West Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach County commercial property tax appeals
Appeals start with the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office (PAPA) and go to the Palm Beach County Value Adjustment Board. Here is how commercial evidence is built, filed and heard in Palm Beach County.
- Assessor
- Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office (PAPA)
- First-level board
- Palm Beach County Value Adjustment Board
- Filing deadline
- Petition filed on or before the 25th day following the mailing of the TRIM notice (Fla. Stat. §194.011(3)(d)); September 14, 2026 for the 2026 roll
- Commercial assessment level
- 100% of just value; 10% annual cap on assessed value increases for non-homestead property applies to non-school levies only (Fla. Stat. §193.1555)
- Value standard
- Just value (Fla. Const. art. VII, §4; Fla. Stat. §193.011)
- Valuation date
- January 1 of the tax year (Fla. Stat. §192.042)
- Assessment cycle
- Annual reappraisal at just value as of January 1
- Notices mailed
- TRIM notice mailed in August; the 2026 notices set a September 14, 2026 petition deadline
How Palm Beach County assesses commercial property
Palm Beach County's commercial roll stretches from the West Palm Beach CBD and the Boca Raton office market to the industrial parks around Riviera Beach and the medical office and retail growth in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter. The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office sets just value as of January 1 and mails the TRIM notice in August. For the 2026 roll the 25-day deadline under Fla. Stat. §194.011(3)(d) fell on September 14, 2026, and PAPA states plainly that discussing a value with its staff does not move that date.
The Value Adjustment Board is run by the Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, independent of PAPA. Its five members are two county commissioners, one school board member and two citizen members, and it hires special magistrates to hear petitions. The Clerk's myVAB system accepts single-parcel petitions online with a credit card; contiguous parcels must be filed by mail or in person. Palm Beach charges $20 per parcel, non-refundable, and a petition is not considered filed until the fee is received.
Hearings generally begin in October and continue into the spring until every petition is heard, with magistrates sitting in person. Evidence can be uploaded electronically through the Clerk, but the 15-day mutual exchange with PAPA still shapes what the magistrate will weigh. PAPA encourages owners to request a conference before filing, and for income property that conference is the cheapest place to trade rent rolls and settle a number before a hearing is scheduled.
Major commercial submarkets
- West Palm Beach CBD
- Boca Raton
- Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter
- Riviera Beach and Mangonia Park industrial
- Delray Beach and Boynton Beach
- Wellington and Royal Palm Beach
Uniformity authority
Fla. Const. art. VII, §§2 and 4; Fla. Stat. §194.301(2)(a)
Appeal statute
Fla. Stat. §194.011 (VAB petition); §194.171 (circuit court)
After the board
Original action in the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit (Palm Beach), tried de novo, within the 60-day limit of Fla. Stat. §194.171
Official forms ATALI ELECTRIC fills for Palm Beach County
| Form | Filed with | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| DR-486, Petition to the Value Adjustment Board, Request for Hearing | VAB clerk (Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller) through myVAB, by mail or in person | Sworn petition contesting the just value of a parcel, identified by parcel control number |
| DR-486MU, Multiple Units Attachment | VAB clerk, by mail or in person only | Adds contiguous or related parcels to a single petition; myVAB accepts single parcels only |
| DR-485V, Decision of the Value Adjustment Board, Value Petition | Issued by the board to the petitioner | Final board decision; starts the 60-day clock for a circuit court action |
Filing system: myVAB online petition filing (Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County)
Hearings and evidence
Quasi-judicial hearings before special magistrates hired by the five-member board, generally October through the spring until the docket is cleared; the 2026 magistrate solicitation requires magistrates to sit in person, and the board makes the final ruling on each recommendation
- 01Mutual exchange: petitioner and PAPA each deliver an evidence list, document copies and witness summaries at least 15 days before the hearing, counted in calendar days backward from the hearing date (Fla. Stat. §194.011(4)).
- 02PAPA's package must include the property record card, and a late PAPA package forces a rescheduled hearing rather than exclusion.
- 03Under Department of Revenue rules, a petitioner's late exchange does not by itself let the magistrate exclude the petitioner's evidence; evidence PAPA requested in writing and the petitioner withheld is barred under §194.034(1)(h).
- 04Evidence can be uploaded electronically through the Clerk; anything submitted becomes part of the VAB record for the magistrate and the board.
Income evidence
Florida has no statewide mandatory income and expense filing for real property, so PAPA's commercial appraisers often have market rents and expense ratios but not the subject's actual operating history until the owner provides it. Financial records produced to the property appraiser are confidential under Fla. Stat. §195.027(3). Because §193.011(7) makes property income a required consideration, a well-supported direct capitalization (stabilized NOI over a market-derived overall rate) is usually the lead exhibit for office, retail and multifamily petitions in Palm Beach. For seasonal properties along the coast, build NOI on a full trailing twelve months so the magistrate sees both the winter peak and the summer trough, and reconcile the result against the eighth criterion net-proceeds adjustment Florida appraisers apply to sales under §193.011(8).
Practitioner notes
- The Palm Beach fee is charged per parcel, not per petition: $20 for a value petition and $15 for portability, non-refundable. A retail center on three parcels pays three fees.
- Boca Raton and West Palm Beach CBD office buildings that changed hands at a price above just value can trigger a full reset under §193.1555(5); a change of ownership or control removes the 10% cap the following January 1.
- In Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, newer medical office and retail projects post high asking rents; value an older center on effective rents from its own leases, not on new-construction asking rates.
- Paper filings pay by cash, check or money order to the Board of County Commissioners; myVAB filings pay by credit card at filing.
Palm Beach County appeal questions
Last verified October 2026 against the assessor, board and statute.
Who runs the Palm Beach VAB?
The Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller administers the board and its filings. The board has five members and hires special magistrates; it is independent of the Property Appraiser's Office.
How much is the filing fee?
$20 per parcel for a value petition and $15 for portability, non-refundable. The fee is charged per property, not per petition, and the petition is not filed until the fee is paid.
Can I file several parcels online?
No. myVAB takes single parcels only. Contiguous parcels are filed by mail or in person with the multiple units attachment.
Are hearings virtual?
Plan for in-person hearings. The Clerk's 2026 magistrate solicitation requires special magistrates to attend in person, and hearings typically run from October until the docket is complete.
Nearby jurisdictions
Build your Palm Beach County evidence packet in minutes.
The Palm Beach County Value Adjustment Board forms, deadlines and exhibit formats are preconfigured. Upload a notice to start.