Georgia Homestead Exemptions: How to Lower Your Property Tax Bill

How Georgia property taxes work

Georgia assesses homes at 40% of their fair market value, and the county's millage rate applies to that assessed value after exemptions. So a home worth $400,000 is assessed at $160,000 before exemptions. The exemptions are where the real savings live.

The homestead exemption is the foundation

Every owner-occupied primary residence in Georgia qualifies for a standard $2,000 exemption off the taxable value for county and school taxes, as long as you owned and occupied the home on January 1 of the tax year and filed with your county. It sounds small, but it compounds: it applies every year you own the home.

Counties stack their own exemptions

Fulton County exempts an additional $30,000 off its school portion, and DeKalb adds $12,500 off school taxes. Cobb and Gwinnett offer their own county exemptions, and Gwinnett's value offset exemption can shield part of a home's rising value from taxation. Seniors, veterans, and some other homeowners qualify for additional exemptions in many counties, including new senior exemptions approved in Fulton in recent years.

What changed in 2026

Georgia has been reshaping property tax law. A new statewide homestead exemption was signed into law with local governments able to opt out, a bill to make a cap on property tax increases mandatory passed the state Senate earlier this year, and counties such as Fulton have published guides to the newest changes. The result: your exact savings now depend a lot on where you live, so it pays to check your county's rules.

Three steps every homeowner should take

First, make sure your homestead exemption is on file; the key date is January 1, when you must own and occupy the home, and filing typically happens in the spring. Second, read your annual assessment notice and confirm the value tracks with comparable sales. Third, if it does not, you can appeal, and we can pull the sales data together to build your case. Property taxes stop being a mystery once you understand the system.

The homestead exemption is one of the easiest savings in Georgia real estate: file once, and it keeps working for you every year you own the home.