If you purchased real property last year, you have to be vigilant about the tax assessment this year as it can be over and above the purchase price of the subject property, and assessed higher than other comparable properties in the immediate area. Otherwise, your action may well be to accept the Fulton County property tax assessment and write a check for the taxes, when the tax bill comes.
Varying Directions
Why the vigilance as a new property owner? The varying, if not unpredictable, directions of property price trends in the county especially in the City of Atlanta should encourage property owners, such as yourself, to closely review their assessments. You have to make specific determinations about the accuracy of the property valuations while keeping in mind that general sales trends are unreliable and insufficient basis for both the assessment and appeal.
Download The GA Property Tax and Appeal Guide
Keep in mind, too, that the year following your real property purchase is a critical tax year. This is because the Fulton County property tax assessor will likely use the recent sales price in supporting the property’s taxable value equal or nearly equal to its transaction amount the following tax year. You may just accept the valuation but you have valid reasons to question the property assessment’s accuracy, even when it is equal to the subject property’s acquisition price.
Lower than Acquisition Price
According to the laws in the State of Georgia, the transaction amount that a purchaser pays for real property shall be its maximum allowable fair market value for taxation purposes in the following tax year. This means that the purchaser in a tax year should receive a property assessment notice for the following tax year at a value not higher than the acquisition price.
In layman’s terms: Your newly-acquired property’s taxable value may be lower than its purchase price! You are well within your rights to file an appeal with the Fulton County property tax assessor, the Board of Equalization, or a Hearing Officer, whichever applies to your case. You should discuss your optionsregarding the appeals-related processes with an experienced tax advisor for a winning appeal.
Possible Analyses
As a wise taxpayer, you have several analyses that you can make in reviewing your property assessment. First, the county assessor may have used the acquisition price as the taxable value by default without recognizing that it may be an aggregation of factors aside from the property value alone. If the sale price includes personal property or business value the purchase price will be higher than the property’s actual fair market value.
Your best action: Identify the factors in the purchase price, explain them to the tax assessor, and ask for an adjustment, even file a formal appeal.
Second, the county assessor did not factor in the property’s actual financial performance in the same manner that it did not meet your expectations at the time of your purchase. Your property assessment will then be overcharged. You must then contest the assessment especially when there have been significant changes in the property’s anticipated earning capacity.
In the end, your vigilance in property tax matters will be your opportunity to question the Fulton County property tax assessment for your newly-acquired asset.
