Colorado § 39-8-106 - Petitions for appeal.

§ 39-8-106. Petitions for appeal.

(1) The county board of equalization shall receive and hear petitions from any person whose objections or protests have been refused or denied by the assessor. A petition must be in a form approved by the property tax administrator pursuant to section 39-2-109 (1)(d), the contents of which must include the following:

(a) A statement informing the person of the person's right to appeal, the time and place at which the county board of equalization will hear appeals from determinations of the assessor, and that, by mailing or delivering one copy of the form to the county board of equalization that is received or postmarked on or before July 15 of that year for real property and July 20 of that year for personal property or, if a county uses an alternate protest and appeal procedure pursuant to section 39-5-122.7, on or before September 15 of that year for both real and personal property, the person will be deemed to have filed a petition for hearing with the county board of equalization. The date the form is received by the county board of equalization shall be stamped on the form. All forms shall be presumed to be on time unless the county board of equalization can present evidence to show otherwise.

(b) A requirement that the assessor's office set forth the following information on the face of the form:

(I) A description of the property claimed to be excessively, erroneously, or illegally valued;

(II) The actual value placed upon it by the assessor;

(III) A specific and detailed statement of the grounds delineated in this subparagraph (III), upon which the assessor relied to justify such valuation. The grounds are appropriate consideration of the approaches to appraisal set forth in section 39-1-103 (5)(a) and classification of the property. For agricultural lands, the grounds are: Earning or productive capacity; classification; and capitalization rate.

(IV) The assessor's written statement refusing to change such valuation; and

(V) The actual value placed upon it by the person whose objection and protest has been denied.

(c) Space for the person whose objection and protest has been denied to state the grounds on which he relied and to indicate the manner, if any, in which he disagrees with the assessor's statement of the information described in paragraph (b) of this subsection (1).

(1.5) In addition to any other requirements set forth in subsection (1) of this section, any petition for appeal relating to real property shall contain the actual value of such real property, stated in terms of a specific dollar amount, which is being offered as the correct valuation. Nothing in this subsection (1.5) shall be construed to exempt paid representatives of taxpayers from the requirements of part 6 of article 10 of title 12, if applicable.

(1.7) Any person who objects to the application of the term "integral to an agricultural operation" to their property in accordance with section 39-1-102 (1.6)(a)(I) and (14.4) and whose objections or protests have been denied by the assessor may submit a petition for appeal to the county board of equalization to the same extent as any other protest or objection for which an appeal to the board is provided under law and shall satisfy all requirements for the prosecution of such appeal as provided by law.

(2) (a) Upon receiving a petition in the form described in subsection (1) of this section, the county board of equalization or its authorized agent shall note the filing of the petition, set a time for hearing of said petition, and, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (2), notify the petitioner by mail of such time for hearing.

(b) A board of county commissioners may authorize by resolution a petitioner or a petitioner's agent to elect to receive the notice required in paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) by fax or electronic mail at a phone number or electronic mail address supplied by the petitioner or the petitioner's agent. If no election is made by the petitioner or the petitioner's agent, the county board of equalization shall mail the required notice.

(3) If the assessor fails or refuses to comply with the provisions of section 39-5-122, this section, or both, relating to said form, the objecting person shall not be deprived of his right of appeal to the county board of equalization. The objecting person may present his objections and protests in person or by counsel, orally or by letter or other informal writing, on any day during the meeting of the county board of equalization held for the purpose of hearing appeals. The said failure or refusal of the assessor shall not, in any manner, deprive the objecting person of his right to a full, fair, and complete hearing of his objections and protests by the county board of equalization.

Source: L. 64: R&RE, p. 713, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 137-8-4. L. 73: p. 1441, § 2. L. 75: (1)(b)(III) amended, p. 1455, § 2, effective July 30. L. 76: (1)(a) and (1)(b)(III) amended, p. 763, §§ 26, 27, effective January 1, 1977. L. 81: (1)(a) amended, p. 1834, § 12, effective June 12. L. 83: (1)(b)(III) amended, p. 2087, § 4, effective October 13. L. 88: (1)(a) amended, p. 1301, § 9, effective April 29. L. 89: (1)(a) amended, p. 1458, § 15, effective June 7. L. 90: (1)(a), (1)(b)(II), and (1)(b)(V) amended, p. 1694, § 12, effective January 1, 1991. L. 92: (1)(a) amended and (1.5) added, p. 2210, § 7, effective June 3. L. 98: IP(1) and (1)(a) amended, p. 469, § 5, effective July 1. L. 2005: IP(1) and (1)(a) amended, p. 391, § 3, effective April 27. L. 2011: (1.7) added, (HB 11-1146), ch. 166, p. 573, § 3, effective January 1, 2012. L. 2013: IP(1) amended, (HB 13-1113), ch. 11, p. 31, § 5, effective March 8. L. 2016: (2) amended, (SB 16-172), ch. 280, p. 1148, § 2, effective June 10. L. 2019: (1.5) amended, (HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 1728, § 252, effective October 1. L. 2020: IP(1) amended, (SB 20-136), ch. 70, p. 293, § 36, effective September 14. L. 2025: (1)(a) amended, (HB 25-1324), ch. 445, p. 2560, § 5, effective June 4.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in SB 20-136, see section 1 of chapter 70, Session Laws of Colorado 2020.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Appealing Property Tax Assessments", see 15 Colo. Law. 798 (1986).

Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.

Evaluation of property presumed correct. The evaluation of property for taxation, as determined by the assessor, is presumed to be right. Stalder v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 147 Colo. 493, 364 P.2d 389 (1961).

Standard of proof required of taxpayer. Clear and convincing evidence is the degree of proof required of a taxpayer to overcome the presumption that an assessment is correct. Majestic Great W. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Reale, 30 Colo. App. 564, 499 P.2d 644 (1972).

It is not necessary to show an assessment is manifestly excessive, fraudulent, or oppressive. Majestic Great W. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Reale, 30 Colo. App. 564, 499 P.2d 644 (1972).

Prerequisites to appeal. The appearance before the assessor under § 39-5-122 with "objection and protest", which are then "refused or denied", is a prerequisite to an appeal to the county board of equalization. Modular Cmtys., Inc. v. McKnight, 36 Colo. App. 38, 536 P.2d 1168 (1975), aff'd, 191 Colo. 101, 550 P.2d 866 (1976).

"Petitioner" refers to taxpayer. In this section and § 39-8-108, the term "petitioner" refers to taxpayer. Adams County Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Union P. R. R., 34 Colo. App. 156, 525 P.2d 1202 (1974).

This section and § 39-5-122 afford remedy at law. Section 39-5-122 and this section afford a plain, speedy, and efficient remedy at law. Kortz v. Ellingson, 181 F. Supp. 857 (D. Colo. 1960).

Effect of taxpayer's failure to follow statutory remedy. If an assessment is erroneous, or excessive, the right to relief can be lost through failure to pursue the proper statutory remedy. Citizens' Comm. for Fair Prop. Taxation v. Warner, 127 Colo. 121, 254 P.2d 1005 (1953).

A party who fails to invoke the remedy under this section cannot be heard to complain of errors in the valuation of his property after a sale has been made and the tax deed issued. Barnett v. Jaynes, 26 Colo. 279, 57 P. 703 (1899).

The law has provided a forum — namely, the board of equalization — whose duty it is, at the instance of anyone aggrieved, to correct errors in the assessment roll returned by the assessor. Having failed to avail himself of the plain, speedy, and adequate remedy thus afforded, to correct his assessment upon these grounds, or, at least, present these questions to the board, he cannot resort to proceedings in certiorari for that purpose. People ex rel. Hallett v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 27 Colo. 86, 59 P. 733 (1899).

Taxpayer may seek review at each stage of decision-making process. It is evident from the provisions of this section and § 39-8-108 that the general assembly contemplated that at each stage of the decision-making process, the taxpayer could seek review of an adverse decision. Adams County Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Union P. R. R., 34 Colo. App. 156, 525 P.2d 1202 (1974).

A party may seek review of only the total valuation for assessment and not of the component parts of that total. The statutes speak only of the right to appeal the value or the valuation assessment set by the assessor. Notably absent from the statutes is language that would permit a party to limit the scope of the protest by appealing only a portion or component of the assessed value. Cherne v. Bd. of Equaliz., 885 P.2d 258 (Colo. App. 1994).

Right to protest property valuations is not limited to person who is owner of property on record as of the first day of the tax year, and any person who is an owner of the property for any portion of the assessment period has standing to protest such valuations. Tenney v. Bd. of Assessment Appeals, 856 P.2d 89 (Colo. App. 1993).

Protest after meeting of board is too late. A protest against an alleged erroneous assessment is too late when made after the board of equalization has held its meetings. Miller v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 92 Colo. 425, 21 P.2d 714 (1933).

Jurisdiction of board of county commissioners is plenary on review. In re Hover Motors, 120 Colo. 511, 212 P.2d 99 (1949).

Judicial review of decision by state board of assessment appeals limited. Neither the county board of commissioners nor the county assessor may seek judicial review of a decision by the state board of assessment appeals. Adams County Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Union P. R. R., 34 Colo. App. 156, 525 P.2d 1202 (1974).

Applied in Mardi, Inc. v. City & County of Denver, 151 Colo. 28, 375 P.2d 682 (1962).