaluation will occur are sometimes changed from time to time due to any number of reasons, including changes in the economy, personnel changes, political changes, etc.

Under NC law, one can appeal a property tax valuation in any tax year, not just the revaluation year. If the property is over assessed, however, it is obviously more beneficial to appeal during the revaluation year, since the taxpayer will get the benefit of any reduction for all the years in the revaluation cycle, not just the appeal year and subsequent years until the next revaluation. Also, since regardless of the year of the appeal, the issue is usually still whether the county's determinination of fair market value of the property as of the revalution year is correct (see this post for exceptions), issues of proof can become more difficult the longer the time between the revaluation year and the appeal year.

Given the above, it is often important to know when a particular county is revaluing. A listing of the counties and each of their revaluation years is on the NC Department of Revenue website.  For a more direct route see this spreadsheet (.pdf) listing all 100 NC counties and their scheduled dates of revaluation, which I believe is even more current. A word of warning, however: Since plans for a revaluation can change, you are always well advised when contemplating an appeal to call the particular county and confirm the date of their next revaluation if that is important in your analysis.

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