In Arizona, the amount of property taxes a resident owes is calculated using the property’s “assessed value,” which relates to the property’s Limited Property Value (“LPV”) and classification. Statutorily, a property’s LPV goes up by no more than 5% each year (Rule A) unless there is a significant change to the property or a “change in use.” If the property’s use has changed from the previous tax year, the LPV is determined by comparing the property to similar properties (Rule B).

In Qasimyar v. Maricopa County, the legal issue was whether a change in classification between Class 3 (owner-occupied residential home) and Class 4 (rental home, non-primary residence, or a non-primary residence leased to lodgers) is a “change in use.”

The Tax Court ruled that reclassifying a property from Class 3 to Class 4 or vice versa is a change in use and required recalculation of the property’s LPV using Rule B. This ruling was ultimately upheld by the Court of Appeals in 2021.

You may be impacted in one of two ways if your residential property was reclassified from Class 3 to Class 4 or vice versa during tax years 2015 to 2023:

1. The Class Action. If the legal class of your property changed between Classes 3 and 4 in tax years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021, you may be a class member in the ongoing class action lawsuit (Maricopa County Superior Court, Case No. TX2016-000882). You may be entitled to a reduction in LPV and tax refund. Eligible owners should have received a Notice of Class Action from the Assessor in July 2023.
2. Notices of Proposed Correction. If the legal class of your property changed between classes 3 and 4 in tax years 2022 or 2023, the Assessor must follow the law set by the Court of Appeals in Qasimyar. The Assessor’s Office will issue Notices of Proposed Correction recalculating the LPV for all properties that have now received a Rule B for 2022 or 2023. These tax roll corrections must be made, regardless of whether the change will increase or decrease the owner’s LPV.

Only Class 3 and Class 4.

Class 3 property includes real and personal property used as the owner’s primary residence or a qualifying family member’s primary residence. See ARS 42-12003.

Class 4 property includes residential real and personal property used solely as a rental property, a non-primary residence, or a non-primary residence also leased to lodgers. See ARS 42-12004.

There are many potential reasons for a change in classification between Class 3 and Class 4. Often, a property changes from Class 3 to 4 because it has been sold to a new owner who starts or stops using the home as a rental property. By statute, the Assessor must also re-classify a Class 3 home if it appears the property is not being used as the owner’s primary residence and the owner does not timely respond to the Assessor with evidence.

The Qasimyar case is still an active class action case in Tax Court. The final judgment will likely not be entered until late 2023 or early 2024.

But soon after the 2021 Court of Appeals rulings in Qasimyar, Senate Bill 1267 was introduced, asking the Arizona Legislature to clarify whether changes between Classes 3 and 4 were intended to trigger the application of Rule B. Statutory changes now make clear that a property moving between Classes 3 and 4 does not constitute a “change in use.” See ARS § 42-13302. These changes take effect starting in tax year 2024.

It depends on when your property’s classification changed.

• If you had a property class change between Class 3 and 4 in tax years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, and your LPV would decrease if recalculated using Rule B, then you may be a member of the Class Action and may be entitled to a tax refund after the final judgment is entered. You do not need to take any action to receive this relief. The Class Action is limited to individuals benefitting from Rule B; no class members will have to pay additional taxes.
• If your property classification changed between Class 3 and 4 for tax years 2022 or 2023, the Assessor’s Office will be mailing you a Notice of Proposed Correction with the recalculation of your LPV using Rule B. You do not need to take any action in response to this Notice; after 30 days, the Assessor will correct the tax roll. If you are entitled to a refund, the Treasurer’s Office will issue it to you.
• If your property changed between Class 3 and 4 in 2024 or later, your LPV should not be impacted by Qasimyar. SB1267 changed the law starting in tax year 2024.

If the Class Action or a Notice of Proposed Correction causes a change to your LPV for a given year, your LPV will automatically be recalculated and updated by the Assessor and Treasurer for subsequent tax years.

This can trigger refunds or additional tax payments for subsequent tax years.

In a class action lawsuit, one or more people called class representatives sue on behalf of other people with similar claims. Together, they are called a “class” or the “class members.” One case resolves the issues for everyone in the class except for those who choose to “opt-out” or exclude themselves. In this case, the Court appointed Ahmad Zaky Qasimyar as one of the class representatives, so the pending Tax Court case is known by that name.

The Court will approve the final list of class members.

If you are a member, you should have received a Notice of Class Action Lawsuit and Judgment from Maricopa County by mail in July 2023. There are some exclusions from the class. For example, property owners were excluded from the class if taxes were not timely paid for the tax year at issue.

If you did not receive a Notice and have questions about whether you are a member of the class, please contact Class Counsel as follows:

The Court has appointed the Mooney Wright Moore & Wilhoit, PLLC law firm to represent all class members. Class Counsel may be contacted as follows:

If you want to be represented by your own lawyer in this case, you may hire one at your expense.

The Court has not yet entered a final judgment in the Class Action. We expect it will take months to process the tax roll changes for all of the class members and the six tax years at issue. The Treasurer’s Office will not be issuing refund checks to class members until 2024 at the earliest.

If you are expecting a refund but haven’t yet received it, please wait until June 2024 before inquiring about it to the Treasurer’s Office.

The Assessor’s Office does not change mailing addresses for past tax years. In addition, any refunds or further correspondence related to the Class Action will be sent by the Class Counsel, the Tax Court, or the Treasurer’s Office – not the Assessor.

If you wish to update your contact information for matters related to the Class Action, please contact Class Counsel:

If you are the current owner of a parcel in Maricopa County, you can change your mailing address for future notices using the Assessor’s Office change mailing address form.

The Assessor’s Office does not calculate or process tax refunds.

