Exemptions

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Homestead, School & Veterans Exemptions

Exemptions Information

Certain homeowners are eligible for various types of homestead exemptions. Homeowner must have owned, occupied and claimed Georgia as their legal state of residence on January 1st of the calendar year in order to apply.  Active duty personnel will need the first Leave and Earning Statement (LES) of the year to verify their legal state of residence. Once qualified, exemption will remain as long as homeowner occupies that same house or there are no name changes.

Homeowners are eligible anytime during the year. However, the deadline to apply is April 1st for current year exemptions. Applications received after the April 1st deadline will be applied to the following tax year.

Any tax returns with names changes, value disputes, additions or deletions must be filed between January 2 and April 1.  New property returns should be made in person with recorded copy of Warranty Deed and Settlement Statement.  Address changes should also be made during this period.  A VALID Georgia's Drivers License with correct home address  required.

REGULAR HOMESTEAD - $10,000
- May have this or double exemption (Does not apply to debt retirement on bonds)

DOUBLE HOMESTEAD - $14,000

1. Must be 65 on January 1st of year filing -MUST BRING PROOF OF AGE
2. Taxable Income cannot exceed $10,000 - must bring proof of income from previous year (Does apply to County and School Bonds)

FLOATING HOMESTEAD - House Bill #1654

• Must be 62 years on January 1st of year filing
• Federal adjusted gross income for household must be less than $30,000 Must bring proof of income.
• We would determine base year, which would be previous year's value & amount of floating exemption is difference in "base year" and "current year" valuation. Base year value changes with additions or deletions to property. (Does not apply to debt retirement on County or School Bonds)

SCHOOL EXEMPTION - $10,000

1. Must be 62 on January 1st of the year filing
2. Total gross income from all sources for all persons residing in home for preceding year cannot exceed $10,000
3. Must bring proof of income to this office. (Applies to School Bonds only)

TOTAL SCHOOL EXEMPTION

1. By Age:
   
   1. Must be 65 on January 1st of the year filing - MUST BRING PROOF OF AGE
   2. Can only get exemption on house and five acres*
2. By Disability: (NO AGE REQUIREMENT)
   
   1. MUST be 100% disabled from work and have original letters from two doctors licensed in the State of Georgia stating 100% disability on their letterhead
   2. Can only get exemption on house and five acres*
   3. Total gross income from all sources for all persons residing in the home for preceding year cannot exceed $30,000
   4. Must bring tax return and proof of other income to this office

      
      
      * On total school exemption, as well as the floating homestead exemption, if you have more than five acres, your home and five (5) acres can be "cut out" and you would receive two tax bills. On bill with home and 5 acres, you would get total school exemption and on bill with balance of acreage no exemptions.

STATE TAX EXEMPTION

Must be 65 on January 1 - 100% exemption on house and ten acres (O.C.G.A. 48-5-56)

VETERANS EXEMPTION - $50,000

Five ways to be eligible:

1. Letter from VA stating the wartime veteran was:
   1. discharged under honorable condition
   2. adjudicated as being totally and permanently 100% disabled
   3. receiving or entitled to receive benefit for a 100% service connected disability.
2. Letter from VA stating the American wartime veteran was:
   
   1. disabled due to loss or loss of use of both extremities such as to preclude locomotion, without the aid of braces, crutches, canes or wheelchair
   2. blindness in both eyes having only light perception, together with the loss or loss of use of one lower extremity
   3. loss or loss of use of one lower extremity together with residuals of organic disease or injury which so affect the functions of balance or propulsion as to preclude locomotion without resort to a wheelchair.
3. Any wartime veteran not so adjudicated by the VA, but having the afflictions as in (A), (B), or (C) of #2 and complying with the following:
   
   1. must have DD Form 214 military discharge record
   2. Letter from Georgia doctor verifying the disability as outlined in #2 above
   3. And one additional doctor's statement verifying disability as outlined in #2 above.
4. Any American wartime veteran disabled due to loss or loss of use of one lower extremity together with the loss or loss of use of one upper extremity which so affects the functions of balance or propulsion as to preclude locomotion with the aid of braces, crutches, canes or a wheelchair complying with the following:
   
   1. Letter from Georgia doctor verifying the qualifying disability
   2. One additional doctor's statement
5. A veteran becoming eligible for assistance in acquiring housing under Section 801 of the United States Code as hereafter amended on or after January 1, 1985, bringing letter from the Department of VA stating the eligibility for such housing assistance

All of the above Veteran Exemptions shall be extended to the unremarried spouse or minor children at the time of his death so long as they continue to occupy the home as a residence and homestead.

In the event a disabled veteran, who would otherwise be entitled to the exemption, dies or becomes incapacitated to the extent that he or she cannot personally file for such exemption, the spouse, the unremarried surviving spouse or the minor children at the time of the disabled veteran's death, may file for the exemption and such exemption may be granted as if the disabled veteran had made personal application.

UNMARRIED SURVIVING SPOUSE
Veterans Exemption - $50,000

Citizen, resident of Georgia, spouse of a member of the armed forces of the U.S., which member has been killed in any war or armed conflict in which the armed forces of the U.S. were engaged.

Widowed un-remarried spouse of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty may be exempt from all ad valorem property taxes. (770) 477-3311