How to request the assessor's records behind your Georgia property value, what the county must send in ten business days and what to check.
# Georgia Property Tax Appeal: How to Request Assessor Records
To see how the county set your value, ask your county board of tax assessors in writing for the records behind it. Georgia law (O.C.G.A. 48-5-306(d)(1)) requires the assessors to send copies within ten business days, including their method, the documents they reviewed and the comparable properties they used.
This assessor records request isn't tied to a hearing, so you can make it while your property tax appeal is still with the assessors. Copies cost no more than 25 cents a page. Once the file arrives, a handful of checks will show whether the county's comparables and its description of your property stand up.
You can ask for the records the assessors used to value your property, and the statute sets out a minimum list. Subsection (d)(1) of O.C.G.A. 48-5-306 says the county board of tax assessors "shall provide within ten business days, copies of such public records and information, including, but not limited to":
That covers the county's method, the paperwork it looked at, the comparable properties it relied on and anything else that moved your number. "Including, but not limited to" means the list is where the file starts, not where it has to stop.
The cost is capped as well. The same paragraph sets "a uniform copying fee not to exceed 25¢ per page," and the next one says "no additional charges or fees may be collected from the taxpayer for reasonable search, retrieval, or other administrative costs."
Send the board of tax assessors a short, friendly written request that names your property and lists the records you want. Use whatever route your county offers for records requests (a form, a portal, email or a letter), and keep a copy with the date you sent it.
A first request can be this plain:
I own the property with parcel number [your parcel number] and have an open appeal of its 2026 value. Please send copies of the records used to value it: the method used to set its fair market value, the documents reviewed, the address and parcel number of each comparable property used, and all factors considered. Electronic copies are fine.
Counties route these requests in different ways:
A county's form or portal is only the route. The ten-business-day timing and the 25-cent page cap come from 48-5-306(d), whichever door you use.
If ten business days pass without the copies, send a short follow-up that names the statute, for example: "I'm requesting these records under O.C.G.A. 48-5-306(d)(1), which requires the board of tax assessors to provide copies within ten business days." Keep copies of both requests.
Ask for the records as they exist. You're asking for copies of what the county used, not a new report, and a specific list (the comparables, the method, your record card) is easier to answer than a request for everything. The same subsection gives Georgia's superior courts jurisdiction to enforce it, but a polite follow-up that cites the statute comes first.
No. If the assessors changed your value and mailed a change notice, Georgia law sets 30 days from the date that notice was mailed to tell the board of tax assessors in writing that you're continuing your appeal to the Board of Equalization, and that clock keeps running while you wait for copies. That written notice, which the statute calls a notice of continuance, is what keeps your appeal going to the Board. Send it first, or send it and the records request on the same day.
If you chose the Board of Equalization and the assessors sent a no-change notice instead, you don't file a second appeal. The statute says that notice "shall also constitute the taxpayer's appeal to the county board of equalization."
Confirm the dates on your county's letter.
No. They're two different asks under two different code sections, made at different times.
Georgia law requires that request "not less than ten days prior to the hearing date," and the other side must provide the information "not less than seven days prior to the time of the hearing." If either side fails to comply, the statute makes it grounds for postponing the hearing (a continuance, in this sense) or for excluding that evidence. Georgia law sets the same ten-day and seven-day rule for appeals that go to a hearing officer or to arbitration. Confirm the dates on your county's letter.
The chart below puts the two side by side.
The records request isn't tied to a hearing. The evidence exchange starts only once the Board of Equalization sets one.
Some counties publish the sales behind their values. Gwinnett's Property Appeals page points owners to its Property Information Search for "the property sales in your neighborhood that helped to determine your property value" and says "all neighborhood property information and sales are available online." Forsyth County's property assessments page says owners can view their 2026 notices online and "look at other comparable properties" in the same portal.
The online view is a neighborhood picture. The file under 48-5-306(d)(1) goes further: it names the comparables used for your property, the method and the factors behind your number.
Expect the pieces the statute lists: the county's method, the documents it reviewed (such as your property record card, the county's description of your land and building), the comparables it used and the factors it weighed. Work through them in the order below, and note each mismatch with the page it appears on.
Work from the county's comparables to your own record card, and note each mismatch with the page it appears on.
These checks go deeper than the first pass on your assessment notice, because the file shows the county's own comparables. If uniformity is your argument, our guide to Georgia's PT-311A appeal form shows where it fits.
For a rental or commercial property, the county's method may rest on income rather than sales. If it does, the factors in the file should include the income, vacancy and expense inputs the county used. Check them against your rent roll and operating statements.
If your appeal reaches the Board of Equalization, the assessors have to back up their number. Section 48-5-311(e)(4) says "the board of tax assessors shall have the burden of proving its opinions of value and the validity of its proposed assessment by a preponderance of evidence." The assessors' findings on physical facts (square footage, bedrooms and the like) are presumed correct at the Board under the same subsection, so bring proof, such as photos or a survey, for any record-card fact you dispute.
The file is the county's case, so a comparable that doesn't fit or a record card that doesn't match your house is worth raising in writing. A records request doesn't make the county change its value, but it shows you what the assessors will have to support. For the order of events from filing to decision, see what happens after you file a Georgia property tax appeal.
This article is general information drawn from public sources: O.C.G.A. 48-5-306 and 48-5-311 (Justia's reproduction of the Georgia Code) and the Douglas, Gwinnett, Forsyth and Fulton county pages linked above, all read September 29, 2026. Time limits and dates are estimated, and county practice varies. It isn't legal or tax advice. Check your own dates on your notice and with your county's board of tax assessors.