The head of the state’s Department of Revenue said he’s found no evidence to support claims raised by a watchdog group that the City of Boston has been increasing the assessed value, and taxes, of commercial properties that file appeals.

DOR Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder said he directed his staff to look into the matter following a letter his department received late last month from the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation requesting an investigation into what the watchdog alleged were “unauthorized and unconstitutional” assessment practices by the city.

“You state in your June 24 correspondence that the City of Boston has been improperly increasing the assessed property values for those taxpayers that appeal to the Appellate Tax Board for an abatement of their real estate tax,” Snyder wrote last Friday to Pioneer representatives.

“Upon receipt of your letter I directed DOR staff to review publicly available property tax information for the City of Boston and was unable to substantiate your claims,” the commissioner added.

Snyder said he was interested in continuing to review the allegations raised by the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation, which he directed to provide “specific information demonstrating the taxing practices” referenced in its letter.

Mayor Michelle Wu’s financial chief described the Department of Revenue’s findings as affirmation that the city abides by the law in assessing property values.

“The city and the hardworking professionals in the Assessing Department take great care in properly assessing all properties in the city at fair market value,” Chief Financial Officer Ashley Groffenberger said in a Tuesday statement. “We are grateful for this review by the Department of Revenue, which reaffirms the city’s transparent valuation and appeals process.”

A city spokesperson had previously dismissed Pioneer’s allegations as “baseless and full of misinformation.”

Frank Bailey, president of the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation and retired judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts, said Tuesday the Legal Foundation stands by its claims against the city.

“The Pioneer New England Legal Foundation stands by its fully substantiated claims that the City of Boston is retaliating against commercial property owners who have challenged their tax bills for fiscal years 2024 and 2025,” Bailey said in a statement. “We have invited the DOR on two occasions to review records that not only substantiate this claim but show it is a widespread problem in the city.

“The DOR has thus far ignored our requests to meet so we can provide the evidence they request in the commissioner’s July 18, 2025 letter. Given the DOR’s supervisory responsibilities we expect they will meet with us,” he added.

Bailey told Snyder in a letter last month that commercial property owners had informed Pioneer that the city had been assessing their property beyond the fair market values, and was “secretly penalizing” owners who appealed those valuations.

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The so-called penalty came in the form of assessed value being added to properties by the City of Boston after those commercial property owners had filed abatements with the state’s Appellate Tax Board, Bailey’s letter states.

“In so doing, the city has unlawfully increased those taxpayers’ tax burden by as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Bailey wrote. “Without providing the taxpayer any notice in its property tax statement, the city has been increasing the taxpayers’ assessed property values for the next fiscal year, solely because of the taxpayers’ pending ATB appeals.”

Prior to Pioneer’s letter, Daniel Swift, a principal at the global tax consulting firm Ryan that represents a number of commercial property owners in Boston, told the Herald that he came to a similar conclusion after crunching the numbers and discovering so-called hidden tax penalties that had been tacked onto properties after appeals had been filed.