# Tax Card Reconciliation

> Compare the municipal tax card / assessment record against site observations and other records, producing a discrepancy log with materiality calls. Use when the user says "check the tax card", "reconcile the assessment", or after a site visit is processed.

- Skill: `bedardandy/tax-card-reconciliation` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add bedardandy/tax-card-reconciliation`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/bedardandy/tax-card-reconciliation/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: bedardandy (https://skillmd.com/u/bedardandy)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/bedardandy/tax-card-reconciliation

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# Tax Card Reconciliation

The tax card is the most-cited and most-wrong document in residential work. Reconcile it
line-by-line instead of trusting it.

## Steps

1. Load the tax card from the job's research packet and the state module's tax-records guide
   (`states/<state>/tax-records.md`) — it explains that state's card layout, valuation fields,
   exemptions, and known failure modes (e.g., Maine cards often lag renovations and count
   finished basements inconsistently).

2. **Build the comparison table.** For each field, columns: *tax card value* → *observed/other
   source* → *match? (✓ / ✗ / unverified)*:
   - Owner of record vs. deed vesting
   - Lot size / legal description vs. deed & GIS
   - Year built; effective year
   - Building style, stories, exterior
   - **GLA and finished area** vs. appraiser's measurement (ANSI Z765) — note that assessor
     areas frequently include non-GLA space (below-grade finish, unheated porches)
   - Room / bedroom / bath counts
   - Basement (size, % finished), garage/outbuildings
   - Heating/cooling type and fuel
   - Additions & outbuildings vs. what's physically present (**anything present but not on the
     card = possible unpermitted work → cross-check the permit file**)
   - Exemptions and classifications (homestead, veteran, current-use programs) — flag any
     classification with valuation or penalty consequences (e.g., Maine Tree Growth withdrawal
     penalty) as a report disclosure item
   - Assessment history and any recent revaluation

3. **Classify each mismatch:**
   - `MATERIAL` — affects GLA, room count, condition, legal use, or marketability → must be
     resolved (which source wins and why) and addressed in the report
   - `MINOR` — note in workfile, no report impact
   - `UNVERIFIED` — becomes a `VERIFY:` follow-up with the office/portal to contact

4. Append everything to `discrepancies.md` with date and sources. Update `workfile-index.md`.

5. **Resolution guidance:** for each MATERIAL item, state the hierarchy of evidence
   (appraiser's measurement > permits/plans > tax card; deed > tax card for legal data) and
   draft the one-to-two-sentence report comment explaining the difference — appraiser approves.

## Output

End with: match/mismatch counts, the MATERIAL list with proposed resolutions, remaining
`VERIFY:` items with where to verify, and next skill suggestion.