If paying by e-check, please remit by tomorrow

If you are planning to pay your first installment Decatur property tax bill with an electronic check on our website at www.decaturgatax.com, I encourage you to make your payment today or tomorrow. Like paper checks, e-checks can take three to five business days to clear the bank. It's not an immediate debit. With Memorial Day coming up, that will further lengthen the amount of time it could take for your e-check to clear. Our formal payment deadline this installment is June 1, 2016. Our website allows for e-check payments with zero convenience fees, and for 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 404-370-4100.

DeKalb County reminds taxpayers of deadline

The following item appeared in the Sept. 23 edition of the DeKalb Neighbor:

Property tax payments Claudia G. Lawson, DeKalb Tax Commissioner, is reminding DeKalb County taxpayers that the due date for the first installment of 2015 real estate and personal property taxes is Sept. 30.

First installment taxes, which are not received or postmarked by the Sept. 30 deadline will incur a 5 percent late payment penalty which applies by law. It is important to note that if your payment is mailed, the postmark or cancellation stamp from the U.S. Postal Service is the only accepted evidence of timely mailing. 

There is also a drop box on the front and side of the central office at 4380 Memorial Drive in Decatur [sic], which may be used for last minute drop-offs.

Another convenient option is to pay property taxes by electronic check or credit card.

Property owners with questions should contact the Tax Commissioner’s Office at 404-298-4000 or email proptax@dekalbcountyga.gov for assistance.

DeKalb County property taxes are billed and paid separately from City of Decatur property taxes.  DeKalb sends one bill annually with two remittance stubs, the first being due this Wednesday.  Decatur sends two distinct bills annually; the first installment was due on June 1.

If paying by e-check, please remit by tomorrow

If you are planning to pay your first installment Decatur property tax bill with an electronic check on our website at www.decaturgatax.com, I encourage you to make your payment today or tomorrow. Like paper checks, e-checks can take three to five business days to clear the bank. It's not an immediate debit. With Memorial Day coming up on Monday, that will further lengthen the amount of time it could take for your e-check to clear. Our formal payment deadline this installment is June 1, 2015. Our website allows for e-check payments with zero convenience fees, and for 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 404-370-4100.

45 days until property taxes are due

First installment property taxes for Decatur are due by June 1, 2015.  We mailed out paper bills three weeks ago.  If you did not receive your paper bill, please go to our website at www.decaturgatax.com.  Payments can also be made on that website by e-check with no fees or by credit card with a convenience fee.  If your mailing address has changed, you must notify both the DeKalb County assessor's office at 404-371-0841 and the Decatur tax office through our website at www.decaturgatax.com.

Reminder: business personal property taxes due Dec. 22

Business personal property taxes in Decatur are due in less than 30 days for 2014.  The taxes can be paid online at www.decaturgatax.com with an electronic check with zero convenience fees, or online by credit card with a convenience fee.  The taxes are based on returns filed by you or your agent with DeKalb County before April 1, 2014.  If you didn't file a value, DeKalb County determined a value for you.  Decatur takes that value, multiplies it by our 50 percent assessment ratio and our 2014 combined millage rate of 33.5 to arrive at your amount billed.  Revenues from the tax are distributed to the school system, the Downtown Development Authority, the city's capital improvement, bond, and general operating funds to provide quality services to the public.

Reminder: property taxes due Friday

Decatur’s second installment tax payment deadline for 2013 is Friday, December 20.

 

If you are not sure whether your bill has been paid or have misplaced your bill, you can check your account online at www.decaturgatax.com or call us at 404-370-4100.

 

The bills were originally mailed out in October.  Penalties and interest will begin accruing on Jan. 8.

 

Business license renewals due in 10 days

Each business in Decatur must renew its business license for 2013 by paying its annual occupation tax bill by Jan. 31.  Bills were originally mailed on Nov. 30.

In addition to the renewal payment, state law also requires businesses to file two notarized immigration-related affidavits (SAVE and E-verify) annually with the city they receive their license from.  You can submit your payment and affidavits by mail to P.O. Box 220, Decatur, GA  30031 or in person at 509 N. McDonough St.

If you did not receive your bill, or if you received a bill but are no longer doing business in the city, please let us know.

Occupation tax bills in Decatur can range from $195 up to $460 annually.  Unlike many local governments in Georgia that tax businesses on their gross receipts, Decatur uses a simpler system of six flat rates.  Revenues from occupation taxes go to the City’s general fund, which is used to provide quality services to the public.

More information about business licensing in Decatur can be found on our website here.  Decatur’s business license rules apply to persons, partnerships, corporations and other entities including home-based businesses, state-licensed professionals, insurance carriers, and regular businesses.  City ordinances require local businesses to display their license in a place that’s easy to see.

Thanks to all our occupational taxpayers for choosing to do business in the City of Decatur!

