AppealAlly launches statewide in Georgia on April 21, 2026, covering all 159 counties with two ways to fight an overassessed home.
AppealAlly, a property tax appeal service built for Georgia homeowners, launches statewide on April 21, 2026. The platform covers all 159 Georgia counties and offers two ways to fight an overassessed home: a $79 DIY appeal kit or a full-service option with no upfront cost. County assessment notices start arriving in late April, and once yours is dated, you have exactly 45 days to file an appeal under O.C.G.A. 48-5-311. The 2026 appeal season is about to open, and most homeowners aren't ready for it.
Georgia homeowners are massively overassessed. Property tax analysis of county records found that 49% of Gwinnett County homes were overvalued in 2025. In Fulton County, that figure was 41%. These aren't outliers. They're the two largest counties in metro Atlanta, and the pattern extends across much of the state.
Georgia home values surged roughly 60-65% between 2020 and 2025. The market has since moderated to 1-2% annual growth statewide, but county assessments lag behind real-time conditions by one to two years. That means your 2026 assessment notice may still reflect peak pandemic-era pricing, even though comparable homes in your neighborhood are selling for less today. This creates a window where overassessment is especially likely.
Yet fewer than 5% of homeowners ever file an appeal, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. A 2025 national survey of 2,500 homeowners found that 74% worry about rising property taxes, but only 22% have ever appealed.
The gap between concern and action comes down to three things: homeowners don't understand the process, they don't know their deadline, or they assume it isn't worth the effort.
Over 60% of properly documented residential appeals in Georgia result in reduced assessments. According to Georgia Department of Revenue data, 43.5% of appeals settle before the hearing even happens, meaning the county reviews the evidence and agrees to a reduction without a formal proceeding. And under O.C.G.A. 48-5-299(c), a successful appeal locks your assessed value for the appeal year plus the next two years. A single win protects you for three years.
Meanwhile, the property tax cap introduced by House Bill 581 hasn't delivered the relief many expected. According to Tax Foundation analysis, 316 local government entities opted out of the cap. All five of the largest metro Atlanta counties had at least one taxing authority (typically the school system) opt out. Counties covering roughly 83% of Georgia's population saw at least one opt-out. Your millage rate is unlikely to decline even if your assessed value stays flat. For most metro Atlanta homeowners, filing an appeal remains the primary tool to control a rising tax bill.
AppealAlly was founded by Vien Ha, a Georgia Tech-trained engineer who grew up in metro Atlanta. A few years ago, he was reviewing his mother's property tax records and discovered she'd been missing a homestead exemption for over 20 years. The cumulative overpayment: more than $20,000.
His mother isn't unusual. She paid her tax bill on time every year without questioning it, because she didn't know there was anything to question. She trusted that the county had it right. They didn't.
That discovery sent Vien into the mechanics of Georgia property tax law, assessment methodology, and comparable sales analysis. What he found was a system that consistently overvalues homes and a population of homeowners who almost never push back. The assessment process is opaque, the deadlines are unforgiving, and the whole system quietly rewards inaction from the county's perspective. Homeowners who don't challenge their assessments simply overpay, year after year, and no one tells them.
He built AppealAlly to close that gap. The approach was straightforward: use detailed comparable property analysis to identify overassessments, then give homeowners the evidence and tools to successfully appeal. Plain language, clear steps, and an upfront answer on whether an appeal is worth filing.
AppealAlly soft-launched in July 2025 with a single LinkedIn post. Within the final two weeks of that test run, homeowners across metro Atlanta purchased appeal kits, all from that one post, with zero advertising spend. It validated what the data already suggested: homeowners want this help, and they'll act on it when someone makes the process accessible.
The 2026 season is the full launch. All 159 counties. Both products. Statewide from day one.
The process starts the same way regardless of which product you choose. You enter your address, and AppealAlly's analysis engine pulls your property data, identifies comparable sales in your area, and calculates your estimated overassessment and potential savings. Within minutes, you know whether your home is likely overvalued and by how much.
From there, you pick the option that fits your situation:
DIY Appeal Kit ($79, money-back guarantee). You receive a complete appeal package tailored to your property: a ready-to-sign PT-311A form, 2-5 comparable sales with a map and price-per-square-foot breakdown, a presentation summary and hearing script, and county-specific filing instructions. Depending on what the data supports, the packet may also include arguments based on uniformity issues, property record errors, or condition adjustments. You only get arguments that apply to your situation. You file and attend the Board of Equalization hearing yourself. The hearing is informal, typically 15-20 minutes, and doesn't require an attorney. If your appeal doesn't result in a reduction, you get your money back.
