At a Glance: Homeowners in Douglas and Sarpy County can challenge a property tax assessment they believe is too high through two free, structured windows each year — an informal review with the County Assessor (January 15 through March 2) and a formal protest with the Board of Equalization (June 1 through June 30). Whether the assessment holds up depends on what the data shows. Preparation wins a protest — not frustration.

Each Spring, many homeowners across the Omaha metro open their mailbox to find an unwelcome surprise — a significant increase in their annual property tax assessment.

Fortunately, Nebraska law gives you the right to scrutinize your property file and challenge any increases to the assessed value.

While each county provides slightly different online property records, both Douglas and Sarpy County follow the same Nebraska property assessment protest process.

Keep in mind, the county assessor does not levy taxes. Its only job is to assess your home value as close as possible to actual market value.

Your school board, city council, and other local taxing bodies are the driving forces behind your sizable property tax invoice — a process explained at length in How Omaha Metro Property Taxes Work.

But for the assessment itself, the value the county places on your home, you have real recourse.

Below, I'll lay out the SMART framework for making sure your property file is accurate and the step-by-step process for protesting if it isn't.

In This Guide

• Why Did My Property Tax Assessment Go Up So Much?
• How to Lower Your Property Tax Assessment
• How to Find Errors in Your Property Tax Record
• How to Win a Property Tax Assessment Protest
• What to Submit With Your Property Tax Protest
• How to File a Property Tax Protest in Douglas or Sarpy County
• How the BOE Evaluates a Property Tax Protest in Nebraska
• What to Do If the BOE Denies Your Property Tax Protest
• Common Questions About Challenging Property Taxes
• Final Thoughts

Why Did My Property Tax Assessment Go Up So Much?

Property assessments rise (or fall) for two main reasons: movement in the real estate market, and changes the county made to your property record.

Each year the county assessor is tasked with reassessing every single home, every commercial property, every farm and warehouse, even vacant land.

The Douglas County Nebraska Assessor alone reassesses over 225,000 parcels each year.

That's a lot of number crunching. And, it goes without saying, the mass appraisal process they use to chase the real estate market is not an exact science.

If your assessment took a bigger jump than you expected, there's usually a specific reason behind it — something I cover in depth in Why your Omaha assessed value increased this year.

To add to the frustration, Nebraska law only requires the county assessor to conduct a complete physical inspection of each home once every six years.

The result is that some neighborhoods can go several years without a physical inspection, then get hit with a significant correction that can land all at once.

Between intermittent field visits, inaccurate property records, and shifts in tax levy rates, it's no wonder so many homeowners feel blindsided.

How to Lower Your Property Tax Assessment

Each year, both the Douglas and Sarpy County Assessors provide two opportunities to lower your property valuation by correcting errors in your property record and challenging your assessed value.

Now, when is the last time you saw the government invite you to argue with them?

The assessor understands they don't always get things right.

If you feel your new assessed value doesn't reflect what your home is actually worth, they want to hear from you.

Early each year the county posts updated valuations online and opens an informal review period. This is your easiest opportunity to bring any errors or discrepancies in your official property record to the attention of the county assessor.

The second path is a formal protest filed with the Board of Equalization (BOE) each June.

Think of the early informal review period as an easy way to correct clerical errors on your property file, while the formal protest period in June is meant to deliver a detailed argument for a more accurate valuation.

The June formal process also uses a very specific format that requires understanding the BOE rules.

How Does the Informal Property Tax Assessment Process Work

The informal review is the assessor's early-year window to meet with a county appraiser, correct errors on your property record, and dispute your assessed value before any formal protest is needed.

This opportunity is the lowest-effort option and the right first move for most homeowners.

Beginning January 15, preliminary estimated values are posted online for both Douglas County at dcassessor.org and Sarpy County at sarpy.gov.

You can schedule an informal meeting with a county appraiser January 15 through February 2.

From February 3 to March 2 you can also submit property details by email, mail, or drop-off but you won't get live feedback from an appraiser the way a meeting allows.

If you take advantage of an in-person meeting, the appraiser will walk you through the basis for your home's value, share your property record, and review any information you bring.

This informal period is best for flagging clerical errors on your property file. The more specific your documentation — photos, floor plans, a prior appraisal, or a listing that shows more accurate details, the easier an adjustment can be made to your file.

You can also bring information that supports a different quality or condition rating — a separate move from comparing your condition to your neighbors', which is a formal-protest strategy I'll get to later.

How Does the Formal Property Tax Protest Process Work

The formal protest process works by filing a county protest form, proposing a specific new value, and submitting supporting evidence to the Board of Equalization.

Up until now, any new values posted online have been preliminary.

