Money and Risk | Property Tax

Atlanta Property Tax for Small Rental Buildings: 40% Assessment and HB 581

Property tax is a yearly cost that a duplex or fourplex owner pays for as long as the building is held, and Georgia's rules treat an owner's own home differently from a rental. This page explains how a Georgia tax bill is calculated, what a homestead exemption is and who can claim one, what HB 581 changed in 2025, what the City of Atlanta's opt-out means, and how to appeal a value. It prints no tax rates and no dollar estimates of a bill, because VanPlex could not read the county pages that publish them. Every rule below comes from the Georgia Department of Revenue, a signed Georgia bill or an Atlanta City Council file.

How a Georgia Property Tax Bill Is Calculated

Sources: Georgia Department of Revenue pages on homestead exemptions and filing property tax, and the signed text of HB 581 (2024).

The four parts work in order. The county values the property. State law takes 40 percent of that value as the assessed value. Exemptions come off the assessed value. Each taxing authority then applies its own tax rate, which Georgia calls the millage rate, to what is left. The Department of Revenue's filing page says the millage "is set annually by the board of county commissioners, or other governing authority of the taxing jurisdiction, and by the Board of Education."

An Atlanta property has more than one taxing authority: the City, the county and the school district each levy their own tax. The county depends on the address. The US Census Bureau's 2025 estimates count 485,770 Atlanta residents in the Fulton County part of the city and 43,340 in the DeKalb County part. Your county tax office is the one for the county your lot is in.

This guide prints no millage rates, because the Fulton County assessor's website returned an access error during research. Get the current rates for the City, the county and the schools from your county tax commissioner before you estimate a bill.

How the County Sets the Value of a Rental Building

The signed text of HB 581 prints the state's definition of fair market value, Code Section 48-5-2. Four parts of the law matter to the owner of a rental building.

• The definition. Fair market value is "the amount a knowledgeable buyer would pay for the property and a willing seller would accept for the property at an arm's length, bona fide sale." An arm's length sale is a real sale in which the buyer and the seller each act for themselves.
• Rental income counts. "The income approach, if data are available, shall be considered in determining the fair market value of income-producing property. If actual income and expense data are voluntarily supplied by the property owner, such data shall be considered." The income approach values a building from the rent it earns.
• A recent sale price is the maximum value for one year. "The transaction amount of the most recent arm's length, bona fide sale in any year shall be the maximum allowable fair market value for the next taxable year."
• Reappraisal at least every three years. HB 581 added a rule that the chief appraiser "shall ensure that every parcel in his or her respective county is appraised at least every three years."

Put together, these rules give a buyer of a duplex or fourplex two things to do. Keep the closing documents, because the price you paid limits the value for the next tax year. And keep accurate records of rent and expenses, because the county must consider that data when you supply it.

Homestead Exemptions: For the Home You Live In

A homestead exemption is a reduction in assessed value for a home the owner lives in. The Georgia Department of Revenue's homestead page states the test: "a homeowner is entitled to a homestead exemption on their home and land underneath provided the home was owned by the homeowner and was their legal residence as of January 1 of the taxable year." It adds: "A person must actually occupy the home, and the home is considered their legal residence for all purposes."

The consequence for small rental buildings is direct. A duplex or fourplex that the owner rents out and does not live in is not a homestead, so it receives none of the exemptions below. An owner who lives in one home of the building may apply for the home they occupy. The Department of Revenue page does not say how a county applies the exemption to the rented homes in the same building, so ask the county tax commissioner when you file.

Source: Georgia Department of Revenue, Property Tax Homestead Exemptions. The page lists further exemptions for surviving spouses that are left out here.

Local exemptions can be larger. The Department says: "As a general rule the exemptions offered by the county are more beneficial to the homeowner." It also lists the places that have a local exemption that freezes a home's valuation at a base year for as long as the homeowner lives there. Fulton County, DeKalb County and the City of Atlanta are on that list. VanPlex did not read the terms of those local exemptions.

