The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance has confirmed that 2026 Form 11 Notices of Assessment will mail on April 28, 2026. Within a week or two, every Indiana property owner whose assessed value changed will find one in the mailbox — and the clock to challenge it starts the day it lands.
The deadline to appeal is June 15, 2026, or 45 days from the mailing date, whichever is later. That gives most owners roughly six weeks to evaluate their notice and decide whether to file. Here is exactly what to do the day yours arrives.
Don't wait. The 45-day window is hard. Counties will reject Form 130 petitions filed even one day late, and you'd lose your only chance to challenge the 2026 assessment until next year's notice cycle.
What Is the Form 11?
The Form 11 is your county or township assessor's official notice that your property's assessed value has changed. It is not your tax bill — that arrives separately in spring 2027 for taxes payable on this assessment. The Form 11 is the upstream number that determines that bill.
The 2026 Form 11 is based on your property's value as of January 1, 2025, calibrated against sales of comparable properties from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025. Indiana uses a "trending" methodology that re-anchors assessments to the most recent year of market sales, which is why values move every year even without any physical change to the property.
You will only receive a Form 11 if your assessed value changed. If your AV is identical to last year, no notice is mailed — but you can still appeal by checking your value online and filing within the same June 15 deadline.
What to Check the Day It Arrives
Open the envelope and verify five things in this order. Each takes under a minute.
1. The Property Description
Look at the parcel ID, address, square footage, lot size, year built, bedroom and bathroom count, and improvement type (single-family, condo, manufactured home, etc.). If anything is wrong — and errors are surprisingly common — that alone can be grounds for a reduction.
A house listed as 2,400 sq ft when it's actually 1,950 sq ft is over-assessed by roughly 23%. A finished basement counted as living area when it's actually unfinished can add tens of thousands in phantom value.
2. The Land vs. Improvement Split
The Form 11 breaks total AV into two lines: land and improvements. Land alone almost never changes between years unless your lot was re-classified or platted. A sudden land jump suggests a coding change worth questioning.
3. The Year-over-Year Change
Compare line by line against last year's notice (or your last tax bill). A 5–10% change is normal in a trending year. A 15–25% jump is large but defensible if your local market actually moved that much. Anything above 25% deserves immediate scrutiny — especially in counties that did a general reassessment cycle.
4. The Property Class Code
Indiana classifies every parcel under a four-digit code that determines which tax cap tier applies. A homestead miscoded as commercial moves you from the 1% cap to the 3% cap, which can triple your tax bill regardless of the AV.
If your class code starts with a 5 (residential), 6 (apartments), or 9 (agricultural) and you live in the property, verify your homestead deduction is on file. A correct AV on a property missing the homestead deduction costs you more than an inflated AV with the deduction applied.
5. The Assessor Contact Block
The notice includes the name, phone, and email of the township or county assessor responsible. Many disputes resolve with a five-minute phone call before a formal appeal is ever needed. Errors in property characteristics are typically corrected administratively without filing Form 130.
Decide Whether to Appeal
After verification, you have a binary decision: file Form 130, or accept the assessment. Use this framework.
File an Appeal If
- Your assessed value exceeds the price your home would sell for today by more than 5%
- Your property has unrecorded condition issues — foundation damage, water intrusion, deferred roof or HVAC, functional obsolescence
- Three or more comparable sales in your neighborhood from the past 12 months sold below your AV per square foot
- Your property class code is wrong
- Your physical characteristics (square footage, bed/bath count, lot size) are wrong on the notice
Accept the Assessment If
- Your AV is at or slightly below recent comparable sales (Indiana law allows up to a small variance)
- Your tax bill is already at the 1% circuit breaker cap — appealing the AV won't lower the bill because the cap is the binding constraint
- The change is small (under 5%) and your local market genuinely moved in the same direction
Build the Comparable Sales Case
If you decide to appeal, your strongest evidence is 3–5 arms-length sales of similar properties from the trending window (January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025) at prices below your AV.
Good comparables share four traits:
| Comparable trait | What "similar" means |
|---|---|
| Property type | Single-family to single-family; don't mix condos and detached homes |
| Square footage | Within 20% of your gross living area |
| Age and condition | Built within 15 years of yours, similar maintenance state |
| Location | Same subdivision, school district, or census tract |
You can pull comparable sales from public county sales disclosure forms, MLS exports, or directly from AribaTax's Property Lookup, which indexes every recorded sale across all 92 Indiana counties.
File Form 130 Before June 15
The appeal petition is Form 130 (State Form 53958). You file it with the county assessor where the property sits — not the auditor, not the DLGF.
Our complete Form 130 walkthrough covers every line of the petition, evidence packaging, the PTABOA hearing, and what happens if the board rules against you. Read it before filing.
If you'd rather skip the paperwork, Tax Appeal Automation generates a complete evidence-backed Form 130 for any Indiana parcel and tracks it through resolution on a contingency basis — you only pay if your assessment drops.
What Happens After You File
Your county PTABOA (Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals) acknowledges the petition within 30 days and schedules either a written-evidence review or an in-person hearing. Most appeals resolve on written evidence alone.
If the PTABOA rules against you, you can escalate to the Indiana Board of Tax Review (IBTR) within 45 days of the decision, and from there to the Indiana Tax Court. Most homeowner appeals end at the PTABOA level — the IBTR is more common for commercial and high-value properties.
County Resources
Form 11 procedures vary slightly by county. Look up your assessor's office and current AV here:
- Marion County — Indianapolis
- Hamilton County — Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville
- Allen County — Fort Wayne
- Lake County — Gary, Hammond, Crown Point
- St. Joseph County — South Bend
- Hendricks County — Plainfield, Brownsburg
Related Reading
- How Indiana property tax assessments work — The methodology behind the number
- Indiana property tax appeal guide — Full Form 130 walkthrough
- What COD scores tell you about assessment equity — How to know if your county over-assesses systematically
- Indiana SB 1 property tax reform — Why your 2026 bill won't rise as much as your AV did
- Most over-assessed counties in Indiana — Where appeals succeed most often