No later than June 1, the county assessor must mail a notice of official valuation change, which opens the formal protest period between June 1 and June 30.

In contrast to the informal process earlier in the year, the formal June protest follows strict procedural rules.

That process begins by downloading and filling out the formal protest form.

You can request an in-person appointment, or submit the form and supporting evidence online or by mail.

The form's required centerpiece, and the basis for any effective protest, is proposing a new, more accurate value.

From there, your protest will depend on the quality of the evidence that supports your proposed value.

And I get it, a sizable jump in taxes is frustrating. But a winning protest isn't the angriest one. It's the one backed by solid data, not by how much your bill went up.

And that call isn't made by the assessor who set your value — it's made by the Board of Equalization.

What Is a Board of Equalization

The Board of Equalization, or BOE, is a county-level body responsible for hearing and evaluating property tax assessment protests.

The BOE hires independent licensed appraisers, called referees, to review each protest. They are not county assessor staff.

Douglas County hires a pool of independent appraisers; Sarpy County contracts the work to a single firm, Mitchell & Associates.

Many homeowners walk in seeing the referee as an opponent. They're not. They have a hard task — applying appraisal standards to what is, for you, an emotionally charged situation. Meeting them on that level tends to go further than treating them as the enemy.

Each referee reviews the evidence you submit alongside the assessor's data, then makes a recommendation to the elected board that governs the BOE.

From there, the BOE approves your proposed value, makes an adjustment, or leaves the county's value unchanged.

How to Check Your Property Record for Errors

Checking your property record for errors means comparing the county's official file against your home's actual details, field by field. Focus on the fields that drive value: square footage, bed and bath count, condition, and quality rating.

The same mistakes that qualify for correction in January qualify for the formal protest in June.

Mistakes aren't limited to clerical errors like the number of bathrooms. You might also disagree with how the county assessor defines your quality and condition, which is the second place to review.

Every decision to protest your property taxes should start with checking for clerical errors on your property report before you dig into comparing assessed values or recent sales figures of your neighbors.

How to Check Your Douglas County Property Record

The Douglas County Valuation Lookup tool at dcassessor.org lets you pull your property record by address, owner name, or parcel number.

After typing in your address, owner name, or parcel number, the default property report will summarize your home details that affect your assessed value.

Note: Enter your address as 10622 S 110 St. Abbreviate South and North as S and N, and you can also leave off Street or Avenue.

Check every field carefully:

• Square footage — measured from the exterior; errors are common
• Bedroom and bathroom count
• Condition rating — reflects the overall physical state of your home relative to its age
• Quality rating — reflects the type of materials used in construction
• Features listed — fireplaces, finished basements, garages, outbuildings
• Year built and adjusted year built

If any of these fields are wrong, you have the beginning of a case.

From there, searching the Douglas County assessor site for comparable sales is your next move.

How to Check Your Sarpy County Property Record

The Sarpy County property search at Sarpy.com lets you pull your record by address, owner name, parcel number, or legal description.

After clicking the 'Property Search' graphic on the homepage, enter your address, owner name, parcel number, or legal description.

Note: Enter your address as 10622 S 110 St. Abbreviate South and North as S and N, and you can also leave off Street or Avenue.

If you scroll about half way down the page you will find a boxed section labeled "Physical Information." This is where you will want to review the specific details about your home: square feet, number of bedrooms, condition, quality, architectural type, etc.

The accuracy of these details can be brought to the attention of the assessor during both the informal and formal opportunities.

The full process for fact-checking your Sarpy County property record online follows the same field-by-field approach.

How to Win a Property Tax Assessment Protest

Three arguments win a property tax assessment protest: errors on your property record, an assessed value higher than comparable homes nearby, and recent sales that fall short of your assessed value.

The BOE knows these arguments as accuracy, equalization, and fairness.

In plain terms: are your descriptions of quality and condition accurate, is your assessed value in line with the neighbors, and what do recent sales say.

Knowing which argument fits your situation, and building your evidence around it, separates a prepared protest from a frustrated one.

Before you commit to a specific argument, you should fully understand why your assessed value jumped so dramatically in the first place and you might want to read why Omaha property tax assessments increase before putting effort into the wrong direction.

Accuracy — How Dated Features and Deferred Maintenance Can Lower Your Property Tax Assessment

The accuracy argument in a property tax protest challenges the quality and condition ratings the county assigned your home. Your job is to document that those ratings overstate the home's actual condition.

Simple clerical errors (square footage, bed and bath counts) are the easier fix covered earlier.

Quality and condition are two different ratings, and the difference decides which one is worth protesting. Quality reflects what your home was built with: brick versus vinyl siding, custom cabinetry versus stock. Those materials don't change, so the quality rating rarely moves.

