Property taxes are onerous, difficult burdens to bear, particularly when you consider the number of other taxes you’re liable for during the course of just a single year. There’s good news, though. Many homeowners in the Metro Atlanta area are overpaying in property taxes due to inaccurate home assessments, missing exemptions and delayed assessments that don’t allow for market fluctuations. Appealing your tax assessment can help you save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. However, it’s best to go into the process with the help of an experienced tax consultant.

DeKalb County Property Tax Returns are filed at the Board of Tax Assessors in the Callaway Building, 120 W. Trinity Place, in Decatur, GA 30030. Business personal property tax returns are required to be filed by April 1 of each year. For real property (real estate) if you think your appraised value is not correct, you may file a real property tax return. If you do not file a real property tax return you have, in effect, returned the same value that was on the property the previous year.

While doing research for a property tax appeal on a warehouse/production facility a field visit was performed. The building is in an older industrial part of town and was built early in the last century. By looking at the exterior you can see that the improvements are old and suffer from physical deterioration. Undisclosed Functional Obsolescence was also discovered, which if taken into consideration by the tax assessors would lower the taxable value of the improvements further.

When it comes to filling an appeal for Gwinnett County property tax it isn’t something the owner should do without considering professional help. It isn’t a case of just filling in a few forms. It is knowing exactly what to include and what to exclude. Most commercial property owners include expenses on their income tax returns that are not allowed when valuing property. How many pictures do you need to take etc, this is where experts can help. A professional can help you bring down your tax liability.

Did you know that in most cases mortgages in default are paid off by private or public insurance and yet the bank still takes your property? The banks have never made more money than during and after this mess they created. 

Every year end brings a close to previous plans and ambitions. A new year brings forth new prospects in nearly all affairs. The same approach extends to the taxation field. A new year brings the realization of an overview of the same. Cobb County uses taxes to finance their operations similar to other states and countries. Taxation systems involve different forms and approaches from corporate tax to personal income tax. One form of taxation in all Georgia counties is the property tax. This form of tax has often led to contention based on tax assessment value. Often the revaluation of tax assessments lead to higher levels of taxation.

Property owners and titleholders find it challenging to meet these higher tax burdens. Aggrieved individuals could correct this scenario through a property tax appeal. To understand how property taxes are generated it is proper to look at the system. The process commences when the board of tax assessors, a supposedly independent body, review and establish a fair value for all taxable property in the county. The board of tax assesors is formed and delegated duties through the county commissioners. The beginning of every New Year, January 1, is the property valuation date in Georgia. Property owners fill forms that determine exemption or tax subjection. It is important to note that taxable values conform to the state laws.

The Cobb County Tax Assessor office is being thrown under the bus by some people that are upset by property tax abatements. The issue that is front and center is a planned mixed use development near the proposed Braves stadium in the Cumberland area. It is interesting that the proposed abatement for the mixed use development has only become "big news" since the announcement of the Braves move to Cobb County. 

The development, known as Riverwalk, is in close proximity to the proposed Braves stadium. As many Cobb County residents were already upset about bankrolling the new stadium with public funds, it isn't surprising that the Riverwalk tax abatement was dragged out front and center. As reported in the Smyrna-Vinings Patch the Development Authority of Cobb County approved a letter of intent to issue $103 million in bonds for the development on September 17, 2013. The Braves deal was announced on November 11, 2013. 

In the Atlanta Metropolitan area there are many property tax consulting firms. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Georgia tax law does not require that the counties appraise all properties every year, and infrequent appraisals often resulted in large percentage increases in value. Also, the county tax assessors’ values were incorrect in many cases and unfair (inequitable) in others. When property owners get large increases in tax assessments and corresponding tax bills in general they are outraged and want to do something about it. That is why there are so many property tax consultants in the Atlanta Metro area.

Recently much news has been made about the increasing house values around the country. Apparently the depths of the Great Recession are behind us and real estate is in full recovery mode. According to the Case-Shiller Atlanta home price index, housing values increased 18.44% year-over-year as of August 2013.

This is, of course, an average increase in house values for Atlanta real estate as a whole. I have found wide disparities from this average as I analyze values by neighborhood throughout the metro area. If we dig into the Case-Shiller Atlanta home price index a little further we can see where some of the variation is coming from.

The Fulton County tax assessors have begun work on the 2013 property tax appeals. Some Fulton County property owners have received no change letters from the tax assessors regarding their 2013 appeals while some have been offered reductions in what is called a 30 day letter. After you receive a reduction offer from the tax assessors you have 30 days to either accept the reduced value or appeal to the second level of appeal, which is the Fulton County Board of Equalization.

Recently, some of the 2013 property tax appeals have been scheduled to be heard by the Fulton County Board of Equalization. As recently as last month, the Board of Equalization was continuing to work on 2012 property tax appeal hearings and even a few 2011 property tax appeal hearings were being heard. They are not done with 2012 hearings, however. It appears that the Fulton County Tax Assessors staff is frequently using the board of equalization hearing as a tool to gain access to properties.