Every single year, the Fulton County tax assessor sends out the property tax bills to all of the homeowners and property owners in the county. Most people simply grumble about the amount owed, send in their check, and then promptly forget about it. However, you can never be sure if you are being charged the right amount if you don’t dig a little bit deeper.
Understanding Property Taxes
There are different types of taxes that can be assessed on the different types of property that you own. The land that is owned and all of the structures that may be on the land, can all succumb to taxes. Plus, the Fulton County tax assessor will need to consider the specifics of the property to determine the worth and the tax rate. If the land is empty and undeveloped, it might not be worth as much as land that already has access to things like gas lines and the sewer system. The location of the land also needs to be taken into consideration because land in certain areas is worth double or even triple the amount of land in other areas.
The Fulton County tax assessor has a very important job because the property taxes that are collected are a major funding source of the county’s budget. In fact, property taxes help fund extremely important services within the community like roadways, libraries, and the public school system. The money that comes in from the assessed property taxes can overwhelm the budget if it is under the amount that is expected. Yet, that isn’t to say anyone citizen should be paying more than their fair share, however. All of the homes and commercial properties in the county should be taxed at a rate that is in congruence with the property’s worth.
Calculating Property Taxes
In essence, the Fulton County tax assessor used the value of your property to calculate the amount of property tax that you owe. This amount will be inclusive of the land itself and the buildings that have been erected on that land. The assessment isn’t just completed one time, however, because the real estate market fluctuates. Thus, the value of the property will also fluctuate. Homes and commercial properties are reassessed every so often to ensure that the tax rate remains fair and accurate. There are two main ways that property can be evaluated and the taxes can be determined. These are the mill levy and the assessed property value methods.
The Mill Levy Method
When the mill levy method is used by a tax assessor, the value of the property is determined with “one mill” equaling one-tenth of a cent. This means that 1 mill would equal $1 for every $1000 that your home is worth.
The process can be a little bit more complicated than just the $1 for $1000 rate. The different tax jurisdictions and the tax levies are all separately calculated. Then once all these calculations are made, the levies are added together. This gives the mill rate for the region, whether that is the county, the city, or the state. When the mill levy system is in place, there are different entities that can levy taxes such as the school district or the county itself. All of these required levies will be tallied up as a whole to give the overall tax rate for the property.
We can break it down a little further. Let’s say the Fulton County tax assessor finds that the value of all the property within the county is equal to $100 billion dollars, and the county budget requires $1 billion dollars to operate. The tax rate would be 1% or $100 billion divided by $1 billion mill levy. However, the school district inside the county also has a mill levy of 3%. This means that the total mill levy would be 4% or 4 mills.
The Assessed Property Value Method
If the Fulton County tax assessor uses the assessed property value method to determine the property tax rate, the assessed value of the property is based on the market value of the property. The market value is entirely based upon the conditions of the real estate market in the area.
The Fulton County tax assessor reviews the pertinent information regarding the square footage of the home, the location of the property, and the going price of other similar properties. This helps determine how much the home would sell for in the current real estate market, and thus, the market value of the property is assessed. This brings the Fulton County tax assessor to the point where he or she can decide on the amount of property tax that needs to be paid.
Your home will be evaluated using one or more of these three methods:
● Sales Evaluation: The Fulton County tax assessor will use the information gathered from sales of similar homes in your area to determine the conditions of the current real estate market. This information will be used to estimate how much your home would sell for.
● Cost: This method considers the cost of replacing your home and figuring the amount of depreciation that may have occurred.
● Income: This method determines the amount that could be made if the property were being rented out. The Fulton County tax assessor would have to deduct the cost of maintaining the property from the rental income amount.
There are times when the Fulton County tax assessor will make a mistake in determining how much your home is worth. If this happens, you may be billed for more taxes than you should rightfully owe. If you think your home has been assessed unfairly, you are entitled to appeal the amount. However, time is of the essence because you will only have a limited window that an appeal is allowed.
If you would like to discuss your property taxes and whether you are being fairly assessed, contact the tax experts at Fair Assessments, LLC. We can help make sure you do not pay more than your rightful share.