Condition reflects the physical state of your home relative to its age. It's where most successful protests are won.

A home with a dated HVAC system, an aging roof, old windows, shag carpet, and a bathroom straight out of the 70s isn't something the assessor can see from the curb. Your score needs to reflect those conditions, and it's on you to document them.

The county scores condition across 11 rating levels. The benchmark is Average: normal wear and tear with ordinary maintenance for the home's age. Everything above or below that benchmark adjusts your value up or down.

Documentation that proves a condition argument:

• Photos of dated rooms, features, and finishes
• Contractor estimates for needed repairs
• Unrepaired or open insurance claims documenting damage
• Inspection reports or a prior appraisal flagging aging systems

Contractor estimates carry real weight when submitted as formal protest evidence. The BOE expects them in a specific form, which I cover in how to document repair costs.

You should also review how the county is classifying the condition of your neighbors' homes using the lookup tool on the county website.

You likely know your neighbors' homes better than the assessor does, so no one is more qualified to draw a comparison in your favor — not that you want the assessor reassessing your neighbors any higher.

Equalization — Is Your Assessed Value Higher Than Your Neighbors

The equalization argument in a property tax protest challenges whether your home is assessed equitably compared to similar homes nearby. A successful protest shows your assessment is out of line because comparable homes are either assessed lower than yours or assessed equally when yours should sit below them.

Comparing assessed values with your neighbors should also be done completely independent of recent sale prices.

When other homes that are objectively similar to yours have assessed values meaningfully lower, that gap is your argument.

A significant part of winning this argument is identifying the closest, most comparable homes you can. Stay near your own home and match on style, size, age, and condition rating.

Douglas County homeowners can search the assessor site for comparable assessed values to build the comparison. Sarpy County uses a different system, covered in the Sarpy County comparable sales guide.

Fairness — Is Your Assessed Value Higher Than What You Could Sell Your Home For

The fairness argument in a property tax protest challenges whether your home is assessed for more than it would actually sell for in today's market.

Equalization compares your assessed value to your neighbors' assessed values. Fairness compares your assessed value to the actual sale prices of nearby comparable homes.

This is the strongest argument the BOE weighs, and the most straightforward to build when the market supports it.

Because the county assessor's mass appraisal method chases sale trends, the time lapse can cause a significant difference in value.

One thing to know when you're pulling sales data: the county works from October through September of the prior year. That window gives them time to process new valuations and publish them by December.

Finding good comparable sales can be challenging. I cover the process in full detail — how to find Douglas County comparable sales and how to find Sarpy County comparable sales.

A Zillow estimate doesn't count as evidence here. The BOE works from recorded sale prices, not automated estimates.

A REALTOR® has direct access to MLS sales data — the same data the BOE uses. That access is a meaningful advantage in building this argument.

What to Submit With Your Property Tax Protest

A property tax protest is built on four kinds of evidence: comparable sales, a professional appraisal, photos of condition issues, and contractor estimates. The evidence you submit with the protest can make or break the outcome.

Winning an adjustment is on you to prove. The evidence you provide needs to show why your assessed value is too high. Otherwise the referee will assume the Assessor's value is accurate.

So the burden is on you to bring evidence that backs the number you're asking for.

Accepted forms of evidence:

• Real estate closing statement — if recently purchased and the sale price supports a lower value
• Full professional appraisal report — the entire report, not just the summary page
• Comparable sales — recent sales of similar homes in the same subdivision or market area
• Comparable assessments — assessed values of similar nearby properties from the Valuation Lookup tool at dcassessor.org
• Photos — damage, deferred maintenance, or condition issues; close-ups plus wide-angle shots of each area
• Contractor estimates — professional estimates for needed repairs that would affect sale value
• Insurance claims — documentation of damage events that affected the condition of the home
• Documentation of data errors — wrong square footage, bed/bath count, or features recorded incorrectly

What not to submit: Neither Douglas or Sarpy County accepts USB drives, CDs, or DVDs. Online submissions allow image and document uploads.

Everything submitted becomes public record. Provide copies. Originals are not returned.

How to File a Property Tax Protest

Douglas and Sarpy County both accept property tax protests by mail, in person, or online. The mailing address and website to submit online depend on your county.

Douglas County

• Phone: 402-444-6734
• Online: boardofequalization.org
• Email: [email protected]
• Mail / In person: Douglas County Board of Equalization, 1819 Farnam St., Omaha, NE 68183

Sarpy County

• Phone: 402-593-4433
• Online: apps.sarpy.gov/form422
• Mail / In person: Sarpy County Clerk, 1210 Golden Gate Dr., Suite 1250, Papillion, NE 68046
• Sarpy County does not allow protests to be submitted via email.

