Georgia property tax appeals — overview

Last reviewed: May 2026 · Coverage: 10 counties + state-wide framework

Property tax appeals in the Peach State — from Atlanta and the metro core through Savannah, Gainesville, and the South Atlanta exurbs.

How Georgia works

GA assesses property at a uniform 40% of fair market value under O.C.G.A. §48-5-7. The procedural escalation runs county Board of Tax Assessors → Board of Equalization (BOE), Hearing Officer (residential ≥$750K), or Arbitration → Superior Court. The annual appeal window is 45 days from Notice of Assessment mailing under O.C.G.A. §48-5-311(e)(2). The hidden lever for rural/exurban land: Conservation Use Valuation Assessment (CUVA) under O.C.G.A. §48-5-7.4 — qualifying agricultural, forestry, conservation use land assessed at use value rather than FMV (typical 80-95% reduction; 10-year covenant; up to 2,000 acres). Recent procedural shift: HB 92 (2024) eliminated the automatic appeal-pending freeze — the freeze now requires winning a value reduction. Georgia has 159 counties — more than any state east of the Mississippi.

Read the complete guide

For the full procedural framework, three appeal track options (BOE / Hearing Officer / Arbitration), CUVA covenant mechanics, evidence rules, and 10 county-specific quick-reference accordions covering Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, Clayton, Chatham (Savannah), Cherokee, Forsyth, Henry, and Hall (Gainesville), see:

→ Georgia Property Tax Appeals — The Complete Guide

The complete guide covers all 12 sections of our state-cornerstone schema: quick facts, how 40%-ratio assessments work, when appeals make sense, the BOE / Hearing Officer / Arbitration / Superior Court process, evidence rules, what wins and loses at each venue, exemptions (including the Standard Homestead, Floating Inflation-Proof, county-specific senior school-tax exemptions, and CUVA), county quick references, recent HB 92 / HB 581 (2024) context, FAQ, service-company landscape, and primary sources.

Cross-state topic explainers

• Property tax assessment math: ratios, millage, equalization
• Finding comparable sales evidence
• What property tax appeal hearings actually look like
• State assessment caps overview
• Property tax service companies — honest comparison
• Senior and disability exemption deep-dive
• Property record errors as appeal basis
• Recent purchase price as appeal evidence
• Reassessment cycles by state
• DIY vs. hire decision matrix

Calculators

• Property tax estimator — state-aware annual tax bill estimate
• Appeal savings estimator — cumulative savings with state-specific carry-forward
• Service vs. DIY breakeven calculator

Editorial framework

• Statutory citations verified against current state code (O.C.G.A. Title 48, Chapter 5)
• HB 92 / HB 581 (2024) procedural amendments tracked
• County BTA URLs verified live at every quarterly re-grounding pass
• Substantive accuracy and YMYL framing reviewed before publication

See /methodology/ for our editorial review process.

The Property Tax Desk Editorial Team