When Should I Appeal my Property Tax Assessment?

Posted by Daniel Jones on Jan 13, 2012 6:42:00 PM
Here in Georgia you can appeal your Georgia property tax assessments every year. This is a new development. The law in Georgia states that you can only appeal your property tax assessment if the Board of Assessors send you a notice of value. In the past there was no guarantee that the assessors would send you an assessment notice. If you wanted to be sure that you would get an assessment notice you had to file a property tax return at a lower value than what the assessors had on their books and then if the assessors didn't agree with your value they would have to send you a notice with their value on it.

The property tax law here in Georgia changed however, due to the Georgia Gen. Assembly's impression that the assessors were not keeping up with declining values. As a result the assessors are now required to send every property owner an assessment notice every year. In the past most counties gave you 45 days to appeal an assessment notice but some only gave you 30 days. The state changed this as well making the appeal deadline 45 days for every county in the state.

Georgia property tax assessment notices start coming out in the spring and continue into the summer. Generally the first counties to get there assessment notices in the mail are Gwinnett County, and Hall County, although Hall County was a little late last year presumably because they were catching up with the changes in the property tax law. Most of the Metro Atlanta counties send out their assessment notices soon after, in April or May, and the rest of the counties notices just keep on coming out.

If you have property in South Carolina you can appeal your assessment at any time. If you appealed right now, in January, you would be appealing your tax assessment as of 2011. If you want to appeal your 2012 value you should wait until after March 1. In South Carolina you can appeal it any time provided the County you live in has not sent out assessment notices. South Carolina counties are required to reappraise every five years. If they send you an assessment notice then you have 90 days to appeal. If you don't appeal during this 90 day period then you cannot appeal until the following year.

North Carolina is a little more complicated. Most counties in North Carolina only reappraise their property every eight years. This is the maximum length of time that the state allows counties to go between reappraisals. They have the option of reappraising more often than that. Even though you can appeal your North Carolina property tax assessment every year, you are appealing the value as of the last reappraisal date. For example if the County you live in last reappraised at the top of the market, in 2007, then if you appeal now you are appealing the value of your property as of 2007 not as of 2012. You can appeal your old assessment at the beginning of the year so if you are thinking about doing this call the County now. Some counties only give you until the end of January, others have appeal periods into April. If your county is reappraising this year, then just wait for the assessment notice and follow the appeal instructions.

An Alabama all property is reappraised once every three years. The County has the option of appraising one third of their property every year or reappraising everything once every three years. Most Alabama counties send out their assessment notices in the summer but this varies County by County so if you want to be certain not to miss your appeal deadline call the County and ask them about this.
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