You may think that your accountant has all of your tax preparation needs covered for you. However, if you own your home, a boat, an airplane, or any other piece of large property that can be taxed, you may need to talk with someone who specializes in property taxes. Property tax consultants can help taxpayers in a number of ways.

The Fulton County tax assessors have begun work on the 2013 property tax appeals. Some Fulton County property owners have received no change letters from the tax assessors regarding their 2013 appeals while some have been offered reductions in what is called a 30 day letter. After you receive a reduction offer from the tax assessors you have 30 days to either accept the reduced value or appeal to the second level of appeal, which is the Fulton County Board of Equalization.

Recently, some of the 2013 property tax appeals have been scheduled to be heard by the Fulton County Board of Equalization. As recently as last month, the Board of Equalization was continuing to work on 2012 property tax appeal hearings and even a few 2011 property tax appeal hearings were being heard. They are not done with 2012 hearings, however. It appears that the Fulton County Tax Assessors staff is frequently using the board of equalization hearing as a tool to gain access to properties.

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.  

The Gwinnett County Tax Assessor’s office has now issued the 2013 Property Tax Bills to the
residential as well as the commercial property owners.

The Georgia tax assessors are sending out 2013 tax assessment notices and it is time to take a look at Atlanta commercial real estate values. Below is the sale price per square foot trend for retail real estate in metro Atlanta. It appears we are still bouncing along the bottom:

It is almost property tax appeal time again in DeKalb County GA. The DeKalb County tax assessor will be sending out 2013 property tax assessment notices soon. One of the DeKalb County appraisers told me a week ago that the envelopes were in but they weren’t quite ready to print the assessment notices yet. DeKalb County tax assessor is implementing a new mass appraisal system this year. This is a computer assisted mass appraisal system, which stores all of the property data and also has several different approaches to value built in so that they can appraise the property. It remains to be seen if they will get the property tax assessment notices out soon, or whether it will be a little later in the month. Last year DeKalb County tax assessor notices went out at the end of May.

The DeKalb County Board of Equalization is still holding hearings on 2012 values. They will probably continue holding hearings on 2012 values even after the 2013 values have been mailed. I think things at the DeKalb County Board of Equalization or moving along nicely, though. Compared to last year, going to the Board of Equalization is a dream. The past two years the hearings have been on a first-come-first-serve basis. Last year when you showed up early for a hearing you found scores of other people already there in a sweltering hot room. This year the Board of Equalization hearings appear to be moving along a little better and they are not scheduling nearly as many people on the same day.

It is property tax appeal time in the great state of Georgia and Atlanta hotels have been through an awful time during the Great Recession. Although much of the commercial real estate sector is now on the upswing and cap rates have been falling, hotels still have some of the highest cap rates of any commercial property class. I know many hotel owners who continue to tell me that the hotel market is still bad. If your gross revenue is down and your operating expense ratio has shrunk, and there appears to be no end to your nonexistent net operating income, then the Great Recession is not over.

Real Estate Research Corporation (RERC) stated in their most recent report that demand for hotels and a lack of new supply makes the hotel sector a good investment opportunity. But they also went on to say that replacement cost is higher than value. As a result, development capital is not readily available. RERC's required pre-tax yield rate for the hotel sector decreased in the fourth quarter, although it retained the highest yield rate among the property sectors. According to Smith Travel Research fourth quarter hotel occupancy declined to 45.4%, a 7.2% year-over-year decrease, the average daily rate fell 1.6%, and revenue per available room declined 8.7% to $68.43. Apparently lack of new supply is not helping out the existing hotels.

You asked for the best and you got it! Property tax appeal options. In our continuing efforts to be the property tax appeal resource center we have established several options for single family residential property tax appeals. We know that some of you don't have the time or resources to develop a property tax appeal case and aren't all motivated by the same cost/benefit profile. As a result of numerous inquires on what we charge, and the desire for other payment options, we now have four different single family residential tax appeal services options.

For those that are averse to contingent fees because you dont know, ultimately, how much you will pay, we now have a Gold Level flat fee option. For a one-time $350 fee Fair Assessments will perform the work it is known for. Regardless of tax savings generated there are no additional fees (unless you want to file your appeal to court).