Appeals
Assessment Appeals
By law, every year the Board of Tax Assessors must send every owner of taxable property a notice of assessment. This notice tells you the value at which the Board intends to assess your property and lists any exemptions applied to it. You have 45 days from the date on the notice to file an appeal. The notice shows the last day you can appeal as the Appeal Deadline; once that date passes, you can no longer file.
Please note: if you bought the property after January 1, the notice will still list the person or entity who owned it on January 1 of the current year. Even so, you as the new owner have the right to appeal, as long as you can show you are the lawful owner before the appeal deadline.
How to file
File your appeal with the Board of Tax Assessors. You can write us a letter at P.O. Box 602, Elberton, GA 30635, or print the State Revenue Commissioner's appeal form (Form PT-311A) from the Georgia Department of Revenue website. You may also visit our office, where a staff member can print a form already filled in with much of your property and owner information. We are glad to help you complete the rest.
What happens after you file
A member of our staff will visit the property to confirm its characteristics still match our records. If anything differs, they report it to the Board. The Board then reviews that information along with anything you provide.
If the Board decides to change the proposed assessment, we will send you a revised notice of assessment. If you do not agree with the revised assessment, you must tell the Board in writing. For any appeal where the Board makes no change--or makes a change but you still disagree--we will contact you to set up an in-person meeting to discuss the matter.
If you still disagree
After we meet and discuss the assessment, if you still disagree, the Board will forward your appeal to the County Board of Equalization. The Board of Equalization schedules a hearing, holds it, and issues its decision.
You have two alternatives to the Board of Equalization:
- Arbitration. Our staff can explain this process. It requires you to submit an appraisal by a certified appraiser, completed within the past year, within 45 days of filing your appeal. If you do not submit the appraisal in time, you lose the right to continue your appeal.
- Hearing Officer. You may choose this option only if the property is not homesteaded and its proposed value is $500,000 or more. Our staff can explain this process as well.
Grounds for appeal
You may base your appeal on any of three grounds: whether the property is taxable, whether the assigned value reflects fair market value, or whether the value is uniform compared with similar properties in the county. You cannot appeal simply because you object to the amount of taxes you owe.
Each path decides different issues: arbitration can decide only value; a Hearing Officer can decide value and uniformity; and only the Board of Equalization can hear appeals based on taxability.
You may also appeal the denial of a Homestead Exemption or certain agricultural exemptions, including the Preferential Assessment Exemption, the Conservation Use Valuation Assessment Exemption, and the Forest Land Protection Act Exemption. Only the Board of Equalization can hear appeals of a denied exemption.
Appealing to Superior Court
Finally, as it pertains to appeals, if you disagree with the decision of the Board of Equalization, an arbitrator, or a Hearing Officer, you may appeal to Elbert County Superior Court within 30 days of that decision.
In Addition to Filing an Appeal
During the time allowed for filing an appeal, you may also file for any exemptions for which you may qualify. For more information on filing for an appeal, please see: Exemptions
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