Title 53, MUNICIPALITIES GENERALLY

(a) Subjects of taxation enumerated.--Except as provided in subsection (b), all subjects and property made taxable by the laws of this Commonwealth for county, city, borough, town, township and school district purposes shall, as provided in this chapter, be valued and assessed at…

(a) General rule.--The following property shall be exempt from all county, city, borough, town, township, road, poor, county institution district and school real estate taxes: (1) All churches, meetinghouses or other actual places of regularly stated religious worship, with the g…

New single and multiple dwellings constructed for residential purposes and improvements to existing unoccupied dwellings or improvements to existing structures for purposes of conversion to dwellings shall not be valued or assessed for purposes of real property taxes until occupi…

When a department or agency of the Commonwealth or a municipality has ordered a sewer connection ban because of a lack of adequate sewage treatment facilities, the real estate affected by the order shall be reassessed for the duration of the order. The assessment shall be based o…

(a) General rule.--Persons who have suffered catastrophic losses to their property shall have the right to appeal before the board within the remainder of the county fiscal year in which the catastrophic loss occurred or within six months of the date on which the catastrophic los…

(a) Correction.--If, through mathematical or clerical error, an assessment is higher than it should have been and taxes are paid on such incorrect assessment, the county assessment office, upon discovery of the error and correction of the assessment, shall so inform the appropria…

(a) General rule.--In addition to other authorization provided in this chapter, the assessors may change the assessed valuation on real property when a parcel of land is subdivided into smaller parcels or when improvements are made to real property or existing improvements are re…

(a) Assessment of lands divided by county boundary lines.-- (1) If county boundary lines divide a tract of land, the land will be assessed in the county in which the mansion house is located. (2) If county boundary lines pass through the mansion house, the owner of the land may c…

The county assessment office shall assess coal and surface separately in cases where the owner or life tenant of land does not have the right to mine the coal underlying the surface.

All real estate subject to ground rent or mortgage shall be estimated at its full value and assessed and taxed accordingly. In the case of real estate subject to ground rent, where there is no provision made in the ground rent deed that the lessee shall pay the taxes on the groun…

(a) Duty.--It shall be the duty of the county assessment office to assess all mobile homes and manufactured homes within the county according to the actual value thereof. All mobile homes or manufactured homes which are subject to taxation as real estate as provided in this chapt…

(a) General rule.--Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), if a taxing district lies in more than one county and the respective counties fix different predetermined ratios for the assessment of property, the following shall apply: (1) The taxing district may levy its taxes…

(a) Scope.-- (1) Except as set forth in paragraph (2), this section applies to taxing districts in counties within the scope of this chapter under section 8801(b)(1) (relating to short title and scope of chapter). (2) This section does not apply to a school district subject to se…

(a) Appointment.--In each county, a chief assessor shall be appointed. The chief assessor shall be appointed by the county commissioners with the advice of the board. (b) Qualifications.--Any person appointed as a chief assessor under this chapter shall be a Certified Pennsylvani…

(a) Hiring and compensation.--The chief assessor, with the approval of the board, shall hire subordinate assessors subject to any applicable county personnel policy and regulations of the board, as necessary in carrying out the duties imposed by this chapter. A subordinate assess…

The board may appoint an attorney as solicitor to the board and assessment office to advise on all legal matters and appear for and represent the board on all appeals taken from its decisions or orders to all courts of competent jurisdiction. The salary of the appointed solicitor…

It shall be the duty of the county assessment office to maintain a permanent records system consisting of: (1) Tax maps of the entire county drawn to scale or aerial maps, which maps shall indicate all property and lot lines, set forth dimensions or areas and identify the respect…

(a) Preparation of assessment roll.--Annually, on or before the first day of July, the county assessment office shall prepare and submit to the board, in a form prescribed by the board, an assessment roll of property subject to local taxation or exempted from local taxation. (b) …

(a) Predetermined ratio.--The county assessment office shall assess real property at a value based upon an established predetermined ratio which may not exceed 100% of actual value. The ratio shall be established and determined by the board of county commissioners by ordinance. I…

The county assessment office is prohibited from engaging in the practice of spot reassessment. In the event that the county assessment office engages in the practice of spot reassessment, the property owner may file an appeal to the board, limited to the issue of spot reassessmen…

(a) Notices.--The county assessment office shall mail to each record property owner, at the last known address of the record property owner, and to the affected taxing districts notice of any change in assessment or new assessment made pursuant to section 8841(c) (relating to ass…

No defect in service of any notice shall be sufficient grounds for setting any assessment aside, but, upon proof of defective notice, the aggrieved party or taxing district shall have the right to a hearing before the board.

