Adams Equity Group | How Can You Appeal your Property Tax Assessment?
Channel: Adams Equity Group | Scott Adams Real Estate
Date: 2017-07-03

It seems like a lot of people in Fulton County are getting inflated property tax bills lately. If you’re one of these people who feel like your property’s assessment is too high, what can you do about it? Today I’ve brought in real estate tax attorney Hap Richardson to discuss your options. The good news is that you have the option of filing an appeal. To learn how to do this, watch my latest video. 

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TRANSCRIPTION:
If you’ve received your property tax bill and feel it’s too high, what are your options moving forward?

According to Hap Richardson, the basic structure of the property tax system is the same statewide, and it all begins with a notice of assessment from the county tax assessor. All 159 counties in Georgia have a tax assessor’s office. Their job is to assess (or put a value on) every piece of real estate every year. They then send out an annual notice of assessment, an example of which you can see here.

As you can see, the deadline to file an appeal is in the upper righthand corner. This deadline is not the same for every county—it’s 45 days after you receive the notice. That’s the first thing you should check on your notice of assessment. 

In the middle of the page, there’s an estimate of the county’s opinion of the value of your house. State law says this is supposed to be the fair market value of your house on January 1st of the taxable year in question. On the notice, there will be a value for this year and the previous year. The value for this year is what your tax bill will be based on. 

These notices are not bills. There is an estimate on the bottom righthand corner of your total tax, but that’s not the number you pay. All this notice does is let you know what the county appraiser thinks the fair market value of your house is. 

If you decide to file an appeal, you need to fill out a PT-311-A form, which you can see here. On this form, you have to specify a few things, including the grounds for your appeal. There are six different options you can choose from, but 99% of all people will appeal based on the first two: value and uniformity. You also have four options for who you want to hear your appeal. In this case, 99% of all people will probably appeal to the board of equalization, which is the first of the four options. 

As mandated by state law 48-5-299C, the result of your appeal is frozen for that year and the following two years. Many people refer to this as the “three-year freeze rule.” Keep in mind, there are some caveats to this rule. One of them is that the law states you must go to the board of equalization hearing and present written evidence as to why your assessment should be reduced. 

One of the things you will need if you go through this process is a comparative market analysis, which I would be happy to provide for you. 

If you have any questions about filing an appeal to your property tax assessment or would like a free consultation, you can call Hap at (404) 419-3574 or visit his website at www.HapRichardson.com. 

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help.