Tax office closed Monday

City Hall including the Revenue Division will be closed on Monday, January 2 in observance of the new year.  City departments will reopen on Tuesday, January 3.  For information or payments over the holiday weekend, tax and business license accounts can be accessed online at www.decaturgatax.com.

Lawyer taxes due Friday

Occupation taxes for attorneys in Decatur are due on or before Friday, December 30.  Each lawyer is responsible for paying $425 annually.  The tax can be paid online by visiting www.decaturgatax.com, clicking on “Occupation Tax” on the upper left, selecting 2016 as the year, and entering your name as it appears on your bill.

State announces delay in tax refunds next year

Refunds for Georgia income tax returns in 2017 could take up to three months to be issued.  The Department of Revenue steps they take to verify taxpayer identity take longer and could delay the refunds.  From the AJC:

Georgia warns 2017 state tax refunds could be delayed

Kristina Torres | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday, Dec. 2, 2016

Georgia tax officials said Friday that some 2017 refunds may be delayed due to fraud prevention efforts, a warning that comes after complaints this year that it took longer than usual to process income tax returns. 

Starting next year, all first-time Georgia income tax filers or taxpayers who have not filed here for at least five years will only be able to receive refunds in the form of a paper check and not by electronic transfer.

The state won’t begin processing individual returns until Feb. 1, with officials saying it could take more than 90 days to issue a refund if one is due...

The agency is encouraging taxpayers to register online with the department’s tax center website to monitor the status of their returns. Registered users can also get fraud alerts to notify them when a return has been filed with their Social Security number.

To sign up, go to gtc.dor.ga.gov.

Tax office to close Friday and Monday

City Hall, including the property tax office, will be closed from December 23 through December 26 for Christmas.  We will re-open Tuesday, December 27 at 8:00 a.m.  Tax and business license information is available anytime at www.decaturgatax.com.

Grace period offered for tax payments

Although property tax payments in Decatur for the second installment of 2016 were due yesterday, there is a grace period until Friday, January 6, 2017.  No penalties or interest will be added to accounts that are paid within the grace period. Please mail payments to:

City of Decatur Lockbox
P.O. Box 945650
Atlanta, GA 30394-5650

Lowndes County to begin appointing assessors

In most of Georgia, property tax assessors are appointed to their positions. In Lowndes County, this has been an elected position. That will change now that voters have approved the appointment of assessors going forward. The stated reason for the change is that elected assessors don't always have the training and expertise to carry out their duties. From the Dalton Citizen:

Assessor referendum passes

By John Stephen

VALDOSTA, Ga. — The Lowndes County special ballot asking if tax assessors should be appointed narrowly passed 50.27 to 49.73 percent, according to the county’s board of elections.

Results show 18,293 people voted for tax assessors to be appointed by county commissioners, and 18,095 people voted for tax assessors to continue being elected by the public — a difference of only 198 votes.

While all votes from local precincts were counted after Election Day on Nov. 8, up to 2,000 provisional, absentee and military ballots still needed to be counted. Until those remaining votes were tallied at the elections office on Tuesday, Nov. 15, the race was too close to call.

Currently, Lowndes County tax assessors are elected by the public. In every other county in Georgia, tax assessors are appointed by the county commissioners.

The ballot asked if the state should repeal the constitutional amendment that mandates Lowndes County tax assessors be elected. Now that the repeal has passed, tax assessors will be appointed by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners starting in 2021.

The county commissioners pioneered the ballot question after discussing the change for several years. Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Slaughter said while the current tax assessors have good intentions, he questioned whether they have the managerial skills necessary to oversee the large tax assessor’s office...

