Supervisor Level: Designated Representative/Agent

A property owner may designate a representative, agent or attorney to assist in the appeal of the assessment.

The owner may appear in person with the representative or the representative may appear alone without the owner being present. In order to preserve the orderly conduct of the appeal hearing, a property owner should be accompanied by not more than one such representative.

An owner or tenant may use the attached form or a similar written authorization (the “Authorization") to designate a representative. This form is to be submitted to the Department upon appealing a property value for each specific notice and tax year. When ownership is not a natural person, the signature must be one of the managing members of an LLC, one of the general partners of a partnership, or an officer of a corporation.

Authorization for an appeal that is filed is in effect for only the "Tax Year" under appeal. An appeal for an Out of Cycle notice, New Construction notice, or Petition for Review would require a new Authorization to be submitted with the appeal. The Authorization form presented by a representative may have no more than three (3) tax years listed on their form. However, it will still need to be presented to the local office upon appealing a property value.

The Authorization must contain the original owner's or tenant's hand-written or electronic signature for acceptance by the Department due to the sensitivity of the information that may be shared. An electronic signature is a writing or symbol created by electronic means adopted by a person with the intent to sign a record. The Authorization must state that, under penalties of perjury, the signatory represents that he or she intends to sign the Authorization.

COMAR 18.01.02.03 provides that the representative must have proper authorization filed by the deadlines listed below.

1. 45 days from the date of the notice if the appeal is submitted pursuant to Tax-Property Article, §14-502(a)(1), Annotated Code of Maryland; or
2. 60 days after the date the property transfers if the appeal is submitted pursuant to Tax-Property Article, §14-502(a)(2), Annotated Code of Maryland; or
3. On or before the date of finality for the next taxable year if the appeal is submitted pursuant to Tax-Property Article, §14-503, Annotated Code of Maryland.

When the representative has failed to provide the proper Authorization within the deadlines stated above, the office is only to make one attempt to seek Authorization by emailing the representative a request for submission with a deadline. Once that deadline has passed, the office is to send the representative a notice of their failure to provide Authorization and inform them that all future correspondence and appeal notices will be sent to the ownership. The office is to then schedule the appeal under the ownership's name. All future correspondence will then be directed to the ownership. If the representative provides Authorization after the deadline, but prior to the hearing date, the representative may still represent the ownership at the appeal. However, when a hearing or final notice has already been mailed to the ownership, the office is not required to send any previous notices to the representative unless a copy is requested by the representative. Any postponement of the hearing date will still count toward their total postponements allowed by law.

When a representative has been designated through an Authorization, all further notices regarding the appeal shall only be sent to the representative. Duplicate notice will not be sent to the owner, except in such instances deemed appropriate by the Supervisor of Assessments.