While home prices are rising, you may find yourself disappointed with your property tax assessed value as reflected on the annual notice of assessment. Fortunately, you can exercise your right to appeal the tax assessor’s assessed value either on your own or with the assistance of DeKalb County tax advisors.
The question: Should you go for third party assistance or let go of it (i.e., do-it-yourself appeal)?
Reasons to Go For It
Many of the DeKalb County tax advisors are attorneys or appraisers. These tax professionals will usually file and handle the tax assessment appeal on your behalf with most taking on the job on a flat fee basis or a contingency basis (e.g., you will only pay them when you win the case). In some cases you will find the option of a lower flat fee combined with a contingent fee that is a percentage of the tax savings.
Why would you pay these people your hard-earned money to file an appeal in your behalf when you can just do it on your own? The rules and regulations set by the tax authorities allow for it so there’s no reason not to do so.
But there are plenty of reasons to hire DeKalb County tax advisors for tax assessment appeal purposes. First, you will likely have little to no time to pour into the entire appeal process, which will involve meeting tight deadlines, gathering voluminous documents, and preparing for hearings. You can rely on the tax advisors to attend to these nitty-gritty details on their time while you attend to other matters in your life.
Second, you will have tax experts who can provide for a definitive opinion about your property’s assessed value including whether you are being overtaxed or not. They will know what type of data to present to the assessors and what to ignore. They will know what to say and equally important, what not to say to the assessors.
If your home has an appraised value of $200,000 and the DeKalb assessment ratio is 40%, its assessed value will be $80,000. But when research shows that your property should only have an appraised value of $150,000 per the property tax advisor, its assessed value should be only be $60,000 and your taxes will be lower. It’s then in your best interest to file a protest or authorize your advisor to do the filing for you.
Third, your tax advisors will provide more information about the tax appeals process while also handling the details especially the documents, meetings, and hearings. You can save yourself the trouble of understanding and dealing with the complicated rules and regulations of the appeals process.
Let It Go
But you should also consider whether you will actually benefit from hiring DeKalb County tax advisors for your tax appeal. Keep in mind that these tax professionals will demand payment for their services. You have to weigh the pros (monetary and non-monetary benefits) and cons (monetary costs) before making your decision.
For example, if the projected tax savings will be less than the professional fees charged by the tax experts, you should just learn the process on your own. You can ask questions from tax experts without engaging their full services, thus, saving on costs. If you don’t have the time or confidence for a Board of Equalization hearing you may want to engage a property tax advisor for this purpose because they can get your taxable value frozen for three years.
Will you go for or let go of DeKalb County tax advisors? It’s your call.
