General Tax Bill & Payment Information

Property tax bills are mailed during August of each year to the current owner on record as of January 1st. A tax bill will be mailed to the new owner of the property if a deed change occurred after the first of the year. Depending upon when the property was transferred, the new owner should contact their closing attorney, mortgage company, escrow agent, or review their closing statement to determine who is responsible for paying the taxes. Any unpaid taxes will continue to accrue against the property.

In accordance with State law, tax bills are mailed to the Owner of Record as of January 1st of the tax year. Bills are also mailed to the current owner, if different. Failure to receive a bill does not relieve the responsibility of paying taxes due. It is the property owner’s responsibility to inform our office of any mailing address changes.

We are now able to email original tax bills to property owners. To sign up for this service, pull up the property information and click on the link underneath the current year tax amounts. Failure to receive a bill does not relieve the responsibility of paying taxes due. It is the property owner’s responsibility to inform our office of any mailing address changes.

The County does not send tax bills to mortgage companies. If your property taxes are in an escrow account, your property tax information may be made available to your mortgage company or through a third party tax service if they request it from the County; however, it is ultimately the responsibility of the property owner to ensure the property taxes are paid. If you have questions about whether your lender will be paying your taxes, please contact your mortgage company directly, especially if you have refinanced or your mortgage company has recently changed.

The millage rate is established by the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners in July of each year. The most recent millage rates can be found on our Forms page.

The installment due dates for DeKalb County taxes are September 30th and November 15th. If you choose to pay the full amount in one payment, it must be paid by September 30th.

There is a five percent (5%) penalty for late payment of the first or second installment if envelope is not postmarked by September 30th or November 15th. If your payment is mailed timely, but the post office fails to postmark it by the above due dates, it will be considered a late payment. Please make sure that your envelope is hand canceled by the Post Office if mailing near or on the deadline. Metered or kiosk postage dates are not accepted as proof of timely payment. Our website will not accept payments after midnight on the deadline date until after late fees have been added.

If City of Atlanta taxes are not paid by the due date, interest accrues each month beginning the next day. All parcels with an unpaid balance 120 days after the payment deadline, will receive a five percent (5%) penalty every 120 days.

The basic annual sanitation assessment for a single-family residential property is $265. This fee is for your annual trash pickup. Additional collection bins may be requested through the Sanitation Department at the rate of $85 per bin.

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING TEMPORARY BILLING VALUE FOR PARCELS UNDER APPEAL – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AS THE LAW HAS CHANGED EFFECTIVE 2014.

If you file an appeal and it is not resolved before tax bills are mailed, you will be mailed a tax bill based on a temporary value. There are three options for calculating the temporary value:

Option 1: The temporary value is determined by the lesser of your last final value OR 85 percent of the current year value, unless capital improvements were made to the property, in which case it will be 85 percent of the current year value.

Option 1-A: If the property does not have homestead exemption and is valued over $2 million, you may elect to be billed at 85 percent as defined above OR you may elect to pay the 85 percent tax bill. The difference between the 85 percent tax bill and the last final tax bill must also be paid. The difference will be held in an escrow account by the Tax Commissioner. Upon resolution of the appeal, the difference will be released by the Tax Commissioner to the appropriate party.

Option 2: At the time of your appeal, you may specify that you want to be billed at 100 percent of the current value if no substantial property improvement has occurred.

NOTE: If at the time of your appeal you do not specify to us your preference for the temporary value, we will use Option 1.

Any difference created by the resolution of your appeal will be refunded or re-billed with interest, if applicable. Interest applies to appeal differences settled after November 15th. Interest is capped at $150 for homestead exempted properties and $5,000 for properties without homestead exemption.

In accordance with Ga. Code 48-5-311(e)(6), if an assessment appeal is filed and it has not been resolved by the time the tax bills are mailed, you will be billed at a temporary value. Any difference created by the resolution of your appeal will result in you being billed for the balance due or you will receive a refund. Interest applies to appeal differences settled after November 15th.