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Property Tax Appeal Fees: 8%–20% Per Property, Published

20% on most buildings down to 8% as the bill grows. Never the flat 25% much of the industry still charges and fees only apply to the years the taxes are appealed. I quote each property's rate in writing before you sign, the Free Assessment Review comes first at no cost, and if your taxes don't go down, you owe nothing.

The Matrix

The Contingency Fee Matrix

SVA charges a contingency fee of 8% to 20% of realized tax savings, set per property by that property's annual tax bill (20% under $200,000 of annual tax, 8% above $2 million), against the flat 25% that remains the industry's typical rate. The rate is quoted in writing before you sign and applies to realized savings for as long as the reduction holds, both years of Colorado's two-year cycle included. The same matrix applies in every state SVA covers. The Free Assessment Review that precedes every engagement is written, signed, and free.

One building: 20% on most buildings, set per property by its tax bill, down to 8% as the bill grows. A building with a $95,000 tax bill, over-assessed by 10%, recovers about $9,500 a year. The fee is about $1,900; you keep $7,600, in each year of the cycle. Single-building owners are not too small for this matrix; the first row exists for them. A few buildings: four buildings at $45,000 of tax each sit in the 20% row. A 10% over-assessment recovers about $4,500 a year per building. The fee is about $900; you keep about $3,600 per building, roughly $28,800 across the four over the two-year cycle.
Property Tax Liability SVA Rate Typical Flat Rate You Keep More
per $100K of tax savings
Under $200K 20% 25% +$5,000
$200K to under $500K 18% 25% +$7,000
$500K to under $750K 15% 25% +$10,000
$750K to under $1M 12% 25% +$13,000
$1M to under $2M 10% 25% +$15,000
$2M and above 8% 25% +$17,000

The “You Keep More” figure shows the additional savings you retain for every $100,000 of tax savings, versus the industry-standard flat 25%. The row is set by the property’s own original tax liability on the assessment under appeal, at the most recent tax rate, and the rate applies to realized savings in both years of the cycle. At scale the gap is decisive: on a $3M outcome, $240K with SVA against $750K at a flat 25%.

Fee matrix last reviewed September 2, 2026.

Already negotiated below 25%? Some large portfolios pay 15-20% today. Enter your actual rate in the estimator below and the comparison recalculates against what you really pay; the matrix rates stand on their own either way.
How the tiers apply: per property, always. Each property's own annual tax bill sets its row: three buildings at $700K of tax each sit in the 15% tier individually; they do not combine into the $2M-and-above tier. Five or more properties get a written schedule, still priced per property, at or below the published matrix. That schedule is named, per property, in the Free Assessment Review memo for the set, before anything is signed. The same matrix covers business personal property (machinery, equipment, and fixtures): there, the property is the equipment declared on one county schedule, and that schedule's own annual tax sets its row, quoted per property in writing before anything is signed. The free declaration review always comes first, in writing. A fee exists only on a personal-property protest (June in Colorado), a prior-year abatement, or an amended schedule I file on your instruction, never a memo you act on yourself, and comes only from dollars actually recovered. Both are worked through in dollars below.
Free Tool

Estimate Your Potential Savings

A 60-second estimate of what an appeal could be worth, and what you'd keep with SVA versus a standard 25% firm. One property at a time; the row is set by that property's own bill.

$
Conservative 5%Aggressive 25%
You keep per year, after our fee
$7,200
Estimated tax savings
$9,000
Your SVA rate
20%
Our fee
$1,800
A typical % firm (your current rate; edit it) would charge $2,250 $450 less with SVA
In Colorado, values hold for the two-year cycle and the rate applies to both years: roughly $14,400 kept over two years; other states revalue on their own cycles.
Start the Free Assessment Review No commitment. The fee exists only if your bill goes down.
Estimate only. Actual savings depend on your property, jurisdiction, and assessment record; the written review says whether an appeal is worth filing at all; read should you appeal your Colorado commercial assessment first if you are unsure. SVA works on a no-win, no-fee basis: you pay nothing unless your tax bill goes down.
Worked Examples