Reminder: homestead exemption deadline nears

The deadline to file for a homestead exemption with the City of Decatur is Monday, March 1. If you applied in a prior year, you do not need to file again. But if you’ve never applied, or if you’ve only applied with DeKalb County, you need to apply with the City. If you miss the Monday deadline, you won’t be able to receive the homestead exemption until 2011.

You can apply for the basic homestead exemption through our online form here.

For more details about homestead exemptions, see our main webpage or look over my recent post on the subject.

Does this appeal to you?

As discussed here yesterday, if you are a Decatur property owner and you intend to appeal your property value this year, you may file a return with DeKalb County by March 1. This explanation appears on the DeKalb County Tax Commissioner’s website:

If you wish to appeal the value of your property, you may file a tax return with the Property Appraisal Department between January 2nd and March 1st, at which time you may declare what you consider to be the fair market value of the property.

This will generate a review of the value by the Property Appraisal Department; a notice of assessment change will be sent to you in late March or early April if the Board disagrees with your value.

Under current state law, you will have thirty days after the county sends you back a notice of assessment change to formally file an appeal if you disagree with the notice.  If you need more information, the DeKalb County property appraisal office can be reached at (404) 371-0841.

(Note: SB 346, currently under review in the Georgia General Assembly, would extend that 30-day deadline a one-year deadline, although this is one of the more controversial aspects of the legislation and may not survive the Senate Finance Committee.)

The exemptions you deserve

Now is the time to make sure you receive all the homestead exemptions that you’re eligible for for 2010. If you know you already receive your homestead exemption, great—even though it’s Groundhog’s Day tomorrow, you don’t have to apply for the homestead exemption over and over and over again. Just applying once after you moved into your house will do.

If you’re not sure whether you have a homestead exemption, check this spot of your last tax bill. You will see the $20,000 figure listed for the Capital, General, and DDA lines.

If you don’t have your last bill, you can call us at 404-370-4100 or email us to double-check.

If you don’t have the homestead exemption but you’re eligible for it, now is a great time to file your application. All you need to do is fill out this easy online form.

Remember that you have to apply for your homestead exemption for the City of Decatur and DeKalb County separately. Applying for one does not transfer over to the other.

If you’ve become eligible for an additional exemption based on age or income, this is the perfect time of year to get your paperwork in order. If you’re applying for an exemption based on age or income, we will need your:

Reminder: business license payments due

The City of Decatur charges an occupation tax on all businesses operating within the city limits. We mailed out renewal notices for 2010 to business owners back in October, which should be paid by or before this January 31.

Although the deadline is upon us, we do provide a 90-day grace period for occupational tax payments, so businesses have until April 1 to pay without being charged late fees.

Apart from the payments, a law passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 2009 (HB 2) also requires businesses to verify their legal presence in the United States in order to receive a business license (OCGA § 50-36-1(e)). Our office mailed out affidavits this week to all active Decatur business owners for them to verify their legal status.  Affidavits are due back to us by April 1.

Tax notices mailed

In an effort to notify property owners of any past due property tax balances from 2009, the Revenue Division of the City of Decatur mailed out 603 notices yesterday to owners who either made no or partial payments. Penalties and interest have been accruing on unpaid balances since our payment grace period ended on January 7.

We mailed out the original bills in two installments in April and October last year.  Why do some bills go unpaid?  Sometimes it involves an unwillingness or inability to pay, but in several instances the delinquency is due to a simple, temporary oversight.  Occasionally these bills are overlooked by new owners who purchased a property within the last several months who thought everything was “handled at closing.” We also run into owners who just changed their mailing address, but we sent the bill to the most recent address we had on file.

Periodically we run into issues with our residents’ mortgage companies. For example, we have received several calls today (and a note forwarded from Geoff Koski, publisher of Decatur News Online) from property owners who received a late notice from us, but who were told by Bank of America that their taxes have been paid.

We received a large check from Bank of America on Dec. 21 that covered 119 of their Decatur accounts, and we posted that payment in December to all the accounts that the bank listed. We did not send late notices to any customer whose account was paid by that Dec. 21 check.

However, we did not receive any other major checks from Bank of America in December or January for any of their additional customers. We have been communicating with Bank of America to find out what’s going on. No check has cleared our bank with the check number, check date, or check amount that Bank of America has provided.

A final note--if you’ve received a late notice in error, please accept my apology. Your payment may have arrived just after we printed out the bills. If you believe that your lender, our office, or a bank somewhere in between, has made an error, and that your taxes are actually paid, please call us immediately at 404-370-4100 so we can start to rectify the situation. To ensure the best service possible, please have a copy of your tax bill on hand when you call.

The end of grace?

Second installment property tax bills were due on December 21, so the final weeks of December were a busy time for Decatur’s taxpayers and tax office.

The good news for anybody who wasn’t able to make that original deadline is that we offered a two week grace period for payments during which no penalties or interest was charged.

However, the grace period ends tomorrow. Penalty and interest will be charged against unpaid amounts after Jan. 7.