Tax department urges 30-day appeal window for land use change tax valuations

Jill Remick, director of Property Evaluation and Review at the Vermont Department of Taxes, told the committee the current 14‑day appeal window for land use change tax valuations is too short and proposed extending it to 30 days to give landowners time to review valuations and, if needed, appeal to municipal assessing officials.

Remick said the current process requires a local assessing official to value the portion of a parcel removed from the current‑use program and that the taxpayer then has only 14 days to appeal that valuation. "14 days is not enough time to receive it, review it, talk to your forester, talk to your attorney, you know, consider whether that value is appropriate," she told the committee.

The department framed the change as an administrative fix rather than a policy shift. Under current law the land use change tax is a 10% penalty on the appraised value of the withdrawn portion; municipalities perform the valuation and receive up to 50% of the remitted tax (capped at $2,000) as compensation for the…