A Few Buildings, Priced One at a Time

An illustrative owner with six buildings, bills from $45,000 to $900,000. Their bills add up to about $2.1 million, but the matrix never adds them; each building sits in its own row. An illustrative 10% over-assessment on every one, savings and fee shown per year:

Building Annual tax bill Matrix row 10% recovers / yr SVA fee / yr You keep / yr
A (retail strip)$45,00020%$4,500$900$3,600
B (retail strip)$80,00020%$8,000$1,600$6,400
C (flex building)$150,00020%$15,000$3,000$12,000
D (office)$320,00018%$32,000$5,760$26,240
E (warehouse)$600,00015%$60,000$9,000$51,000
F (hotel)$900,00012%$90,000$10,800$79,200
Six buildings$2,095,000per property$209,500$31,060$178,440

Read across, not down. Building F pays 12% because its own bill is $900,000; building A pays 20% because its own bill is $45,000. Nothing about owning both changes either row. At a flat 25% the same six results would cost $52,375 a year in fees instead of $31,060 ($42,630 more over the two-year cycle). And because six is five or more, this owner also gets a written schedule, still priced per property, at or below the rows shown; the matrix is the ceiling, never the floor. Over the cycle the six keep about $356,880. Any building the review says is fairly assessed simply drops off the list: no fee, no filing.

Business personal property, in the same dollars

A manufacturer's equipment schedule carries $190,000 of annual personal-property tax in one county. That bill sits in the 20% row on its own; the real-property bill for the plant is tiered separately, by its own amount. The declaration review comes first, free. It needs a signed agent authorization, so I can pull the full property record card from the county, and your fixed-asset ledger; the annual declaration only shows that year's adds and deletes. The signed memo follows within 30 days of receiving the county's property record card and your fixed-asset ledger, or a written date ahead of your county's personal-property protest deadline (in Colorado, June 30, or July 31 from 2027 in alternate-procedure counties), whichever is sooner.

Suppose the review finds retired equipment still declared and items the county already carries in the building's cost record, and correcting the schedule cuts this year's tax by an illustrative 10% ($19,000). If you engage SVA to file it, the fee is 20% of the dollars actually saved: $3,800. Colorado's abatement process reaches back two tax years (other states have their own refund windows); where the same error sits in prior years still open to abatement, the refund actually paid is contingent the same way: a $38,000 refund carries a $7,600 fee. Nothing is charged on findings graded flag-don't-file, on a schedule the memo calls clean, or on a memo you act on yourself before any engagement.

Annual personal-property tax (one county schedule)$190,000
Matrix row (set by that bill alone)20%
Illustrative correction (this year)−$19,000
Fee on this year's saving$3,800
Prior-year abatement refund, if open and paid$38,000
Fee on the refund$7,600
You keep, across the three years$45,600

At portfolio scale

An extra point of fee is noise on a small engagement. At portfolio scale it is the entire negotiation. Take five assets carrying roughly $3M of tax apiece, $15M combined, every one in the top row on its own. An illustrative 12% reduction produces $3.6M of savings across the two-year cycle. The flat-fee model takes $900,000 of it. Ours takes $288,000: same filings, same hearings, same result.

Appeals recur, and over three assessment cycles that single fee difference compounds past $1.8 million: capital that stays in the portfolio, not in the consultant's pocket. Five or more properties get a written schedule, still priced per property, at or below the published matrix.

The lower fee buys the same service model, not a lighter one: tax forecasting for acquisitions, a year-end tax figure for your books on your close calendar, a written status memo every month a file is active, and a written checkpoint at each of three points (before anything is filed, before any settlement is accepted, and after every decision), researched and signed by me, at a fraction of the fee.

Portfolio annual liability$15M
Illustrative reduction (example)12% → $1.8M/yr
Two-year cycle savings$3.6M
Industry fee (25%)$900,000
SVA fee (8%)$288,000
You keep more, every cycle+$612,000

Who does the work: I do: Charlie Young, principal on every file and every hearing, after thirteen years at the nation's largest property tax consultancies. No account teams, no hand-offs: I quote the fee, build the case, and argue the hearing myself.

