One of the most notable provisions of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (Act 431) is the shifting of the burden of proof to the DeKalb County Tax Assessor for changes in property valuation upon appeals filed by the concerned property owners. With the shift, assessing officials are obligated by law to defend excessive increases in assessment. The defence should be made with a preponderance of objective evidence coupled with meaningful arguments.

Multifamily property owners should be aware of the mistakes and their reasons made by the Gwinnett County Tax Assessor in the valuation of their real estate assets. By understanding these things, the owner/taxpayers have the weapons necessary for their successful appeals against unfairly high tax assessments.

Every year, the Hall County Tax Assessor sends out the Annual Notice of Assessment to all residential and commercial property owners. Many of these owners will file appeals against their assessments on one or all of three grounds, namely, value, taxability and equalization.

The median effective Hall County tax rate is at 0.80% of property value, as computed from the median property tax of $1,394 and median home value of $175,200. At this rate, Hall County is considered as one of the Georgia counties with the highest property taxes – 20^th by median property taxes and 65^th by median tax as a percentage of property value. The higher property taxes here can be partly attributed to the higher median property values in the county as against the rest of Georgia (i.e., $175,200 to $162,800 respectively).

Taxpayers will understandably balk at increases in their taxes especially when these apply on real and personal property. Such a tax-averse attitude will likely be observed when there are Fulton County property tax increases, which add to the yearly burden on top of other types of taxes.

The national drop in commercial property values may have partly contributed to the increase in commercial property tax appeals. This appears to be happening where the Fulton County property tax appeals are concerned.

One of the best ways to enjoy substantial Hall County property tax reduction is through property tax exemptions for senior citizens. Senior citizens/homeowners should take advantage of the generous property tax exemptions provided by the state, county, and city.

While the Fulton County property appraiser is only doing his job, namely, providing an objective appraisal of your property for taxation purpose, you have the right to question the results of his job. This is especially true when your annual notice of assessment shows an unusually high property valuation, which translates into high property taxes. 

Georgia taxpayers may believe that digital technology has resulted in greater accuracy in the gathering of data, calculating of property values, and sending out of Hall County tax assessment notices.  But this is not exactly so. While online filing including its software has provided both the tax authorities and taxpayers with more convenience, it has also increased the risks for inaccurate data. 

Many taxpayers think that the effective median Gwinnett County tax rate at 1% is the tax rate applied to the property’s assessed value. This is not so since the effective median tax rate is calculated by dividing the median property tax by the median home value ($1950/194,200).