Properties are the main way that you interact with PROTECT. You can think of them like boxes or containers into which you place parcels, operating financials, and other data.

Properties consist of one or more parcels. Just like in other fields within commercial real estate, in real property tax you can define a property many ways. For example, if you are choosing the parcels that are part of a neighborhood shopping center, then you can include a parcel that contains a restaurant or not depending on many factors, such as whether you own the parcel or pay the taxes on it.

PROTECT gives you the freedom to choose the parcels that should be a part of your property.

You also attach operating financials and other data at the property level. Using the neighborhood shopping center example again, you wouldn’t typically keep separate books for a group of shops that happen to be in one parcel. Instead, you would keep the books for the entire property as you’ve defined it. Therefore, when providing operating data and other information, it’s done at the property level and not the parcel level.

In the PROTECT platform you can:

Tax parcels, or parcels for short, are units defined by the jurisdiction for taxation purposes that correspond to a piece of real estate. Unlike properties, which you can delineate in multiple ways, parcels typically have one defined set of boundaries that are related to a legal description. Parcels are the basic unit used for real estate tax, and any analysis of assessments or tax amounts must first begin with identifying the parcels.

In almost every jurisdiction, parcels are given unique identification numbers. In Washington, D.C., this number is the Square, Suffix, and Lot (SSL).

Jurisdictions determine taxable values for parcels that are the basis for calculating real estate tax (real estate tax = taxable value multiplied by the tax rate). Jurisdictions also determine assessed market values, which are the values you argue against in a tax appeal. They are directly related to taxable values, but they can be different amounts (say, if there is an assessment ratio such that: taxable value = assessed market value multiplied by the assessment ratio).

In Washington, D.C., there is no complex relationship; assessed market values are equal to taxable values (absent any tax exemptions).

Values, appeals, and much more are explained in our PROTECT materials.

In the PROTECT platform you can:

"Appeal Season" isn’t a term that any jurisdiction uses (as far as we know). It’s a name that we’ve given to the annual opportunity that taxpayers are provided to appeal their real estate assessments. It encompasses the entire chain of events from receiving a tax bill or assessment notice to appealing the assessed market value to finally paying the real estate taxes.

In Washington, D.C., the chain of events is spread across multiple calendar years and given confusing names by the jurisdiction that make it difficult to keep track of what’s happening when.

We deal with this by referring to the whole chain of events as an appeal season. The name of the season, for example 2023, is based on when you will be doing the actual appealing, not when you pay taxes.

How an appeal season is related to a tax year

An appeal season is when you do the appealing, i.e., when the appeal deadlines occur, and a tax year is when you pay the resulting taxes, i.e., the tax bill due dates. In Washington, D.C., taxes are paid the calendar year after the appeal season. For appeal season 2023, taxes are paid in calendar year 2024. On assessment notices and tax bills, you may see “Tax Year 2024” – this refers to assessments that were issued and initially appealed in calendar year 2023.

Learn more about properties. You can add an unlimited number of properties to your account. You must add a property before you can add PROTECT.

To add a property, go to the properties page and click the “Add Property” button above the table. You can also go the add property page directly

You will have the choice of adding a new property or finishing up a property you’ve already started. If you haven’t started adding a property, then none will be shown.

Important basic information page

Enter the requested information in the form. Note that you should first select the general property type and then the specific property type will be auto filtered based on your selection. The property size unit will show to the right of the input field. Please enter the property size based on the unit shown, e.g., number of “Apartment Units” for an Apartment property type.

Search and add your property’s parcel page

Use this page to search and add your parcels by address, SSL, or owner name. The address and owner name forms will autocomplete based on what you’ve entered. After you’ve added at least one parcel for the property, you can move to the next page.

Finishing details page

On this page, select an address from one of the parcels you’ve added or enter it manually. On the last page, verify and add property and parcels or go back to previous pages and revise what you’ve entered.

You can edit the details of properties that you’ve added. To do so, go to the properties page and click on a property’s name in the table. From there, click the pen-on-paper icon to open the edit property modal.

Learn more about parcels. It’s important to have the correct set of parcels identified for your property or you won’t be analyzing the correct assessed market value.

To add parcels to a property, go to the properties page and click on a property’s name in the table. From there, click the “Add Parcels” button. You can then search and add your parcels by address, SSL, or owner name. The address and owner name forms will autocomplete based on what you’ve entered. After you’ve chosen at least one parcel for the property, you can move to the next page to verify and add it/them.

If for whatever reason you want to remove a parcel from a property, then it’s very simple to do so. Simply go to the properties page and click on a property’s name in the table. Then press delete on the right-hand side of the table.

Add PROTECT to get protection from unfair assessments. PROTECT guides you through the appeal season.

To add PROTECT, go to the properties page and click the “Add PROTECT” button for that property. You will be taken to a page to Add Taxonics PROTECT for your property. Use the checkout form to process your payment through Stripe. Following successful payment, you will receive a receipt to your signup email.

After PROTECT has been enabled, you will be able to upload key information and download PROTECT materials.

To upload and download PROTECT materials, go to the properties page and click the “PROTECT Active” button for that property. You will be taken to the property’s PROTECT page where you can upload documents in the Actions Needed table and download documents in the Ready for Download table.