Applications go to county officials: "the tax commissioner's office, or in some counties the tax assessor's office." The owner must have owned the home on January 1. The page says taxpayers "can now apply for the homestead exemption beyond the historic deadline of April 1st; they may apply up to the end of their 45-day window to appeal their notice of assessment."

HB 581: The Statewide Limit on Homestead Value Increases

HB 581 (2024) added Code Section 48-5-44.2 to Georgia law. Its subsection (b) grants each resident "an exemption on that person's homestead from ad valorem taxes in an amount equal to the amount by which the current year assessed value of that homestead" exceeds "its previous adjusted base year assessed value." Ad valorem taxes are taxes based on value, which is what a property tax is. The Department of Revenue calls this the Floating Homestead Exemption. The exempt amount changes each year with the value of the home.

The base moves in two ways only. It may rise each year by an amount that "shall not exceed the total of the previous adjusted base year assessed value of the homestead multiplied by the inflation rate for the prior year." And it rises by "the value of any substantial property change," which the law defines as additions or improvements to the homestead, or the removal of property from it. Under that definition, the value of an addition to the home is added to the base.

Four more terms apply:

• Start date. It applies "to all taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025," on the condition that voters ratified a constitutional amendment. The Atlanta Council resolution records that "Constitutional Amendment No. 1 was approved by the electors during the November 5, 2024 general election."
• Base year. For an exemption first granted for 2025, the base is the assessed value for tax year 2024.
• It stays with the owner. "No exemption provided for in this subsection shall transfer to any subsequent owner of the property." A buyer starts with a new base year. A surviving spouse keeps the exemption while living in the home.
• One base year exemption per tax. Where a local base year exemption already applies to the same tax, the official applies only the one "that is larger or more beneficial for the taxpayer."

The inflation rate comes from the Georgia Department of Revenue. Informational Bulletin 2025-01, issued January 22, 2025, says the rate "will be the rate of change in the Consumer Price Index" for all urban consumers, US city average, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also says no inflation rate would be provided for 2025, so "the assessed value on a person's homestead will not change from 2024 to 2025." The first rate applies to 2026.

HB 581 is a homestead rule. A rental building whose owner lives elsewhere is outside it, and is revalued under the ordinary rules in the section above.

The City of Atlanta's Opt-Out

HB 581 let each county, city and school district decide for itself. A governing authority could opt out by adopting a resolution by March 1, 2025, after at least three public hearings, one of them starting between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. on a business weekday.

The City of Atlanta did so. Resolution 25-R-3143 records public hearings on February 7, 2025 at 10:00 am and on February 12, 2025 at 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm. On February 17, 2025 the City Council adopted it by a roll call vote of 15 yeas and 0 nays. The operative sentence reads: "the City of Atlanta hereby opts out of the statewide homestead exemption pursuant to O.C.G.A. §48-5-44.2(h)(2)."

The resolution covers the City's own tax only. Each taxing authority made its own choice, and VanPlex verified one of them.

Source for the first row: Atlanta City Council, resolution 25-R-3143. Opt-out resolutions are filed with the Georgia Secretary of State.

To fill in the other rows for your own home, ask the county tax commissioner which exemptions appear on your bill for the county tax and the school tax. Opt-out resolutions are filed with the Georgia Secretary of State, whose page on them did not load for VanPlex.

What HB 92 added in 2025

HB 92 (2025) revised the opt-out rules in three ways.

• A notice on the bill. A government that opted out, and that has no base year homestead exemption of its own that is generally applicable to homestead residents, must print this on its homestead tax bills: "[Name of the political subdivision] chose to opt out of property tax relief for homeowners related to HB 581 (2024)." The rule ends for tax years beginning after December 31, 2029.
• A renewal date. For such a government, the opt-out stays in effect for tax years 2027 and after only if it repeats the hearings and files a resolution with the Secretary of State by March 1, 2027.
• Reversing the opt-out. Any government that opted out may rescind that choice by resolution. For a tax year from 2026 through 2029, the resolution must be filed with the Secretary of State by March 1 of that year.

