What a Georgia Board of Equalization decision means for this tax year, the one next step toward superior court, your tax bill and next year's appeal.
# Lost a Georgia Property Tax Appeal? Read the Board Decision
If you lost your Georgia property tax appeal at the Board of Equalization, the Board's decision sets your property's value for this tax year. Georgia law requires one next step to reach superior court: a written petition for review, sent or handed to the county board of tax assessors within 30 days after the decision is delivered.
The same step applies to a hearing officer's or an arbitrator's decision. Losing didn't raise your value above the assessors' figure, unless you appealed a value already under a 299(c) hold. That hold, often called a freeze, comes from O.C.G.A. 48-5-299(c): on a homestead, a value lowered by an appeal decision or a signed agreement can't be increased by the assessors for the next two years, with exceptions. A no-change result starts no new hold. If a no-change decision still records a 299(c) hold, ask your county to confirm how it applies to future tax years.
The decision has to be in writing and signed, decide each question your appeal presented, and give a reason for each ruling on the issues you raised, such as value or uniformity. Georgia's appeal statute, O.C.G.A. 48-5-311(e)(6)(D), also has the Board announce its decision at the end of the hearing and certify the date notice of the decision is given to the parties. A Georgia Department of Revenue rule adds that the decision must "clearly state the Board of Equalization's ruling regarding the property's value, uniformity, or taxability, where applicable" (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-11-12-.08).
The written decision reaches you by hand, with a written receipt, or by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery. When you have it, check four things:
Don't count on the Board to explain it further. Cobb County's Board of Equalization page, run by the Superior Court Clerk, says that once the decision is rendered the Board "will not discuss its decision or any reason for such decision with you or anyone else." The same page says a failure to appear for a hearing results in "No Change in Value" and that the decision letter goes out by certified mail. If you missed your hearing or can't find the written decision, ask the Board's office for a copy.
It didn't raise your value, with one narrow exception, and a no-change result starts no hold. The Board of Equalization, a hearing officer, or an arbitrator can lower your value but cannot raise it above what the county assessors set (O.C.G.A. § 48-5-311(e)(9)), except on an appeal filed while a 299(c) freeze from an earlier appeal is in effect.
HB 581 deleted the words "or is unchanged" from O.C.G.A. 48-5-299(c), effective January 1, 2025, so the hold now follows only a value that is reduced. Some pages online still say a no-change result holds the value for two more years. That was the rule before 2025.
A smaller cut than you asked for is different: it's a reduction. On a homestead (the home you live in), the lower value "may not be increased by the board of tax assessors during the next two successive years, unless otherwise agreed in writing by both parties," subject to the statute's exceptions. The exceptions are covered in how the 299(c) hold works since the 2025 change.
Yes, to superior court, and you start at the assessors' office, not the courthouse. Either side can take a Board, hearing officer or arbitrator decision to superior court. You do it by mailing or filing a written petition for review with the county board of tax assessors, or by emailing it if the assessors have adopted a written policy consenting to electronic service. The statute says the petition "shall specifically state the grounds for appeal" (O.C.G.A. 48-5-311(g)(2)). Before you send it, ask that office what else the petition must contain and whether there's a filing cost.
Georgia law sets the window: the petition "shall be mailed or filed within 30 days from the date on which the decision" is delivered. The statute says delivered, not mailed. Cobb County's page, for example, counts from "the date when the Board of Equalization provided its decision to you." To be safe, count from the earliest date that could apply, such as the date certified on the decision, and get the petition in well before the estimated last day.
The petition doesn't go straight to a judge. After it arrives, state law requires the assessors to send you notice of a settlement conference within 45 days, before the petition is filed in superior court.
Confirm the dates on your county's letter.
Your bill follows the final value. After a no-change decision, that's the value the assessors set. That can still mean more to pay than a bill you already received, because a bill sent while the appeal was open was a temporary bill, in most cases based on the lower of last year's final value or 85% of this year's value.
If the final value means less tax than you paid, the law requires the tax commissioner to pay the refund, with interest, to whoever paid the taxes within 60 days from the date of the final determination of value.
If it means more tax than you were billed, you'll get an adjusted bill, and state law sets 60 days from its postmark to pay it in full, so the due date printed on that bill is the one to watch. If your county billed before the decision, your second tax bill after a Georgia appeal walks through how the difference is handled.
Confirm the due date on your tax bill.
Adjudged value means the value the Board's decision (or a signed agreement) sets for the tax year. Georgia's appeal statute uses its own words for that figure, such as "valuation," "final value" and "fair market value."
It's a fair market value, not the number your tax rate is applied to. Georgia assesses most property at 40% of its fair market value, and that 40% figure, less any exemptions, is what your tax rate is applied to (O.C.G.A. 48-5-7). For an illustrative home with a decided value of $300,000, the assessed value is $120,000 ($300,000 x 40%) before exemptions. How Georgia's 40% assessment ratio works goes further.
For a Board decision, the assessors use that value in compiling the county's tax digest for the year and show it as the previous year's value on your next annual notice. On a homestead, what the value does after that depends on how it was set:
Evidence aimed at each issue you raise. Georgia law lets the deciding body lower a value "based upon the evidence presented," and the Board's written decision has to answer each question your appeal presents, so a case built issue by issue gives the Board something specific to rule on.
For a value appeal, that usually means:
If you'd rather not assemble the case yourself next year, AppealAlly's Full-Service Appeal files your appeal and may take your appeal to the Board of Equalization if it gets that far.
Yes. Each annual assessment notice opens a new window: a written appeal, if you file one, is due to the county board of tax assessors within 45 days from the date the notice was mailed, the window Georgia law sets. For 2027, that's an estimated 45 days from your 2027 notice's mailing date, and the date printed on the notice governs. When it arrives, check the previous year's value: after a Board decision, it should show the Board's value.
Next time, attend the hearing in whatever format the Board offers and also send written evidence of value. The 299(c) hold doesn't apply to a decision where the owner "failed to attend the appeal hearing or provide the board of equalization, hearing officer, or arbitrator with some written evidence supporting the taxpayer's opinion of value," so doing both keeps you clear of that exception if the Board lowers your value. For the steps between filing and a decision, see what happens after you file a Georgia appeal.
Confirm with your county before you file.
This article is general information drawn from public sources: Georgia's appeal statute (O.C.G.A. 48-5-311), the 299(c) hold (O.C.G.A. 48-5-299), the assessment ratio (O.C.G.A. 48-5-7), the Department of Revenue's rule on Board decisions and Cobb County's Board of Equalization page, all read on September 29, 2026. Dates and windows here are estimated, and county practice varies. It isn't legal or tax advice. Your decision, your assessment notice, your tax bill and your county's board of tax assessors or tax commissioner have your actual dates.