Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title IX Chapter 59
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 59, § 38D (2026)

Written return of information to determine valuation of real property

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 38D. A board of assessors may request the owner or lessee of any real property to make a written return under oath within sixty days containing such information as may reasonably be required by it to determine the actual fair cash valuation of such property.

Failure of an owner or lessee of real property to comply with such request within 60 days after it has been made by the board of assessors shall be automatic grounds for dismissal of a filing at the appellate tax board. The appellate tax board and the county commissioners shall not grant extensions for the purposes of extending the filing requirements unless the applicant was unable to comply with such request for reasons beyond his control or unless he attempted to comply in good faith. If any owner or lessee of real property in a return made under this section makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular, such false statement shall bar him from any statutory appeal under this chapter.

If an owner or lessee of Class one, residential property fails to submit the information within the time and in the form prescribed, the owner shall be assessed an additional penalty for the next ensuing tax year in the amount of $50 but only if the board of assessors informed the owner or lessee that failure to submit such information would result in the penalty.

If an owner or lessee of Class three, commercial or Class four, industrial property fails to submit the information within the time and in the form prescribed, the owner or lessee shall be assessed an additional penalty for the next ensuing tax year in the amount of $250 but only if the board of assessors informed the owner or lessee that failure to so submit such information would result in the penalty.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1983–2008 · leading case: Olympia & York State Street Co. v. Bd. of Assessors, 700 N.E.2d 533 (Mass. 1998).
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Olympia & York State Street Co. v. Bd. of Assessors, 700 N.E.2d 533 (Mass. 1998). · cites it 3× “The taxpayer contends that the board erred by (1) basing its decision on the existence of a “Class A+” office tower “sub-market” in Boston; (2) making findings concerning vacancy rate, credit loss, capitalization of income rate, tenant improvements, and leasing commissions which…”
Gen. Dynamics Corp. v. Bd. of Assessors of Quincy, 444 N.E.2d 1266 (Mass. 1983). “See G. L. c. 59, § 38D. In the case of special purpose property, and even in the valuation of property based on net rental income, such problems are often unavoidable.”
WB&T Mortg. Co. v. Bd. of Assessors, 889 N.E.2d 404 (Mass. 2008). “40, § 56, and is not subject to pre-assessment information requests pursuant to G. L. c. 59, § 38D. 10 Using the purchase price is a reasonable method for ascertaining the “fair cash value” of property owned, in the first part of a fiscal year, by tax-exempt entities.”
Brown v. Bd. of Assessors, 500 N.E.2d 286 (Mass. 1986). · cites it 2× “The assessors filed pleas in bar based upon Brown’s failure to comply with requests for information made to him by the assessors under G. L. c. 59, § 38D (1984 ed.). The board allowed the pleas in bar and ordered dismissal of Brown’s appeals.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.