The DeKalb County tax assessor has the legal mandate to provide the constituents within its jurisdiction with efficient, accurate, and timely assessments of real and personal property valuations. While real property (real estate) is the most widely known subject of property valuations for tax purposes, you must also remember that the tax assessor has the power to assess business personal property, too. Here are a few things that you have to know about the process implemented by the tax assessor’s office.
Overview of Roles and Responsibilities
The Property Appraisal and Assessment Department is the county office in charge of the annual valuation of all taxable real and personal property. As such, it is required by law to produce a timely, equitable and acceptable tax digest for application within DeKalb County. The tax digest itself must meet all of the state’s laws as well as the legal requirements set by the Georgia Department of Revenue, the state’s principal tax collection agency.
The DeKalb County tax assessor must coordinate the staff members’ (i.e., appraisers and staff) activities; prepare, maintain, and update the county’s cadastral maps by recorded documents; review, revise, and make corrections on the assessments as shall appear just; determine, calculate and apply the agreed equalization factors; send annual notice of assessments to property owners; maintain information about assessment information as well as ownership records for the county, among others.
Indeed, when it comes to effective and efficient maintenance of real and personal property for taxation purposes, the DeKalb County tax assessor can be relied on by the constituents. When you have doubts about the assessed value reflected on your annual notice of assessment, you can call this to the attention of the tax assessor by filing an appeal, and request that changes be made to your property record, too.
Know the Taxable Real Property
According to the laws of the State of Georgia, real property includes the land itself as well as generally anything erected, affixed, or growing on it. The property taxes are charged against the property’s owner or against the property itself, in case the owner is not yet known, as of January 1. The tax returns on taxable real property must be filed between January 1 and April 1. If you have changed your property or erected new buildings you should return this for taxation. If your property is unchanged from year-to-year it isn’t necessary to file this form, the Taxpayer’s Return of Real Property.
Unlike personal property where its taxability depends on the permanent legal residence of its owner, real property is taxable in the county of its location. In case property taxes cannot be collected for any reason, the real property itself may be levied and then sold by the county even when its ownership may have changed hands during the year. The tax sale is usually conducted on the courthouse steps and anyone can participate in the sale.
In real property declaration, January 1 is the important date for the treatment of real property tax in the eyes of the DeKalb County tax assessor. The ownership, condition and use of the real property on January 1 will determine its appraisal for the taxable year. This means that changes in its ownership, condition and use during the calendar year will be in effect on January 1 of the next calendar year.
