Voluntary Dispute Resolution

In 2010, the General Assembly enacted legislation creating Voluntary Dispute Resolution or what is commonly referred to as the Indiana Board of Tax Review’s “Facilitation Program.”  See Ind. Code § 6-1.5-3-4.  The objective of the Facilitation Program is to assist taxpayers and local assessing officials in voluntarily resolving appeal disputes at the county level. 

Under this program, a county assessor requests that an employee of the Board attend a conference to assist taxpayers and local officials in their attempts to voluntarily resolve appeal disputes.  Qualifying disputes are ones in which:

1)  a taxpayer has filed written notice requesting a county board’s review of an action by a township or county official; and

2)  the county board has not issued written notice of its decision.

If the dispute is not resolved and the taxpayer files an appeal with the Board, the employee who acted as the facilitator may not act as an administrative law judge or participate in a decision relating to the dispute.

The Facilitation Program has been successful when utilized – to date, over 70% of the disputes have been resolved. 

Any county assessor interested in participating should contact Jane Chrisman at (317) 233-6832. The Board will provide an employee to conduct a facilitation, but the county assessor is responsible for selecting qualifying disputes and scheduling the conferences.