When
the appeal period is triggered by administrative action, the administrative
agency has a duty to provide to the recipient information essential to
calculating the appeal period. See Schmidt v. Commonwealth, 495 Pa. 238,
241, 433 A.2d 456, 458 (1981). Without such information, the recipient has no
reliable basis for knowing the number of days remaining in which to file a
petition for review. Id.
In Schmidt, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
found that, under the applicable statute, the department had a duty to inform
the taxpayer of the mailing date of its reassessment decision because, without such information, the
taxpayer had no way of knowing how much time he had to file an appeal. 495 Pa.
238, 242, 433 A.2d 456, 458. The Supreme Court held that the first notice was
inadequate to trigger the appeal period, and found the appeal to be timely
since the Department’s failure to provide the requisite notice of the
decision’s mailing date justified the taxpayer’s reliance on the date of the
second notice of reassessment as the commencement of the period for appeal. Id.
The Supreme Court rejected the contention that a postmark on an envelope
carrying an agency decision could serve as notice of the date of mailing. Id.
The Schmidt
line of cases remains viable and is controlling here. Because of the
Board’s failure, Appellant was justified in filing his appeal within 30 days of
receipt of the Board’s decision.
