Property tax is inevitable – if you own a home or a business, you will have to pay taxes to the county in which you’re located. For Cobb County residents, that means you’ll be dealing with the Cobb County tax assessor. Once per year, you’ll receive a notification of what you owe in taxes by mail. That notification can come as something of a shock given the rising rate of property taxes in Georgia (and the still low values of properties). There’s good news, though. Your assessment might actually be inaccurate. If it is, you can have your property taxes reduced. How do you go about doing that?
Know How Taxes Are Assessed
The Cobb County tax assessor uses the same methods of mass property value assessment used throughout the rest of the country. This offers more speed, but at a cost – there’s a good chance that you’re paying too much in property taxes. Errors and miscalculations can arise in a number of ways, including incorrectly estimating the value of your property, errors when multiplying that value by your local tax rate, and incorrect application of any applicable exemptions. All of these can substantially increase the amount you owe in taxes, but by filing a dispute, you can reduce that amount.
Know Your Deadlines
The most important thing to remember if you want to dispute the amount the Cobb County tax assessor says you owe is to understand your deadlines. Once you receive your notification of tax assessment, you have only 45 days to dispute the amount the government claims you owe. If you exceed that 45-day deadline, you’ll have to wait another year to dispute your taxes.
Be Prepared to Wait
Once you’ve filed your appeal, you’ll need to have patience. It can take a considerable amount of time for your appeal to be processed and investigated. During that time, you should expect to pay your property taxes – at least a portion of them. You’ll be assessed a percentage of your home’s value, and that amount will have to be paid to the Cobb County tax commissioner’s office.
Be Prepared to Pay More
While the purpose of disputing the amount owed is to reduce your property tax burden, be prepared for the possibility of paying more than what you were originally assessed. Errors during assessment are usually in the homeowner’s favor, but that’s not always the case. If the property’s value was assessed too low or you were given exemptions that you did not actually deserve, you should expect the tax amount to increase. However, the tax assessor's office will often wait to do this until the following tax year.
Disputing the amount set by the Cobb County tax assessor can be a confusing, frustrating process. Not only do you need to determine what your property is actually worth by investigating comparable properties in your area, but you need to file your dispute through the right method, and your dispute must contain specific information the county official needs to see. The best option is to work with an experienced property tax appeal professional.
Sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MellodyHobson/lower-property-tax-assessment/story?id=10264606
