Ryan Tax Professionals Serve as Advisors for Georgia Property Tax Reforms.

ATLANTA, July 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Property tax professionals at Ryan, a leading tax services firm, served as advisors for legislation reforming Georgia's property tax appraisal process recently signed by Governor Sonny Perdue. The legislation provides property owners with more options and time to appeal a Notice of Assessment.

"This is considered to be the most comprehensive overhaul of Georgia's property tax system in decades," said Michael Allen, Principal at Ryan and one of the advisors for the reform.  "The reform package includes more than 50 changes to current state law."

Most of the reforms become effective January 1, 2011. Some of the changes to current law include:

• Every property owner must receive an annual Notice of Assessment, which guarantees a right to appeal.
• Every Notice of Assessment must contain the estimated property tax owed.
• The time to appeal has been increased from 30 to 45 days.
• The property owner automatically wins any appeal when the government fails to respond within 45 days.
• Only "current use of property" can be used in determining fair market value.
• The taxpayer must be given access to all data that tax assessors used in determining fair market value.
• Sales price establishes the fair market value of a property for the next tax year.

"The new law also clarifies the intangibles that cannot be included when determining fair market value of a commercial real property," said Brad Gorski, a Principal at Ryan. "This is an important step towards ensuring that the value represents the real property only."

In addition to providing a more consistent and fair system, the law simplifies the tax appeal process while giving more power to taxpayers.  

About Ryan

Ryan is the leading tax services firm in North America, with the largest transaction tax practice in the United States and Canada. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the Firm provides a comprehensive range of state, local, federal, and international tax advisory and consulting services on a multi-jurisdictional basis, including audit defense, tax recovery, credits and incentives, tax process improvement and automation, tax appeals, and strategic planning. With a multi-disciplinary team of more than 800 professionals and associates, Ryan serves many of the world's most prominent Fortune 1000 companies.

SOURCE Ryan

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