Silence after a Georgia appeal is normal. How to check that the county has yours, and what proves you filed on time by mail, email or online.
# How to Confirm Your Georgia Property Tax Appeal Was Filed
Hearing nothing for weeks after you file a Georgia property tax appeal is normal, because Georgia law requires the county board of tax assessors to review it and tell you the result within 180 days of receiving it (longer in some busy counties). To confirm the county has it, check your county's online appeal status where it has one or ask the assessors in writing, and keep the proof that fits how you filed: a mailed appeal counts as filed on its postmark date, and an emailed one on the date sent where the assessors have a written policy accepting email.
That proof is also what you send back if the county ever says it has no appeal from you.
Confirm the dates on your county's letter.
Yes. The assessors' review can take up to 180 days from the day they receive your appeal, a period the law sets in O.C.G.A. 48-5-311(e)(3), and it ends when they tell you either that they made no change or what they changed. Fulton County's Board of Assessors says on its appeals page that "the appeals process can take several months."
Counties with heavy appeal volume can get more time. Where appeals reach at least 3 percent of a county's parcels, or the parcels under appeal make up at least 3 percent of the value of its tax digest, the assessors may be granted an additional 180 days, and the law requires them to notify each affected owner at least 30 days before the first 180 days run out. That notice can come by mail or electronically, including a post on the assessors' website, so check the website if your county is a busy one.
The chart below lays out the whole sequence, starting with the 45 days state law sets for filing an appeal, counted from the date your assessment notice was mailed (how that window runs from your notice). For the later steps, including the Board hearing, see what happens after you file a Georgia appeal.
A quiet stretch after filing is part of the process. The law sets the review period and the 30 days you have to continue your appeal after a change notice.
The review ends with one of two letters:
Confirm the dates on your county's letter.
Look up your property's appeal status online if your county offers it; some do.
If your appeal shows up in the county's record, the county has it on file. County paperwork is proof too:
Open every email from the county, even one that looks routine. One county's Board of Equalization has sent hearing notices under an email subject line that reads like a filing receipt.
A tax bill can be one more clue. Gwinnett's tax commissioner says that if your value is still under appeal when bills go out, your bill carries "specific messaging indicating this status." Georgia law requires any bill sent before an appeal is decided to come with a notice that it's a temporary tax bill pending the outcome of the appeal (O.C.G.A. 48-5-311(e)(6)(D)(iii)(I)).
Send a short, polite note to your county board of tax assessors and ask them to confirm that your appeal is on file and the filing date they've recorded. Include:
A few lines are enough: "I filed a property tax appeal for parcel [parcel number], [property address], by [mail, email or the county's portal] on [date]. A copy of my proof is attached. Could you please confirm that the appeal is on file and tell me the filing date you've recorded?" Send it by a method your county's appeals page lists, and keep a copy.
The proof depends on how you filed, because O.C.G.A. 48-5-311(n) treats mail and email differently, and each county decides what its own portal sends back. The chart below matches each way of filing to what counts and what to keep. For the form itself and the ways to send it, see how the PT-311A appeal form works.
Mail is judged by its postmark. Email counts only where the assessors accept it under a written policy, and for a portal filing, keep whatever confirmation or copies your county's portal gives you.
A mailed appeal is filed on the date of its U.S. Postal Service postmark, not the day it reaches the county, so an appeal postmarked on the last day of your filing window still counts.
Your proof is a record of the day the post office accepted the envelope. Gwinnett's appeals page suggests sending by a trackable method to confirm delivery; if you did, keep the tracking record and find the entry that shows the post office accepted the envelope. A delivery scan alone only shows the day it arrived. Keep any receipt the post office gave you, too, and a copy of what you sent. Fayette County's appeals page says a mailed appeal "must be USPS postmarked; no metered mail accepted," so in Fayette, have the envelope postmarked at the post office counter.
If you dropped the envelope in a mailbox and have no receipt, keep your copy of the appeal and a note of the day you mailed it, and ask the assessors to confirm the filing date they've recorded.
An emailed appeal counts on the date you sent it only where the county board of tax assessors has adopted a written policy accepting email, and the statute says the copy goes as a PDF to every email address the board provides. The Georgia Department of Revenue's PT-311A page puts it this way: "If the Board has implemented a policy allowing electronic submissions, you may email your appeal to the board of assessors."
Counties differ. Gwinnett's Board of Assessors does not accept appeals by email or fax, while Columbia County's appeal process page lists email and fax among its ways to file. If you emailed a county whose appeals page says it doesn't take email, as Gwinnett's does, contact the assessors right away and ask how to proceed before you send anything again.
If you emailed, keep the message in your sent folder with its attachments. Another county once said an emailed appeal reached it with no attachments, so open your sent copy and check that the files are there.
Each county sets what its portal sends back. Fayette County says you'll get a confirmation on the website and by email, and "If you do not receive the confirmation, the appeal HAS NOT been filed." DeKalb's online filing steps end with "Complete the form and receive confirmation." Hall County's online appeal emails your appeal documents to the Board of Tax Assessors and tells you to "Download and keep your copies for your records."
Save whatever the portal gives you: the confirmation page as a PDF or a screenshot, any confirmation email, or the copies it lets you download. If you expected an email and can't find it, look in your spam or junk folder, where portal receipts sometimes land.
Reply in writing with your proof. Say plainly that this isn't a new filing, that you're pointing the assessors to the appeal you already filed, and that its filing date stands. In your reply:
If you're thinking of sending the appeal again, ask the assessors first. And if you expected a letter that never came, don't assume none was sent; ask the assessors what they've sent you and when.
The county still writes to you. Georgia law requires the county to send its notices to both you and your agent once you've authorized the agent in writing and the county has a copy of that authorization (O.C.G.A. 48-5-311(o)). If a county letter reaches you, especially one saying there's no appeal on file, forward it to the service that filed for you. If you used another service, ask it for its proof of filing. If AppealAlly's Full Service filed your appeal, your AppealAlly portal, from the link in our emails, shows where it stands.
This article is general information drawn from public sources: O.C.G.A. 48-5-311 as reproduced by Justia, the Georgia Department of Revenue's PT-311A page, and the appeals pages of the Gwinnett, DeKalb, Fayette, Hall, Columbia and Fulton county assessors and the Gwinnett tax commissioner, all read September 29, 2026. Time windows, and any dates you work out from them, are estimated, and county practice varies. It isn't legal or tax advice. The dates printed on your own notices govern, and your county's board of tax assessors can tell you what applies to your appeal.