Representative results →
Common Questions

FAQ

What does a property tax consultant cost?
At SVA: nothing up front, and nothing unless your taxes go down. The fee is a contingency percentage of realized tax savings: 8% to 20% depending on the property's annual tax bill, quoted per property in writing before anything is signed. The Free Assessment Review, and every written work product it can be asked for, costs nothing. Much of the industry still charges a flat 25% of savings regardless of the size of the bill; the matrix above is published precisely so you can compare.
What happens if my appeal is unsuccessful?
You owe nothing. SVA works on a strict no-win, no-fee basis: the fee exists only when you save. There are no consultation, retainer, or assessor- or board-level filing fees; court filing fees and third-party experts, only if you choose to litigate, pass through at cost with your prior approval.
How is the matrix tier determined, and which year's bill sets it?
The tier is set by the original tax liability of the assessment under appeal: the value on the notice for the year appealed, at that year's assessment rate, at the most recent certified tax rate. It is not set by the prior year's bill, by the assessed value alone, or by the savings achieved. Every property is tiered on its own bill; bills are not added together to move a property into a lower row. The rate is written into the letter, does not change with the result, and applies to realized savings for as long as the reduction holds: both years of Colorado's two-year cycle, or the equivalent period in another state.
How does switching from my current firm work, and when do I need to decide?
One signature. The agent-of-record authorization engages SVA and handles the transition with the county; there is nothing for you to unwind first. On timing: Colorado’s 2027 reassessment notices mail May 1, 2027, with protests due June 1; the other states I cover have their own dates, all on the deadlines page. Files I open before the notices land get their evidence built ahead of the deadline, not against it.
How do fees work if the Free Assessment Review finds money?
The review and the written memo are free, whichever way you use them: file it yourself, hand it to your firm of record, or file nothing. A fee exists only if you ask SVA to recover the money, comes only from dollars actually recovered or saved, and is quoted per property in writing from the published matrix before anything is signed. Prior-year recoveries, through Colorado’s abatement process or another state's equivalent, are contingent the same way: no recovery, no fee.
How are business personal property fees charged?
From the same matrix. For business personal property the property is the equipment declared on one county schedule, and that schedule's own annual tax sets its row; a $190,000 bill sits in the 20% tier. The fee is the matrix rate applied to the dollars actually saved or recovered through a personal-property protest (June in Colorado), a prior-year abatement, or an amended schedule I file on your instruction, never a memo you act on yourself. Before any engagement the declaration review is free and the findings are yours; after one, the same six engagement-letter terms apply, including audit support at no additional fee and thirty-day termination. Audit defense attaches to positions filed under a signed engagement. If you take the free memo and amend the schedule yourself, nothing is owed and no audit defense attaches; the memo grades the exposure of each finding so you can decide.
Is there a minimum fee or retainer?
No. Purely contingency: no minimums, no retainers, no consultation fees. The matrix rate applied to the savings actually realized for you is the entire fee.
Are there any other fees or expenses?
No hidden fees. Court filing fees and third-party expert costs (if litigation is required) are passed through at cost with prior approval. Otherwise, the matrix contingency fee is the only fee you pay.
Do you offer reduced rates for portfolios?
Yes, with one rule that never bends: every property is tiered on its own annual tax bill. Five or more properties get a written schedule, still priced per property, at or below the published matrix, and you can still start with one.
How do I know what I'd pay before signing an engagement?
The Free Assessment Review names the exact matrix rate for that property in the memo, and the engagement letter repeats it, along with any pass-through expenses, before you sign. Nothing is left ambiguous.

Want the exact rate for your property?

Send the notice of value, or just the address and county, from Colorado or any other state I cover, and the Free Assessment Review comes back signed, with the exact matrix rate for that property, whether an appeal is worth filing, and what it would be worth over the assessment cycle. Acknowledged within one business day. No commitment, no fee.

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