Helpful Tips to Get Your Gwinnett County Property Tax Reduced

Posted by Daniel Jones on Mar 26, 2014 8:38:00 AM

Property taxes are high and getting higher. In fact, the National Taxpayers Union expects property taxes to continue rising across the country for the next several years. It’s a vicious circle, and one that virtually every homeowner in Georgia must face. However, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck paying what the Gwinnett County property tax office says you owe. You might be one of the many homeowners who is being over assessed and paying too much in property tax ever year. Below, you’ll find important tips to help get your tax burden reduced if you are being over assessed.

Note – Understand that not all homeowners in Gwinnett County are being over assessed. While it is all too common, there’s a definite chance that your taxes are accurate. If that’s the case, then you’re stuck paying what the county says you owe.

Gather Your Evidence

If you’re planning to dispute what the Gwinnett County property tax office says you owe, you’d best make sure you have all your ducks in a row so to speak. You need accurate information to back up your claim of property over assessment, and that starts with determining your property’s actual value. There are two ways to do that. First, you can hire an Atlanta property tax consultant to determine your property’s value. Second, you can do it yourself by looking at the sale price of comparable properties around you. What’s a comparable property? It’s more complicated than you might think.

A comp, or comparable property, is a very similar property within your general area. It should have roughly the same amount of land, the home should be roughly the same age and style, and there should be approximately the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The home itself should be approximately the same square footage. That doesn’t mean the home should look like yours, just that it has roughly the same factors and features.

So, your first order of business will be to determine the value of your property and back that number up with evidence. If you hired a property tax consultant, he or she should provide the documentation. If you’re doing it on your own, you’ll need the information about the comparable properties you used to determine your value.

Gwinnett County Property Tax resized 600

Start the Appeal Process

Once you’ve received your statement of assessment (these usually show up in May), you can file your appeal. You can’t file before that for this year (and you can’t file more than 45 days after the current assessment arrives). You can appeal in a number of ways, including arranging an informal meeting with the Gwinnett County tax assessor office. To start an official appeal, you’ll need to send a letter to the Gwinnett County tax assessor office including your property identification number, your personal contact information, your home’s previously assessed value, its actual value, and the documentation to back up your claim.

Patience Is Key

Finally, it’s important that you remain patient. The Gwinnett County tax assessor office is usually better than others in Georgia in terms of speed – your case will be processed during the same year you filed the appeal. In other counties, the wait is up to two years.

Sources:
http://www.erate.com/property-tax-assessment-challenge.htm#.Ux8Ix4ldU24

Topics: Gwinnett County property tax, gwinnett county tax assessor, Gwinnett County tax

property tax appeals

Subscribe to our A Fair Shake Blog:

How Tax Assessors Use Sales to Value Property
HOW TAX ASSESSORS USE THE COST APPROACH TO VALUE PROPERTY
New call-to-action