What is the difference between assessed value and appraised value?
Assessed value pertains to the amount that a local or state government has designated for specific property. This assessed value will be used when a property tax is levied by the government. For example, a city tax assessor is responsible for determining the assessed value for every parcel of land and every building within the city. The city government then establishes a real estate tax rate (or rates) that will be applied to the assessed values. Some local and state governments will also determine assessed values for personal property. The assessed value of real or personal property is not necessarily equal to the property's market value.
Appraised value pertains to the amounts contained in an appraisal report for specific property. The appraisal report is generally prepared by a professional appraiser who looks at the property's features including size, type of construction, location, condition, and recent sales of comparable property in the vicinity. The appraised value is an attempt to determine the property's market value. The appraisal report for real estate is likely to report the appraised value of the land separate from the appraised value of the buildings. Hence, accountants might use the relationship of these values in order to allocate the cost of real estate into the cost of the land and the cost of the buildings.
Appraised values have relevance because a company's balance sheet will report land and buildings at the cost when they were acquired. (The balance sheet will also report the accumulated depreciation of the buildings.)