For more details, you can read my step-by-step instructions for filing Nebraska Form 422.

Questions about your Douglas County assessed value before the deadline passes? Brian Carlin has guided Omaha homeowners through informal reviews and formal BOE protests for 23+ years.
[email protected] │ 402-630-9760 │ SmartOmahaHomeSales.com

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How the BOE Evaluates a Property Tax Protest

The BOE evaluates every protest on one question: whether the evidence you submit proves your assessed value is wrong.

Once you file a protest, the BOE reviews it under appraisal standards.

Think like an appraiser. And appraisers are like accountants. They love numbers and hard facts.

Personal circumstances like financial hardship, fixed income, or years of homeownership are not part of the evaluation.

The BOE referee has only one job: to weigh whether your evidence contradicts the assessor's value strongly enough to change it.

Having said all that, in-person, virtual, mailed, and emailed protests have no greater odds of success than one another. It's evidence that wins a protest, not presentation style.

I cover what to expect at a BOE referee hearing in a separate guide.

What to Do If the BOE Denies Your Property Tax Protest

If the BOE denies your protest, you can appeal to the Tax Equalization and Review Commission, or TERC, a state-level body that independently reviews BOE decisions.

The BOE mails its decisions no later than August.

The TERC deadline is tight — generally within weeks of your decision notice, and it varies by county and by year. Unlike the county protest, a TERC appeal also requires a filing fee.

So review your decision notice the day it arrives. If you intend to appeal, begin preparing immediately.

I walk through the TERC appeal process and deadlines in a dedicated guide.

Common Questions About Property Tax Protests in Douglas and Sarpy County

Can I protest because my property taxes went up too much?

No — the size of an increase by itself isn't a winnable argument. You win a protest only by proving your assessed value is too high.

Can I protest the value of my land?

Protesting the land portion of your value is difficult because the assessor's per square foot valuation process is highly standardized. The exception worth pursuing is making sure negative influences on your lot — a busy street, a steep slope, unusable land — are noted on your file.

What can I do if I missed the property tax protest deadline?

Certain clerical errors can sometimes be corrected outside the formal protest windows. Contact the County Assessor's office directly with documentation of the error.

Does a home sale automatically trigger a new assessed value?

No — Nebraska does not use a recent sale price to reset the assessed value of that home. Assessed value is still set through the county's annual mass appraisal process each January.

What is a Board of Equalization?

The Board of Equalization is the county-level body, independent of the County Assessor, that hears and decides property tax assessment protests. Licensed appraisers called referees review protests, and the elected board makes the final decision.

Is a Zillow estimate accepted as evidence in a property tax protest?

No — a Zillow estimate is an algorithm-generated approximation, not a market value opinion, and the BOE does not accept it as evidence. Recorded sale prices of nearby comparable homes are the evidence that supports winning a protest.

How does my neighbor pay $0 in property taxes?

They likely qualify for the Nebraska Homestead Exemption, which reduces or eliminates property tax for qualifying homeowners including those 65 or older, disabled veterans, and totally disabled individuals.

Can a REALTOR®, appraiser, or attorney file a property tax protest for me?

Yes — a licensed REALTOR®, appraiser, or attorney can represent you in both the informal review and the formal BOE protest. An attorney is rarely necessary for a standard residential protest; most homeowners handle both stages themselves with organized evidence.

What is the deadline to protest a property tax assessment?

The informal review window runs January 15 through March 2. The formal Board of Equalization protest period opens June 1 and closes June 30 — missing either deadline closes that option permanently for the current assessment year.

What is the difference between quality and condition on your property record?

Quality reflects the materials your home was built with; condition reflects its physical state relative to its age. Condition ratings can be changed through a property tax protest — quality ratings rarely can.

Final Thoughts

The protest process is not designed to be difficult.

Every year the county gives you two chances to challenge your assessment, because a mass appraisal process that values thousands of properties at once is bound to produce errors.

Clerical errors happen. Property descriptions aren't up to date. Comparable sales often miss the current real estate market.

The informal review in January is the low-effort first move. The formal protest in June is where a documented argument goes before the Board.

Both reward the same thing: evidence, not frustration.

The homeowners who do well aren't the angriest ones. They're the ones who pull their property record, build a case around accuracy, equalization, or fairness, and let the data make the argument.

If you're looking at an assessed value that doesn't match what your home would actually sell for in today's Omaha market — that's worth a closer look before the deadline passes.

Ready to review your assessment?

Brian Carlin │ Nebraska Realty │ SmartOmahaHomeSales.com │ [email protected] │ 402-630-9760