Tax payments due Tuesday

Property tax payments in Decatur for the second installment of 2016 are due on or before Tuesday, December 20. The City accepts payments without charging interest as long as the payment envelope is postmarked by the due date. Please mail payments to:

City of Decatur Lockbox
P.O. Box 945650
Atlanta, GA 30394-5650

Columbus voters keep property taxes frozen

One of the bigger property tax-related proposals on the ballot in Georgia this year was a repeal of the property assessment freeze in Columbus. Opponents of the freeze, including the Muscogee County school board and Columbus mayor Teresa Tomlinson, said that the freeze suppresses economic activity by discouraging home improvements and property sales. However, in the end, people weren't sold by the argument and chose to keep the freeze. Sixty percent of residents voted against a "thaw."

This is the third time that a repeal of the Columbus freeze has been defeated. It goes to show that a permanent freeze is difficult to tweak even if there are valid reasons to alter it. It also probably helps explain why DeKalb County's property tax freezes sunset every few years instead of being permanent. From the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer:

...If the referendum had passed, it would have kept the freeze in place for all who are currently under it, but would have put any homestead property bought after Jan. 1, 2017, under a more traditional fair market value system, where property is regularly reassessed. Those properties under the freeze would have remained so until they changed hands, whether by sale or probate. They would have then go into the fair market value system. Eventually, all frozen property would have changed hands and no property would have remained under the freeze.

The property tax assessment freeze was voted into effect in 1982. It freezes the assessed value of a homestead property at the value at the time of the sale and keeps it there until the property changes hands. It is then reassessed at the current value and again frozen at that value.

It has been challenged before, both at the polls and in the courts, and the challenges failed both times.

Voters initially approved the freeze by a 73-27 percent margin in 1982. A 1991 attempt to repeal the freeze by referendum failed by an 81-19 percent margin.

In the early 2000s, a group challenged the freeze’s constitutionality and won a favorable ruling at the Superior Court level. But the state and then federal supreme courts ruled it constitutional...

If paying by e-check, please remit today or tomorrow

If you are planning to pay your second installment Decatur property tax bill with an electronic check on our website at www.decaturgatax.com, I encourage you to make your payment no later than Wednesday, December 14. Like paper checks, e-checks can take three to five business days to clear the bank. It's not an immediate debit. Our formal payment deadline this installment is December 20, 2016.

Our website allows for e-check payments with no convenience fee charged, and credit card payments with convenience fees. We also continue to accept payments by mail or in-person up through the payment due date. If you have any issues with the website or the e-check option, please call the Revenue office at 404-370-4100 or 678-553-6743.

Qualified homeowners to receive new exemptions

As noted below, most seniors will be granted the new age-65 homestead exemption from school taxes automatically.

The new school exemption, which is called the S-4, will be factored onto the accounts of any homeowner with the already existing age-65 exemption known as the GH-2. No separate application is needed.

However, qualified homeowners who have never applied for the GH2, such as people who turned 65 during 2016, should visit City Hall at 509 North McDonough Street to apply between Jan. 3-Mar. 15, 2017. You will need to bring photo ID showing age and address.

Homeowners over the age of 62 with income under $50,000 may also qualify for another new homestead exemption approved in November, which is the GH-3. If the homeowner’s Georgia taxable net income plus the income of his or her spouse and the income of any resident family member totals less than $50,000, then the homeowner is eligible to apply for this new GH-3 exemption. This exemption will reduce the taxable value of a home by $15,000 for a projected annual savings of approximately $160 (computed using current millage rates which are subject to change). To apply for the GH-3, please come to City Hall between Jan. 3-Mar. 15 with a copy of your most recent available tax return and photo ID showing age and address.

Two other ballot questions that were approved do not create new exemptions, but expand existing exemptions. Homeowners do not need to re-apply to receive the full benefit. The increased exemption amounts will be granted automatically.

Homeowners who turned 62, 65, 70, or 80 during 2016 are encouraged to call the Decatur Revenue Division at 678-553-6743 to determine if they have become qualified for an exemption for which they were not previously eligible. To qualify for any age-based exemption, the claimant must be the age specified before January 1 of the tax year for which the exemption is sought.

Further information on Decatur’s other homestead exemption and tax relief programs can be found at www.decaturga.com/homestead.