Frequently Asked Questions

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Go to AxisGis-OxfordMA, this is also located on the Oxford website's home page.

Change of Mail Address Form (PDF)

Property deeds and recorded plot plans can be obtained directly from the Worcester District Registry of Deeds website.

• You must file between January 1 and April 1 of the tax year.
• You should ask yourself before filing for an abatement:
  • Is the date on my property correct?
  • Is my value in line with others on my street?
  • Is my value in line with recent sale prices in my neighborhood?

Please note that sale prices have increased dramatically in the past year or so, well over market value. The Assessor's Office will be happy to assist you in determining whether an assessment is fair and equitable.

You can mail it:

• ATTN: Assessors Office
  325 Main Street
  Oxford, MA 01540

Drop Boxes: Front or Back of the town hall (please be sure to mark your envelope ATTN: Assessors Office)

Or you are welcome to stop by our office

• You can visit the Assessor page. The Town of Oxford sends out two tax bills per year.
• Preliminary tax bill goes out in July and is due by October (Due date is noted on your bill)
• Actual tax bill goes out in January and is due by April (Due date is noted on your bill)

If your taxes are escrowed by a bank or mortgage company, you will want to ensure that they make timely payment. Most banks and mortgage companies subscribe to a tax service that will notify them directly of the amount they need to pay for your taxes. However, if you have recently purchased, refinanced, or have a mortgage company that does not subscribe to a tax service, it will be up to you to notify them by forwarding your tax bill to them. Do not change your mailing address on your tax bill to be sent directly to the mortgage company. It will impede you from receiving proper notice of unpaid taxes.

Under state law, failure to receive a bill does not affect the validity of the tax or any interest of fines incurred due to late payment(s). It is the responsibility of the taxpayer to secure his/her tax bill when one is not received. You can request a duplicate tax bill by call the Collector's office: 508-987-6038, ext. 1052. The request must be received early enough to allow sufficient time to avoid late charges.

New owners will be automatically updated by the Assessor's office upon receipt of a copy of the recorded deed from the Registry of Deeds. The Collector of Taxes is required by Massachusetts General Law to issue the bill to the assessed owner as of January 1.

Although the tax bill will bear the same name of the assessed owner as of January 1, the new owner is responsible for all taxes once the sale of the property is finalized. The amount of tax owed by the old owner is determined at the time of the closing and is typically deducted from the selling price. Once this deduction is made, the new owner must pay all bills, as they become due in order to avoid collection actions, including foreclosure. The lawyers assisting each party should already have investigated any outstanding taxes and obtained a Municipal Lien Certificate. Once the agreement is made, the new owner is obligated to pay any outstanding taxes due on the property.

If you receive a bill after the sale, please forward it to the new owner immediately as it is his/her responsibility to make payment.

• Questions about valuation or abatement requests can be directed to the Assessor's office at 508-987-6038, ext. 1051
• Questions about payments or balances can be directed to the Tax Collector at 508-987-6038, ext. 1052

The increase in taxes is broadly driven by the budget voted at Town Meeting. Generally, the larger the increase in the budget, the larger increase in taxes. The increase can also be attributed to a decrease in other revenues that the Town receives. A portion of the budget is funded by other revenues such as hotel tax, meals tax, permit fees, and excise tax, etc. This, in turn, results in a larger portion of the budget that must be raised through real estate taxes.

The Town of Oxford issues tax bills on a bi-annual basis. The billing cycle begins on July 1st each year. A subsequent bill is issued in January.

The first bill mailed in July each year is the "Preliminary tax bill" and it is based on the previous year's tax bills. No exemptions are applied to this bill, it needs to be paid in full by October, the bill will reflect the exact date due.

The second billing cycle comes at the beginning of January and this is called the "Actual tax bill". Prior to this bill, in August, our office mails out exemption applications for Seniors, Surviving Spouses, Blind Persons, and Veterans. If you qualify for this exemption and submit your application immediately for review and approval by the Oxford Board of Assessors then you would receive a reduction in your taxes for the tax bill that goes out in January. If you turn in your exemption application after the bills have been processed your application would still be reviewed and if approved you will get a refund check in the mail. Reminder for this billing cycle it is due at the beginning of April each year.

Assessed values for Fiscal 2026 are as of January 1st, 2025. They are based upon the calendar 2024 sales of similar properties. The property that sold in your neighborhood last month is not considered in the current assessments. Unlike a "Fee Appraisal" for a mortgage, Assessor's utilize "Mass Appraisal". Assessors analyze an entire year's sales, looking at assessment-to-sales ratios and different property characteristics. The analysis compares similar properties using factors such as size, location, style, age, quality, and condition. Utilizing a CAMA (Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal) system, they apply this analysis equitably across all the properties in Town. The effectiveness of this relies on accurate data to evaluate that people paid X for Y.

A word of caution, before proceeding. When filing for an abatement, assessments can go up if errors are found that need to be corrected.

Simply, value adjustments are not linear. The value calculations include all factors that go into a property. While houses may be similar, it is rare that they are identical. There can be differences in interior improvements, acreage, living area, and condition. Living area and acreage valuation is also not linear and cannot be compared in that way.

The market in Oxford has been strong and in high demand. This results in a sharp increase in property values in certain neighborhoods and price points.

The process to appeal is to file an abatement in the Assessor's Office. This must be USPS postmarked by April 1st. The appeal is on the total assessed value of the property. You cannot appeal the total tax amount, increase in tax amount, or net increase in value. It is the final assessed value for only the current Fiscal year that can be appealed. Complete the application and explain to the Board of Assessors what you think your property is worth as of January 1, and why.