The amount of your refund, if any, will depend on several factors, including your property’s original full cash value (FCV) and limited property value (LPV), the tax year that your property’s classification changed, and the countywide Rule B ratio and tax rate for the applicable tax year.
If you have questions about the impact of the Class Action on your particular parcel, you can contact Class Counsel as follows:

No. All refund payments will be sent by U.S. Mail.

Class members had until September 14, 2023, to opt out of the Class Action by mailing an Election to Opt Out of Class Action form to Class Counsel.

If you did not timely mail the form but do not wish to participate in the Class Action, please contact Class Counsel to discuss your options:

If you are a member of the Class Action, your refund payment will be reduced to pay the attorneys’ fees and litigation costs of Class Counsel. The Tax Court has not yet determined the amount of these fees and costs.

More details can be found in the Notice of Class Action Lawsuit and Judgment.

The Court of Appeals’ Memorandum Decision on the class certification is available here; the Court’s Opinion on Rule B is available here.

Please direct all additional questions regarding the Class Action to:

The Assessor will begin mailing Notices of Proposed Correction for tax years 2022 and 2023 on September 28, 2023. In total, approximately 90,000 NOPCs will be mailed between September 2023 and June 2024.

If our records show your property classification changed from Class 3 to Class 4 or vice versa in tax year 2022 or 2023 and your LPV was not calculated using Rule B, you will be receiving a Notice of Proposed Correction from our office to correct your LPV calculation.

The Court of Appeals ruling in Qasimyar established that our office’s prior calculation of your LPV for tax year 2022 or 2023 was incorrect, and we are legally required to correct that calculation. Under Qasimyar, any change in classification between Class 3 and 4, for any reason, is a “change in use” that requires the application of Rule B. Our office had applied the Rule A statute on your Notice of Value, based on our understanding of the law at that time.

When the Assessor determines that it has improperly assessed any real or personal property, pursuant to ARS § 42-16252, the Assessor must send a Notice of Proposed Correction to the taxpayer.

No. You are receiving this Notice because your property’s classification has already changed from Class 3 to Class 4 or vice versa. The only correction made through the Notice of Proposed Correction is recalculating your LPV using Rule B.

For example, if you registered your former home as a rental property in tax year 2022, the class change from Class 3 to 4 is already in our records, but your LPV is incorrect. You will receive a Notice of Proposed Correction re-calculating your LPV as 67% of your property’s full cash value because the countywide Rule B ratio for Class 4 property for tax year 2022 was 67%. The LPVs for tax year 2023 and 2024 will also be corrected, if necessary.

This Notice is to only notify you of the recalculated LPV using the Rule B formula. Your property has already changed from a Class 3 to Class 4 or vice versa and that has been reflected in our records, so there will be no change in your property’s classification on the Notice of Proposed Correction.

The Assessor’s Office does not calculate taxes. That is the responsibility of the Treasurer’s Office. We cannot estimate your tax refund or any additional tax obligation for you.

When you receive the Notice of Proposed Correction, it will detail whether your LPV is increasing or decreasing due to the application of Rule B and the revised LPV amount. An LPV decrease will generally result in a refund from the Treasurer; an LPV increase may result in additional taxes owed in the future. Please note: If you consent to the proposed correction, the County cannot seek to collect any additional tax, interest, or penalty “for the current tax year or any tax year preceding the date of the notice of proposed correction.” See ARS § 42-16252(E).

Yes. The procedure for disputing the Assessor’s proposed correction is set forth in the Notice of Proposed Correction and attached Instructions, and in ARS § 42-16252.

It is possible that your future property taxes may increase as a result of this correction. The Notice of Proposed Correction will tell you whether your property will have an increase or decrease in LPV.

Any properties that experience an increase to LPV due to the application of Rule B will not have to pay any additional taxes for the current year or “back years” but will likely see an increase to their property tax bills moving forward.

The Assessor’s Office does not process property tax refunds; that is the responsibility of the Treasurer’s Office. If you consent to the Notice of Proposed Correction, we will promptly submit the tax roll corrections to the Treasurer, as required by law, so any refund can occur.

The Treasurer’s Office will bill any “additional” taxes due for future tax years.

Our office is hosting virtual public education sessions regarding the Qasimyar-related Notices of Proposed Correction. We encourage you to attend one of these sessions.

The dates and times for our next education sessions are:

Friday, October 6 from 1-3 p.m.

Friday, October 13 from 4-6 p.m.

Friday, October 20 from 8-10 a.m.

You may RSVP for these sessions here.

Limited Property Value (“LPV”) was created by Prop 117 to help taxpayers avoid large, unexpected increases in property taxes due to changing market conditions. Since 2015, most property taxes are levied based on LPV, not full cash value. By statute, LPV is calculated by the Assessor using either Rule A (ARS § 42-13301) or Rule B (ARS § 42-13302).

Rule A is the “standard” calculation for LPV. Limited Property Value will increase by 5% each year, assuming there was no significant change at the property. LPV can never exceed FCV. See ARS § 42-13301.

Rule B is triggered when the prior year’s LPV cannot be used as a baseline. For example, Rule B applies when a property was omitted from the tax roll in the preceding year, the property has been split, there is an addition or deletion to the property of at least 15% of its full cash value, or the use of the property has changed. See ARS § 42-13302.

To calculate LPV using Rule B, the Assessor resets LPV to a percentage of full cash value (FCV) comparable to similar properties. For example, in tax year 2018, the Rule B ratio was 74% for Class 3 property. This means that across Maricopa County, LPV was, on average, 74% of FCV for Class 3 properties. So, if your primary residence qualified for Rule B in 2018, the LPV would be 74% of FCV.

Rule B may result in a higher or lower LPV than Rule A, depending on the history of an individual property, market conditions, and the tax year.