AppealHarbor Jurisdiction Fairfax County, VA Tax year 2026 Reviewed 2026-08-02

Your right to see the county's own numbers

Last reviewed 2026-08-02, against the county's 2026 appeal forms and the current Virginia Code. The 2027 forms and dates have not been published yet.

The county produced a value for your house. Somewhere behind that number is a card, a set of working papers, and a list of the sales its appraisers looked at.

Virginia law says you can see all of it.

This page sets out what §58.1-3331 provides, what a separate rule adds once an appeal is actually filed, and how to ask. The right is not obscure — the county prints it on its own appeal form.

In 30 seconds:

  • You can inspect the appraisal card for your property once the reassessment notice has been mailed.
  • You can examine the working papers the assessor used to arrive at your value.
  • You can request the methodology — including a list of the comparable properties or sales figures considered.
  • You can ask for a written explanation or justification for an increase in your assessed value.
  • A separate rule applies once a residential appeal is filed, and it works differently.
  • If the county does not provide what the statute requires, the statute says it cannot then use that information in your appeal.

Fairfax County only. The City of Fairfax and the City of Falls Church assess separately, run their own appeal processes, and set their own deadlines — including deadlines that differ from the county's. If your tax bill comes from one of those cities, this page does not apply to you.

What you can ask to see

Three subsections, three different things.

The appraisal card. §58.1-3331(A) opens the appraisal cards and sheets held by the assessing officer to inspection. Any taxpayer can see them, or a duly authorized representative can. Access runs during normal office hours, and it starts once the reassessment notice has been mailed. Cards holding information the law makes confidential are excluded.

The working papers. Subsection (B) covers the next layer down. If your property has been assessed, you can ask to examine the assessor's working papers. Those are the papers used to arrive at your value, for the land and anything built on it.

The methodology, and the comparables. Subsection (C) goes further again. On request, the assessing officer must make available how the assessed value was calculated. That includes the capitalization rate used. It includes any market surveys, formulas or matrices considered. And it includes a list of the comparable properties or sales figures considered in the valuation.

That middle item is the one worth reading twice. It is the county's own list of what it looked at when it valued your property.

You can also ask why it went up

Subsection (C) contains a second sentence, and it does something different from the first.

If your property has been assessed and you ask, the assessing officer must provide a written explanation or justification for an increase in its assessed value.

That is a separate request. It produces a different thing — not a list of data, but an explanation in writing.

One limit applies throughout. The statute does not require disclosure of information that other sections protect, so some material can be withheld on that basis.

When, and for how long

Access to the appraisal card begins once the reassessment notice has been mailed, under §58.1-3330.

The assessing officer may set a limited window for inspection and copying within normal office hours. Subsection (D) puts a floor under it. That window may not be less than four hours a day, Monday through Friday, except on days the office is closed.

There is no production deadline attached to the requests themselves. This is information you can ask for while you are still deciding whether to appeal at all.

A different rule once an appeal is filed

The rights above stand on their own and do not require you to have filed anything.

Something separate applies once a residential appeal is under way. It reaches appeals filed by the owner of property with fewer than four residential units.

In those, §58.1-3379(B) provides that a written request obliges the assessing officer to produce the assessment records within 15 days. If that does not happen, the statute requires him to go first at the hearing. He presents his records, an explanation of his methodology, and appraisal-practice testimony — before the taxpayer presents evidence.

Keep the two apart. The first is access, available to anyone assessed, with no clock. The second is a production requirement that operates inside a filed appeal and applies to a defined class of residential property.

The Circuit Court version works on the same 15-day period. But §58.1-3984 requires the written request no later than 45 days before trial.

What the county has to tell you

Subsection (E) puts an obligation on the county rather than on you.

It applies in one situation. The owner of a property with fewer than four residential units files an appeal — to the Board of Equalization (the independent county board that hears assessment appeals), or to the Circuit Court.

In that case the assessing officer must send you a written notice. It goes on the first page. It has to be in bold type, no smaller than fourteen points. It is mailed or posted to your last known address. At the Board of Equalization it can be folded into the notice of your hearing date.

For assessments on or after January 1, 2012, that notice must:

  • be given at least 45 days before the hearing of your appeal;
  • inform you of your rights under this section to review and obtain copies of all the assessment records relating to the assessing officer's determination of fair market value; and
  • advise you of your right to request a physical examination of the property by the assessor.

That last point is worth noticing. The physical examination is something you can ask for, not only something that happens to you.

If the county does not provide it

Subsection (F) sets out a consequence.

Suppose the assessing officer fails to disclose or make available information this section requires. Say that failure is still standing five days before the board or the court acts. Then the assessing official and the local government may not introduce that information, or use it in any other way, in the appeal.

That is what the statute says. What it means for any particular appeal depends on facts and timing, and this page cannot tell you how it would apply to yours.

How to ask

The right is printed on the county's own administrative appeal form, which reproduces the §58.1-3331 language nearly verbatim.

Call the Real Estate Division at 703-222-8234, or write. The county also invites owners to discuss an assessment with its staff appraisers.

Ask for one of the four things by name. They are different requests:

  • the appraisal card for your parcel;
  • the working papers used to arrive at your assessed value;
  • the methodology, including the list of comparable properties or sales figures considered;
  • a written explanation or justification for the increase.

Bring or quote your tax map reference number.

A template request letter is planned for this page. It is not published yet.

What this changes

Without these provisions, an appeal is largely guesswork about what the county did. They replace some of that guesswork with the county's own record: which comparables it used, what methodology it applied, and — if you ask — why your value went up.

That does not tell you whether to appeal. It tells you what you would be appealing against. How to appeal your Fairfax County assessment covers the rest, and how the three routes compare covers where each of these rules applies.

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