It is recommended that you review your records prior (Online Database) to file for an abatement. Occasionally, the inspection can reveal discrepancies in our data, such as a missing finished basement or bath, that can result in an increase in value. You will then be contacted by the office to schedule a time for an inspection of the property. After the inspection, the Board will review the application and inspection information and vote to grant or deny an abatement. The Board has 90 days from the date of receipt of the application to act on the abatement.

If you find that your assessed value is at or below market value, the best way to impact your taxes is to get involved in the process. If you do not attend Town Meeting, you have missed the opportunity to vote and/or speak about the spending of the Town. Truly the opportunity to impact the spending is to get involved early. Pay attention to the Board of Selectmen's meetings. Town Meeting is the end of the process. The opportunity to impact the articles presented is to follow the process and speak up early.

Even though the Community Center is municipally owned and operated, costs for operating our programs must be covered by program and enrollment fees. We have made a great effort to keep our rates as low as possible so that as many people as possible can take advantage of our programs, but we do need to meet our operating expenses from these programs. Our Town budget, and taxpayers, cannot support the costs of instructors, therefore fees must be charged to keep the Center operating and to continue to offer our great fitness, youth, and recreation programs.

Because the Community Center is municipally owned and operated, we cannot directly fundraise or solicit donations. While we cannot solicit donations, when offered they can be accepted.

No, our programs are open to the general public unless otherwise stated. Please be aware, however, that in the case of classes or programs with limited enrollment, preference will be given to Oxford residents first.

The Community Center is located at the old Oxford Middle School building. The street address is:
4 Maple Road
Oxford, MA 01540

Most of our program instructors are local residents who have demonstrated knowledge or ability in a certain field. If you have a particular talent, skill, or base of knowledge that you feel would be conducive to holding a class or program at the Community Center, please contact us.

If you have questions regarding Oxford's permitting process, regarding building design and site layout, or questions regarding application documents.

Common Topics:

• Zoning bylaw and general bylaw requirements
• Consistency with the 2017 Oxford Master Plan
• Stormwater management best practices
• Public safety requirements
• ADA/AAB regulations
• Wetlands and natural resource protection
• Waiver and variance process

Technical review meetings are highly recommended before submitting applications to a town board. If you are unsure whether to request a meeting or simply need to speak to someone on staff about your potential project, please email or call the Department of Land Management.

Technical review meetings are free.

To schedule a meeting, contact the Department of Land Management.

Although it is not a requirement to bring fully engineered plan sets or renderings to the meeting, the more detailed the plans, renderings, and project concept and the more specific the questions, the better guidance we can provide to you.

Contact the Department of Land Management.

Yes. Owners of motor vehicles are assessed a motor vehicle excise or personal property tax each year. At one time, owners of motor vehicles were assessed a personal property tax by their city or town. Most vehicles are registered, however, so in 1928, G.L. c. 60A was enacted and imposed a local excise in lieu of a personal property tax. An excise is a tax upon an event or privilege. In this case, the motor vehicle excise is imposed for the privilege of registration. It is not assessed for the use of the roads and monies collected from the excise are general fund revenues available to support municipal operations. The motor vehicle excise is assessed on a calendar year basis. Registration of a vehicle during an excise calendar year automatically triggers assessment of an excise for that year. Therefore, an owner whose vehicle is registered on the January 1 of the calendar year, or at any time during that year, is subject to an excise. If the vehicle is unregistered on January 1, the owner is subject to personal property tax unless the vehicle is registered during the year. G.L. c. 59. sect. 5(35).

The excise is assessed to the registered owner of the vehicle by the city or town where the vehicle is customarily kept, as shown on the owner's application for registration to the Registry of Motor Vehicles (Form RMV-1 ). As a general rule, a vehicle is customarily kept in the city or town where the owner resides or has a principal place of business. If a vehicle is customarily garaged outside Massachusetts, the Commonwealth assesses the excise. G.L. c. 60A. sect. 2.

The owner's motor vehicle excise is $25 per $1000 of excise value for the calendar year. The excise value for the year is calculated by applying the percentage fixed by G.L. c. 60A, sect. 1 to the manufacturer's list price for vehicles of the same make, type, model, and year of manufacture. The percentage declines over several years until it reaches 10% of that list price in the fifth year after manufacture and all succeeding years for the life of the vehicle. The statutory percentages are:

No. The excise is not an ad valorem or sales tax and therefore, it is not based on the current fair market value or purchase price of the particular vehicle. Instead, the values of vehicles for excise purposes are determined exclusively through the statutory formula under G.L. c. 60A. sect. 1. Under that formula, all vehicles in the same classification (make, type, model, age) are valued the same based on the manufacturer's list price, which results in all owners of the same vehicle paying the same excise each year. A taxpayer does not have a right to an individual determination of value based on the current condition or actual purchase price of the vehicle. Lily Transportation Corporation v. Board of Assessors of Medford, 427 Mass. 228 (1998).

Yes. A motor vehicle excise must be at least $5. G.L. c. 60A. sect. 1. If the computed excise results in an excise less than $5, the excise is $5.

View the instructions (PDF) to change your address. The town in which your vehicle is garaged is where your excise bill should come from. 

View contact information here.

When accounts are placed into tax title the Town places a lien on the property to ensure collection of taxes.

Once all the delinquent taxes and fees are paid in full the Treasurer's Office will prepare a release of lien certificate.

No, one year's delinquent taxes may not be redeemed separately from another year's taxes. When the redemption amount is calculated, the total taxes owed for all delinquent years are combined together.

No, one year's delinquent taxes may not be redeemed separately from another year's taxes. When the redemption amount is calculated, the total taxes owed for all delinquent years are combined together.

Visit the Massachusetts Veterans Benefit Calculator website for information about Massachusetts Chapter 115 Benefits Program.

Visit the Massachusetts Legal help website for information regarding Chapter 115 benefits.