The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board (ATB) is a quasi-judicial agency within the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

' Office of the Governor. Though part of the executive branch, the ATB is "not subject to its control in the conduct of its adjudicatory functions". The Massachusetts ATB hears and decides cases on appeal from state and local taxing authorities. It was established by the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

in 1929 to relieve the

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

of its large volume of tax appeals and to provide taxpayers with a less expensive and more expedient means of appeal. The ATB is the locus of the overall system of revenue production for the Commonwealth. Ninety percent of the petitions filed at the ATB are appeals of local

property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...

es. The remaining cases are appeals by taxpayers regarding all state taxes, including the

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

, and

use tax A use tax is a type of tax levied in the United States by numerous state governments. It is essentially the same as a sales tax but is applied not where a product or service was sold but where a merchant bought a product or service and then conve ...

es, the bank excise tax, the corporate excise tax, and others. The court sits at the Government Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

ATB membership

Chair Mark J. DeFrancisco Commissioners *Patricia M. Good *Steven G. Elliott *Patricia A. Metzer *Nicholas D. Bernier

External links

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board (Official Site)
*https://sites.google.com/patrickmccabegovernorscouncil.com/massachusetts-tax-board/tax

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board Appellate Tax Board Appellate Tax Board Tax courts US state tax agencies