Full-Service Appeal (30% of first-year savings, $0 upfront). AppealAlly handles everything: filing, evidence preparation, case management, and hearing representation. You pay nothing unless your assessment is reduced. The 30% fee applies only to the first year of savings. In years two and three of the freeze, you keep 100%.
Consider a homeowner in Gwinnett County whose home is assessed at $440,000 in fair market value. Recent comparable sales in the same subdivision show values around $395,000, suggesting an overassessment of $45,000 in FMV. At Gwinnett's millage rate, that's approximately $627 per year in overpaid taxes, or $1,881 over the three-year freeze period.
In AppealAlly's early results, Georgia homeowners saved an average of $497 per year, with typical three-year savings around $1,500 and an 86% appeal success rate.
Both products are available at launch on April 21.
Georgia's appeal process runs on a tight, county-by-county schedule. There is no universal statewide deadline. Each county mails assessment notices on its own timeline, and your 45-day window starts from the date printed on your notice, not the day you open the envelope.
Metro Atlanta counties typically send notices between late April and mid-June, which means deadlines fall between mid-June and early August. Based on 2025 historical data, here's what to expect for the largest metro Atlanta counties:
These are estimates based on prior-year patterns. Your actual deadline depends entirely on the date printed on your 2026 notice.
One detail that trips up homeowners every year: if your notice sat in a stack of unopened mail for two weeks, you've already burned through nearly half your appeal window. Open assessment mail immediately. Many counties also post notices online before the paper copy arrives, so check your county assessor's website starting in late April.
One important change from HB 581: before January 2025, homeowners could trigger the three-year freeze simply by filing, even without winning. That loophole is closed. You now need an actual reduction to lock your value, which makes evidence quality the most important factor in any appeal.
For most homeowners, the appeal comes down to value, arguing that the county's fair market value estimate is higher than what your home would actually sell for. Georgia law puts the burden of proof on the Board of Tax Assessors, not on you. You don't have to prove your home is worth a specific number. You have to present enough evidence to cast reasonable doubt on theirs. The full list of appeal grounds is in the Property Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.
AppealAlly's savings calculator is live today. You don't have to wait until April 21 to find out whether your home is likely overassessed. Enter your address now to see your estimated savings and join the waitlist. When the service opens, waitlist members are the first to receive their personalized analysis.
While you're waiting for your assessment notice, two steps are worth taking now:
Check your property record card. Visit your county assessor's website and verify the square footage, lot size, bedroom and bathroom count, year built, and condition rating. Incorrect square footage, lot size, and condition ratings are among the most common errors in county property records. If the county has your home listed at 2,400 square feet when it's actually 2,200, that error alone could inflate your assessed value by $30,000-$50,000. Correcting a data error is often the easiest path to a reduction because the county can't defend its own incorrect records.
Get a sense of what homes in your area are selling for. Look at closed sales from 2025 in your neighborhood or subdivision, focusing on properties similar to yours in size, age, and condition. Calculate the price per square foot for each sale. If comparable homes are selling at $175 per square foot and the county assessed your home at $210 per square foot, you have a clear, data-supported case before you even open your assessment notice. You don't need a full analysis yet. You're building a baseline so you can compare it to the county's number when your notice arrives.
Know your county's timeline. If you're in Gwinnett or Cobb, expect notices in late May. If you're in Fulton or Forsyth, mid-June is more likely. DeKalb typically falls in between. Set a calendar reminder for two weeks before your expected notice date so you're watching for it.
Georgia's 2026 assessment notices could start arriving as early as late April. For the earliest counties, the 45-day deadline will fall in early July. The homeowners who get the best outcomes aren't the ones who scramble after the notice arrives. They're the ones who already understand the process, have a sense of what their home is worth relative to the county's number, and know exactly what to do when that envelope shows up.
Vien's mother overpaid by $20,000 because nobody told her she could question the number on the notice. AppealAlly launches April 21 so that doesn't have to happen to you. Check your assessment, know your numbers, and be ready when the envelope shows up.