Procedures, as defined here, are to be regarded as official directives of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. They are cataloged for the particular benefit of those who are concerned with assessment administration. This information is also intended as reference material for public use, recognizing that the agency has a responsibility to establish clear and understandable guidelines for the administration of the assessment process, and to communicate those guidelines to those who will be affected by their contents. It is necessary that all such procedures intended for public consideration be developed in keeping with these instructions.

A preliminary procedure may be prepared by any official or employee of the Department, but will most often originate with the program administrator who is responsible for the activities discussed in the given procedure. Program responsibility can usually be defined from the four major divisions of the Department: Administrative, Real Property, Taxpayer Services, and Business Services. The Administrative Division is essentially the Director's Office, having overall responsibility for all aspects of the agency. Reference to personnel and legal issues would be developed from this perspective. Real Property deals with real property assessments and issues having to do with the supervision of the local assessment offices. Taxpayer Services would include tax credits, exemptions, tax maps and data processing. Business Services would provide for corporate and unincorporated personal property, charter information, public utilities and accounting operations.

There is always the potential for overlap for information pertaining to the operations of these several divisions. For this reason, regardless of who prepares a procedure, it must be reviewed and approved by the Director before it can be issued. When a procedure is approved, it will be distributed by the Administrative Division. Distribution will be made on a periodic basis to all registered holders of the procedures manual. Advanced distributions to the local offices will be made at the discretion of the appropriate program administrator, with the agreement of the Director.

Procedure Preparation:
Requests for new procedures, revisions, or clarification should be submitted in writing to the following address: