The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clock ticks down on property tax appeals
In the confusing set of rules surrounding property tax notices of assessment, there is a special place in the dark world for that committee which suggested that each Georgia county should decide when to mail its notices.
We talked about this in my last column, but since then, we’ve had a lot of action on the property tax front. By the time you read this, all four of Georgia’s most populous counties will have mailed their annual notices of assessment.
In fact, Gwinnett County mailed so early that their 45-day window of property tax appeal has already closed.
Why, you may ask, is this important to me?
Because, if you own any property located in Fulton, Cobb or DeKalb counties, the clock is already ticking on your deadline to file an appeal of the county-proposed valuation.
The law in Georgia says that you have 45 days from the date the county said it mailed the notice, regardless of whether or not you actually receive it.
[Editor’s Note: there was that time my tenant swore up and down that he mailed the rent to the PO box in Avondale, but it didn’t arrive. Two months later, it arrived, shredded inside a hermetically sealed plastic bag, from a post office in Avondale, Arizona. But I digress.]
Anyway, if you are a property owner, you will likely see a significant increase in your valuation in your Notice of Assessment this year.
Cobb says the the median increase among residential properties is approximately 16 percent over last year. Notices of assessment were mailed to property owners on May 4, and the deadline for filing an appeal is rapidly approaching at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 19.
Making matters more urgent, Cobb has been unable to figure out how to allow owners to file appeals online, so you are left with the options of delivering your completed Form PT-311A by mail [a dicey proposition] or delivering it by hand to a bored clerk somewhere in Marietta.
The median increase in value for residential parcels in Fulton County for this year is approximately 13 percent. Property owners who wish to file an appeal have until July 10 to do so. Happily, the Fulton tax commissioner entered the twenty-first century some years ago, and allows owners to file their appeal online if they wish.
DeKalb mailed on June 2, so the DeKalb deadline for filing an appeal is Monday July 17, and they also allow for online appeals.
Most other counties in Georgia have not yet mailed, but plan to do so soon.
Again, why is all this important to you?
Because based on the county in which your property is located, you have a specific deadline for getting your appeal filed. After that date, the valuation of your property is set in stone, and you will not be able to challenge that value until tax year 2018.
My personal experience shows that about one in three appeals will result in a significant reduction in property tax liability. And if that determination is made at the Board of Equalization level of higher, it will likely not be changed for the next two tax years. That compounds any savings you achieve.
One change this year is that the tax assessors now require that the owner state an opinion of value based on what the subject property might have been worth on Jan. 1, 2017. If you are not familiar with recent sales of similar homes in your neighborhood during calendar year 2016, a good place to start is the value used by the county in 2016.
Q: What if I can’t find any information?
A: Call your county tax commissioner and tell them you want to file a property tax appeal. Make sure you strictly adhere to your county deadline, because there are no extensions for any reason.
Q: Where can we find out more about this process?
A: As a service to all property owners, I am offering a free copy of my special report on Georgia Property Tax Reduction with all the forms, procedures and instructions. You will find it at Money99. com under “resources.”
The bottom line: only you are responsible for making sure you aren’t paying more than your fair share of property taxes, and you can do something about it.