Service of Property Tax Petitions

In order to commence a court claim challenging the tax assessment of your real property located in Washington County, you must serve a copy of your petition asserting your claim upon the Washington County Auditor (Minnesota Statute Section 278.01, subdivision1(a)). You are no longer statutorily required to additionally serve a copy upon the County Attorney, Treasurer, and Assessor.

Personal service of property tax petition

The County Auditor has delegated the duty upon county staff working at the Property Records and Taxpayer Services front counter in the Washington County Government Center to personally accept service of your petition during normal hours of county operation. Please be advised:

• Staff has been instructed not to sign admissions or acknowledgments of service of your petition. You will be responsible for preparing your own proof of service to be filed with the Court.
• Tax petitions left at the counter without any staff present or placed in the drop box in front of the Government Center will not be sufficient service of your petition.
• You are solely responsible for the filing of the petition and sufficient proof of service with the court by the required statutory deadline.

Permitted alternative service of property tax petition

The County Auditor is permitting the following alternative service method of your tax petition in lieu of personal service. The following method is the only permitted alternative service method agreed to by Washington County. Any other alternative method, such as email or facsimile, is not agreed to and will not be accepted as service of your petition.

Submit online

Washington County prefers petitions be served through the online portal. You may electronically serve your petition by uploading your petition through the online portal. You will be required to complete several required information fields and upload a complete read-only PDF copy of your petition and any attachments.

If your upload was successful

Within approximately 5-10 minutes, you will receive an Acknowledgment and Waiver of Personal Service with a copy of the documents that you uploaded. This will be your proof of service of your petition to file with the court. You are solely responsible for the filing of the petition and sufficient proof of service with the court by the required statutory deadline.

If your upload was not successful

If you did not receive an Acknowledgment and Waiver of Personal Service, then your upload was unsuccessful and you did not serve Washington County your petition. Alternative service of your petition is not agreed to or permitted unless it is expressly acknowledged by Washington County in writing. 

You can either try uploading your petition again or personally serve your petition at the Property Records and Taxpayer Services Office at the Washington County Government Center during normal hours of operation. If the county’s alternative service method is down or not working, you will be required to personally serve your petition.

Statutory deadline is firm

Please be advised that the statutory deadline to serve and file your property tax petition is strict. Failure to timely serve your petition will likely result in dismissal of your claim. Washington County is not responsible for delay in service of your petition due to any technical difficulties or inabilities with the above-alternative service method of your petition. You are solely responsible for the timely service and filing your petition.