Your property taxes are assessed every year, based on such elements as your property’s market value, your neighborhood, schools and parks near you, and your curb appeal. In a perfect world, you’d have a beautiful home with a very high property value, great curb appeal, and a safe and welcoming neighborhood, and you’d have low property taxes, too.

As of July 1, 2013, any appeal related adjustments to value are subject to these new provisions. The taxpayer may be charged interest on tax amounts due when the taxpayer owes the county money after the property tax appeal is resolved. Likewise, the tax commissioner may owe interest on refunds owed the taxpayer after the property tax appeal is resolved.  

After receiving your Notice of Assessment, a taxpayer/property owner may file a  written appeal within 45 days (depending on your county) of Notice Date. Click here to obtain a copy of the appeal form.

As stated in Georgia law, before tax bills are released, all counties should have already issued an Annual Assessment Notice to all taxable real estate owners. This Tax Assessment Notice should be distributed April - June of each year.

The Fulton County property appraiser is the chief appraiser that works for the Fulton County Board of Tax Assessors. In the state of Florida the tax assessor is often called the property appraiser so there may be some confusion in terminology. If you're looking for a real estate appraiser that works in Fulton County, Georgia see Atlanta Real Property Advisors.

The Fulton County chief appraiser is hired by the Fulton County Board of Tax Assessors to administer the tax assessment department. The chief appraiser has several deputy chief appraisers working for him or her to help with the management of this large department. The staff consists of residential appraisers, commercial appraisers, personal property appraisers, geographic information systems personnel, and administrative staff.

This article contrasts the work done by Fair Assessments, LLC vs. Appraisers. During the recent real estate depression (some might say ongoing) many people saw that there was money to be made in property tax reduction work and got into the business. Many of the people/companies that have gotten into this work are real estate appraisers. Some people might think that this is a natural extension of what appraisers already do for a living. They might be wrong. 

The appraisal business has changed a lot since I did this work twenty years ago. The government, in the name of protecting federally insured institutions and the public, has (unintentionally) driven down the price of a real estate appraisal. There are a handfull of large companies that make software for appraisers, and some of them saw a way to make more money by providing marketing services to appraisers. One that I am aware of, a la mode inc., pushes it's print and email marketing software to appraisers that "will proactively help you get new clients that pay higher fees."