If the county assessment office makes any change in the assessed value of a property, the county assessment office shall give notice of the change to the taxing districts in which the assessed property is located. The time limit within which the taxing districts are entitled to a…

(a) General rule.--Except as provided in subsection (b), for purposes of taxation, if there is a change in assessment made by the board as a result of an assessment appeal, a taxing district shall apply the changed assessment in computing taxes imposed in the next fiscal year of …

(a) Notice requirements.--If any county proposes to institute a countywide revision of assessments upon real property, the following notice requirements shall apply: (1) Each property owner shall be notified by mail at the property owner's last known address of the value of the n…

(a) Establishment and membership.-- (1) Counties of the second class A and third class shall, and counties of the fourth through eighth classes may, establish a board to be known as the board of assessment appeals, which shall be composed of three members. The members of the boar…

(a) Regulations.--Subject to the approval of the county commissioners, the board may adopt, amend, alter and rescind regulations for the administration of and the conduct of business and proceedings for itself and for auxiliary appeal boards. The regulations may require a witness…

(a) Establishment and authority.--The county commissioners may establish temporary auxiliary appeal boards for terms of existence necessary to hear and determine appeals in a manner consistent with this chapter and the regulations of the board. The authority of the board is restr…

(a) Court of common pleas.-- (1) Following an appeal to the board, any appellant, property owner or affected taxing district may appeal the board's decision to the court of common pleas in the county in which the property is located in accordance with 42 Pa.C.S. § 5571(b) (relati…

A taxing district shall have the right to appeal any assessment within its jurisdiction in the same manner, subject to the same procedure and with like effect as if the appeal were taken by a taxable person with respect to the assessment, and, in addition, may take an appeal from…

(a) Permit.--Every municipality, third-party agency or the Department of Labor and Industry responsible for the issuance of building permits or demolition permits shall forward a copy of each permit to the county assessment office on or before the first day of every month. In add…

(a) Maintaining information.--For every deed or conveyance of land recorded, the recorder of deeds shall document and maintain the following information: (1) the date of the deed or conveyance; (2) the names of the grantor and grantee; (3) the address of the grantee; (4) the cons…

It shall be the duty of every grantee of real property to register the deed of conveyance in the office of the chief assessor for the county in which the land or the greater portion of it in area is situated within 30 days from the date of conveyance unless the deed shall have be…

If an individual dies leaving real or personal property which, by the existing laws of this Commonwealth, is subject to taxation for county purposes, the property, so long as it belongs to the estate of the decedent, may be assessed in the name of the decedent or in the name of t…

If personal property is subject to taxation for county purposes it shall be assessed in the manner provided by existing laws, except that the county commissioners shall fix the date as of which the valuation of personal property shall be determined, when and to whom returns of ta…

(a) Occupation taxes.--In accordance with the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code, the county commissioners in counties of the fourth through eighth classes may by resolution levy a tax on trades, occupations, professions and persons who follow no oc…

No taxes levied under the provisions of this chapter or section 8402(c) (relating to scope and limitations) shall be levied by any taxing district on admissions to automobile racing facilities with a seating capacity of more than 25,000 and a continuous race area of one mile or m…

Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, the act of December 31, 1965 (P.L.1257, No.511), known as The Local Tax Enabling Act, or section 8402(c) (relating to scope and limitations), no taxing district shall levy, assess or collect a tax on admissions to ski facilities aft…

(a) Election.--A city in any county to which this chapter applies may, by adopting an ordinance, elect to become subject to this chapter. A copy of the ordinance approved by the mayor, or other comparable official if so required under an optional form of government or home rule c…