The first two rules apply only to a government with no base year exemption of its own. The Department of Revenue lists the City of Atlanta among the places that have a local valuation freeze exemption. Whether that exemption meets the wording of HB 92 is a legal question this guide does not answer. Watch the City Council's agenda before March 1, 2027.

Returns, Notices and Appeals

Three steps repeat every year. First, the return: "Property tax returns must be filed through your county tax office or local officials between January 1 and April 1 of each year." The Department of Revenue tells owners to check whether their county takes returns at the tax commissioner's office or at the board of tax assessors.

Second, the notice. The county board of tax assessors sends an annual notice of assessment. Under Code Section 48-5-306, as printed in HB 581, it must show the previous and current assessments, the fair market value and the assessed value, the name and phone number of the person who handles appeals, an estimate of the year's taxes, and "the current year's estimated roll-back rate." The law defines that rate as the current year's estimated millage rate minus the millage equivalent of the value added by reassessments. If a taxing authority then adopts a higher rate, the tax bill must say so in bold print.

Third, the appeal. The notice itself states the deadline: "If you wish to file an appeal, you must do so in writing no later than 45 days after the date of this notice. If you do not file an appeal by this date, your right to file an appeal will be lost." When you file, you choose one of three options.

Source: HB 581 (2024), Section 1-6, Code Section 48-5-306(b).

The third option matters for rental buildings. A duplex or fourplex held as a rental is nonhomestead property, and one valued above $500,000 on the notice may go to a hearing officer.

A successful appeal protects the value for more than one year. Under Code Section 48-5-299, as printed in HB 581, when a value is reduced by an appeal decision or by a written agreement with the board of tax assessors, the new value "may not be increased by the board of tax assessors during the next two successive years." There are exceptions. The protection ends if the owner did not attend the hearing or give written evidence of value, files a return at a different value, or makes substantial additions or improvements to the property. Building a second home or an accessory dwelling unit on the lot is an addition of that kind.

If an appeal goes on to the superior court, Code Section 48-5-311, as printed in HB 581, sets the filing fee at $25 and provides for a settlement conference with the board of tax assessors before the case is filed.

Sources: Georgia Department of Revenue pages, HB 581 (2024) and HB 92 (2025).

SB 330: A School Tax Exemption for Atlanta Seniors

SB 330 (2025) is a local act for the City of Atlanta independent school district, which is Atlanta Public Schools. It grants each resident who is a senior citizen "an exemption on that person's homestead from all City of Atlanta independent school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in the amount of $50,000.00 of the assessed value of that homestead." A senior citizen is a person "65 years of age or older on or before January 1 of the year in which application" is made. The total of all exemptions under the Act is capped at $487,804,878 a year, with claims reduced in proportion if the total is higher.

The Act applies "to all taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026," and only if voters approved it. An Atlanta City Council communication, 25-C-0091, states that the Municipal Clerk must call an election on November 4, 2025 in accordance with SB 330. VanPlex did not verify the result of that election. If you are 65 or older and live in a home you own in Atlanta, ask the City or the county tax commissioner whether the exemption is in force and how to apply.

What to Confirm, and Where

• County tax commissioner (Fulton or DeKalb, by the location of the lot). Current millage rates for the City, county and schools. The homestead application. Which exemptions apply to each tax on your bill, including the HB 581 exemption and any local base year exemption.
• County board of tax assessors. The value on your notice, the records used to set it, and the appeal forms. The notice lists the name and phone number of the person who handles appeals.
• City of Atlanta. Whether the SB 330 senior exemption is in force, and whether Council plans to act on the opt-out before March 1, 2027.
• Georgia Department of Revenue, Local Government Services Division. The inflation rate for the year. Bulletin 2025-01 gives the phone number 404-724-7000.

This page is general information. A tax professional or attorney licensed in Georgia can apply these rules to your property.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Atlanta multiplex guide overview, property tax in Texas and property tax and insurance in California.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)