GEORGIA · 2026 DEADLINES

Georgia Property Tax Appeal Deadlines for 2026

Georgia's appeal window is short, it starts on a date you did not choose, and courts treat it as jurisdictional. Here is every date a commercial owner needs for the 2026 cycle.

How GA Appeals Work

45 days

From the notice date to appeal

30 days

From BOE decision to Superior Court

85%

Temporary bill while the appeal is pending

Georgia Filing Deadlines

45 daysFrom notice of assessment

45 daysCertified appraisal (arbitration)

30 daysAppeal to Superior Court

Georgia counties mail Annual Notices of Assessment on their own schedules through spring and early summer. The 45-day appeal window runs from the notice date printed on the document — not the day it arrives — and Georgia courts have dismissed late appeals without reviewing the merits.

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Georgia has one of the cleanest appeal deadlines in the country and one of the least forgiving. Forty-five days from the notice date, every parcel, every county. There is no rolling window, no discretionary extension, and no hardship exception — and Georgia courts have made clear that a late appeal does not get a merits review no matter how badly the property is over-assessed.

The difficulty is not understanding the rule. It is that the clock starts on a document you did not send, on a date you did not choose, delivered to whatever address the county has on file. This guide walks the full Georgia calendar for commercial property — from the Annual Notice of Assessment through the county board of tax assessors, the three appeal routes, and the Superior Court window that follows. EPTA represents commercial owners across Georgia, alongside Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The Notice Is the Trigger, Not the Tax Bill

Georgia's Annual Notice of Assessment is the operative document. It is not a bill and it asks for no payment, which is precisely why it gets set aside. It states the county's value for the year, an estimate of the taxes that value will produce, and the date that starts your 45 days. The tax bill itself arrives months later, long after the appeal window has closed.

The notice carries real substantive content beyond the deadline. Where the assessment increases significantly, the county must provide a plain-language explanation of the basis for the change and tell you that the records behind it are available for inspection at minimal cost. Those records are the cheapest evidence you will ever obtain in a Georgia appeal, and requesting them early frequently reveals the error — a wrong square footage, a stale income figure, a comparable that has nothing in common with your building.

THE 2026 GEORGIA CALENDAR

Every Date in Order

Georgia's sequence is consistent statewide even though the start date varies by county and by parcel. Anchor everything to the notice date.

Spring to Early Summer — The Annual Notice Arrives

Counties mail Annual Notices of Assessment on their own schedules, generally between spring and midsummer. Metro Atlanta counties tend to be earlier. The moment a notice is identified, record the notice date and count 45 days forward — that is your filing deadline, and everything else is planned backward from it. If your portfolio spans several counties, expect several different deadlines in the same season.

Immediately — Request the Assessor's Records

Georgia gives you the right to inspect or obtain inexpensive copies of the records the assessors used to set your value. Do this in the first week, not the fifth. The property record card alone resolves a surprising number of disputes by exposing a factual error, and for income-producing property the county's assumed rents and expenses tell you exactly which part of the valuation to attack. See our appeal evidence guide.

Within 45 Days — File the Appeal and Elect Your Route

File a written appeal with the county board of tax assessors using Form PT-311A or a letter that states your election. Georgia requires you to choose your route at the time of filing: the county Board of Equalization, a hearing officer (available for non-homestead real property above the statutory value threshold, limited to value and uniformity), or arbitration. The election shapes everything that follows, so make it deliberately — our guide to the three routes compares them directly.

After Filing — The Assessors Review First

Before your chosen route engages, the board of tax assessors reviews the appeal itself and may revise the value. A meaningful share of Georgia appeals resolve at this stage, which is the fastest and cheapest outcome available. Note that the value freeze under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-299(c) generally attaches to values established through the appeal process rather than to informal adjustments, so how a matter resolves here can matter for the two years that follow.

Unresolved — Your Elected Route Hears the Case

If the assessors do not resolve it, the appeal proceeds to the Board of Equalization, hearing officer, or arbitrator you selected. If you elected arbitration, note the second 45-day clock: a certified appraisal prepared by a qualified appraiser must be provided within 45 days of filing the arbitration notice, at your expense. Missing that deadline undermines the route you chose.

Within 30 Days — Appeal to Superior Court

A decision from the Board of Equalization, hearing officer, or arbitrator may be appealed to Superior Court within 30 days of the decision being delivered. Georgia also provides a meaningful cost-shifting incentive: where the final determination of value comes in at 85 percent or less of the valuation set below, the taxpayer may recover litigation costs and reasonable attorney's fees. That provision materially changes the economics of pursuing a strong commercial case.

WHEN YOUR NOTICE ARRIVES

Georgia 45-Day Self-Check

Work through these in the first week after a notice lands. Georgia courts do not reopen a missed 45-day window, so the only reliable protection is starting early.

I recorded the notice date printed on the document, not the date it arrived

I counted 45 days forward and calendared the deadline with a two-week warning

I confirmed the county has a current mailing address for every parcel I own

I requested the assessor's records and reviewed the property record card for errors

I decided which of the three appeal routes fits this parcel before filing

If electing arbitration, I lined up a qualified appraiser for the second 45-day clock

I planned for the temporary tax bill that comes due while the appeal is pending

GEORGIA DEADLINE FAQ

Questions Georgia Owners Ask Us in Notice Season

45 days from the date printed on your Annual Notice of Assessment, under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-311. There is no single statewide date, because counties mail their notices on their own schedules — typically in the spring and early summer. Your deadline is a function of your notice, so the day it arrives is the day to calendar it. Our Georgia property tax appeals page covers the full process.

No — and this is the detail that ends more Georgia appeals than any other. The clock runs from the notice date printed on the assessment notice, not the postmark, not the delivery date, and not the day someone in your organization opened it. Mail delays, forwarded addresses, and notices sent to a registered agent rather than an asset manager routinely consume a week or more of a 45-day window before anyone reads the document. Check the notice date first, then work backward.

In practice, no. Georgia courts have treated the 45-day deadline as jurisdictional and have dismissed late appeals without reaching the merits, however strong the underlying valuation argument. There is no general hardship exception and no discretionary extension from the board of tax assessors. If the window closes, the assessment stands for that tax year and the next opportunity is the following year's notice. This is why we calendar the deadline the moment a notice is identified rather than waiting for the analysis to finish.

Georgia requires counties to send an annual notice to the owner of record for each taxable parcel, so a missing notice is usually an address problem rather than an absence of one. Confirm the mailing address the county has on file — for entity-owned commercial property it is often a registered agent or a prior owner's address that nobody monitors. If a notice was issued to a stale address, raise it with the board of tax assessors immediately; the available remedies are narrow and they get narrower with time. Fixing the address of record is the cheapest protection against losing next year's window too.

Generally yes, and Georgia has a specific mechanism for it. While an appeal is pending, the county issues a temporary tax bill based on a reduced portion of the disputed value — commonly 85 percent — which you pay on the normal schedule. If your appeal succeeds, the overpayment is refunded; if the value is upheld, you pay the balance. Missing the temporary bill invites interest and penalties and can complicate the appeal itself, so build the payment into your timeline from the start.

45 DAYS IS SHORTER THAN IT SOUNDS

Get Your Georgia Assessment Reviewed While the Window Is Open.

Send us your Annual Notice of Assessment and we'll confirm the deadline, pull the assessor's records, and tell you whether the value is worth challenging this year.

Contingency representation across Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Georgia. Beyond a modest filing retainer, no fee unless we reduce your taxes.

Low upfront cost. No obligation.

Reviewing a Georgia annual notice of assessment before the 45-day appeal deadline