Durham County NC Property Tax: Deadlines, Exemptions & Appeals

Durham County's Board of Equalization and Review (BER) — a five-citizen board appointed by the Board of County Commissioners — sets its own appeal-filing deadline each year; for 2026 it was June 17, 2026 at 5:00 p.m., and the 2027 date will be posted on the county's Tax Help page once set. Outside that annual window, you can still appeal within 30 days of a Change of Value Notice any time your assessment changes. File online at appeals.spatialest.com/nc-durham/ or through the Tax Help self-service portal, or by paper form from the Tax Administration office. The BER decides most appeals from the written record — an in-person hearing isn't required unless you ask for one.

How assessments work in Durham County

Durham County values real property at "100% fair market value as of the effective date of the last reappraisal," based on age, square footage, construction quality, location, and sales of comparable properties nearby, according to the county's Real Property FAQ. North Carolina law requires counties to reappraise at least once every eight years, but Durham has chosen a faster cycle: it last reappraised all real property effective January 1, 2025, and its next scheduled reappraisal is January 1, 2029. Notices of the 2025 appraised values went out to property owners in late February/early March 2025. Between reappraisals, your assessed value generally stays fixed unless the county corrects an error, you build or demolish something, or you successfully appeal — any of which triggers a Change of Value Notice and a fresh 30-day appeal window.

Whether you should appeal

An appeal makes sense when you have evidence your assessed value is higher than what the property would actually sell for, or higher than similar homes nearby. Useful evidence includes a recent independent appraisal, a closing statement from a purchase around the valuation date, photos and repair estimates documenting condition issues the county's exterior-only measurement wouldn't have captured, or a list of comparable sales pulled from the county's own property record system. Durham's Tax Help portal includes a "Review and Compare" tool that lets you check your property's recorded characteristics against sale prices of similar properties before you file — worth doing first, since a data error (wrong square footage, wrong lot size) can sometimes be fixed informally without a formal appeal at all.

Step-by-step how to file

1. Check your value and the current deadline. Look up your parcel through the county's Real Property Record Search (taxcama.dconc.gov/camapwa/) or the Tax Bill Search tool, and confirm the current BER appeal deadline on the county's Tax Help page (dconc.gov/taxhelp) before you start — it changes annually and the county states appeals filed after the deadline are automatically pushed to the following tax year.
2. Try an informal review first. Call Tax Administration at (919) 560-0300 or use the Tax Help portal to flag incorrect property data (square footage, room count, condition) — staff can sometimes correct this without a hearing.
3. File a formal appeal with the Board of Equalization and Review if the informal step doesn't resolve it. File online at appeals.spatialest.com/nc-durham/ or request a paper form by phone. Property owners, NC-licensed attorneys, or a power of attorney (for individuals) may file. There is no fee for this first-level appeal.
4. Submit your evidence — comparable sales, an independent appraisal, or documentation of condition issues — with the appeal.
5. If the BER denies the appeal, you can appeal further to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission within 30 days after the BER mails its decision.

What happens after

According to Durham County, appeal reviews typically take 30 to 120 days, depending on how many appeals are filed in your neighborhood that year. The BER can raise, lower, or leave your value unchanged, and it mails its decision — you generally don't need to attend a hearing in person unless you request one. If you disagree with the outcome, the next step is a further appeal to the state Property Tax Commission within 30 days of the BER's mailed decision; beyond that, appeals can proceed to the NC Court of Appeals.

Exemptions and local relief programs

Durham County administers three statewide property tax relief programs, all filed on NC Form AV-9 with a June 1 deadline:

• Elderly/Disabled Homestead Exclusion: excludes from taxation the greater of $25,000 or 50% of the assessed value of your permanent residence. To qualify, you (and your spouse, if living together) must be age 65+ or totally and permanently disabled as of January 1 of the tax year, with 2025 household income not exceeding $38,800.
• Disabled Veteran Exclusion: excludes the first $45,000 of appraised value for honorably discharged veterans with a total, permanent service-connected disability (or those receiving specially adapted housing benefits), or their qualifying surviving spouse. There is no age or income limit for this exclusion.
• Circuit Breaker Deferment Program: for qualifying elderly/disabled owners who have owned and occupied their home for at least five years, this caps your property tax bill at 4% of income (2025 income up to $38,800) or 5% of income (2025 income between $38,801 and $58,250); the excess is deferred as a lien rather than billed immediately.

Durham also runs a DSS Low Income Homeowner Relief (LIHR) Program and a Property Tax Assistance Evaluator (www2.dconc.gov/TaxAssistanceEval/) to help you check eligibility for these and other programs. Call (919) 560-0300 for current-year details before applying.

What a successful appeal could mean

Durham's countywide operating-plus-capital-finance rate for FY 2026-2027 is $0.5792 per $100 of assessed value; inside the City of Durham, the municipal rate of $0.4371 is added on top, for a combined $1.0163 per $100. As a purely illustrative example using those real rates — not a prediction for any specific home — a City of Durham property assessed at $400,000 owes roughly $4,065/year in county-plus-city tax; if an appeal reduced the assessed value to $360,000, the bill would run roughly $3,659/year, an estimated difference of around $407/year. Run the same math against your own assessed value and any municipal rate that applies to you (rates for Cary, Raleigh, Morrisville, and Chapel Hill portions of the county differ) before deciding whether an appeal is worth pursuing.

When are property taxes due?

North Carolina property tax bills are due by January 5 following the tax year, per the county's payment-help page — in 2025, because January 5 fell on a weekend, the effective due date was pushed to January 6, 2025. This payment deadline is separate from the BER appeal deadline discussed above; filing an appeal does not extend or pause your payment due date. If you're facing hardship, Durham offers prepayment plans, post-billing payment plans, and delinquent hardship plans — contact Tax Administration before the due date to set one up.

Contacts

• Durham County Tax Administration: 201 East Main Street, 3rd Floor, Administration Bldg. II, Durham, NC 27701 (mailing address: 200 E Main Street, Durham, NC 27701) · (919) 560-0300
• Board of Equalization and Review: meets at the Tax Administration Office, 3rd Floor, Room 372, 201 East Main Street, Durham, NC 27701; administrative contact cgacengeci@dconc.gov
• Online appeal portal: appeals.spatialest.com/nc-durham/
• Property record lookup: taxcama.dconc.gov/camapwa/ and property.spatialest.com/nc/durham-tax/