The county tax office is often a foreboding place for a lot of people. However, most of them are here to help property owners and those who are trying to figure out their tax liability or how they can request a correction of information. If you are struggling to understand your property tax assessment or you have issues with the information that was used, you can usually call or email them and get things resolved fairly quickly.
Property taxes are a pain in everyone’s wallet. Although it will never go away, there are some things that you can do to make it better. One of those is to educate yourself about your taxes, how they are calculated, and what you should be paying. The assessment process is mostly foreign to the average homeowner, but it isn’t especially complicated.
In the process of performing a tax assessment, the county assessor will evaluate a lot of data and information related to your property. Because of the complexity of property tax valuation and the sheer volume of real estate, the state of Georgia uses a mass appraisal system to determine property values and tax rates. This seems to be effective enough, but it can also result in a lot of incorrect information being used to determine how much a property owner should pay.
No one likes their property tax bill. However, if you actually feel that your Gwinnett County property tax assessment is incorrect, there is something that you can do. Most people don’t pay a lot of attention to these bills, and even less to their assessments when they arrive. If you take a few minutes to look at your assessment or tax bill, whether you own a residential or commercial property, it should be easy to determine if there might be something wrong. Everyone makes mistakes and the tax assessment process isn’t perfect, so it’s up to the property owner to follow up.
If you are dealing with an incorrect tax assessment, you’re probably under a fair amount of stress. Fortunately, you don’t need to panic. Just take a minute to look at the assessment or tax bill that you received to see what it actually says. If there isn’t enough information on the bill or assessment, you may have to dig deeper to find the errors and correct them accordingly.
The tax assessor’s office is not working against property owners, despite what some people might think. The problem lies in the tax assessment process, which can be complex and confusing for the average property owner. People often immediately jump to blame the assessor when their tax bill goes up or the information is incorrect. However, the issues that you are having with your property taxes are usually above what a Dekalb County tax assessor has control over.