How Long Does a Property Tax Appeal Take?

How long a property tax appeal takes depends on which phase it is in and which state you filed in. An informal conversation with the assessor can resolve in weeks, because no hearing has to be scheduled. A formal hearing takes longer, and the county controls the date, not you. California is the outlier with a hard number: state law gives the assessment appeals board two years from a timely filing before your own opinion of value takes over by default. Georgia and Florida set no statutory hearing date at all; each moves on a schedule the county publishes after its filing window closes, so the acknowledgement letter you get and the county's own website are the places to find your actual date.

The phases of an appeal, and which one actually takes time

Every appeal, as the complete guide lays out, moves through roughly the same phases, and they do not take the same amount of time.

Filing itself is fast and is entirely up to you: fill out the form, meet the deadline, done. The next phase, an informal conference with the assessor or property appraiser, is often the quickest part of the whole process because it does not depend on a hearing calendar at all. California's Board of Equalization tells homeowners to "first meet informally with the assessor to discuss the assessment" before filing a formal application (Publication 30). Florida law gives a taxpayer the right to "request the property appraiser to informally confer with the taxpayer," and the appraiser or staff "shall confer with the taxpayer regarding the correctness of the assessment" (Fla. Stat. section 194.011(2)). If the county agrees your record is wrong or your number is off, this step can end the appeal without a hearing at all.

The formal hearing is the phase that varies most, because it runs on the county's calendar, not on a fixed number of days after filing. That is where the three states genuinely diverge, and it is covered state by state below. Our guide to what happens after you file walks through the full sequence, including the evidence exchange and settlement offers that can happen before any hearing date is even set.

California: the only state with a two-year cap

California's regular filing period runs July 2 to September 15 in eleven counties for 2026 and to November 30 in the other 47, a distinction the California deadline guide covers county by county. Once you file, there is no statutory promise of a hearing date within weeks or even months. What the law does promise is an outer limit: under Rev. & Tax. Code section 1604(c), if the county board "fails to hear evidence and fails to make a final determination on the application" within two years of a timely filing, "the applicant's opinion of value as reflected on the application for reduction in assessment shall be the value upon which taxes are to be levied," unless you agreed in writing to extend the deadline.

That rule cuts both ways. It protects you from an appeal that drags on indefinitely, but it also means the number you write on your application matters. If two years pass with no hearing and no agreed extension, that number is what you get, whether or not it turns out to be conservative. Some counties hear cases well inside the two years; others, with heavier caseloads, take much longer to reach a given application. The two-year figure is the one number California law actually guarantees.

Georgia: a fast front door, a scheduled back room

Georgia's appeal starts on a short, hard clock. The Department of Revenue instructs homeowners to "submit your property tax appeal to the County Board of Tax Assessors within 45 days from the date the Assessment Notice was sent." You file with the county board of tax assessors using form PT-311A or, in counties like Gwinnett, "any letter of disagreement that identifies the property" postmarked within the window.

Once filed, you choose a route on the form: a hearing before the county Board of Equalization, non-binding arbitration on value only, or a hearing officer, as Fulton County's page describes. None of the three routes carries a statutory hearing date. The county schedules the hearing after the 45-day window closes, which is why the notice you get back from the county, not a fixed rule, tells you when to expect it. While you wait, Gwinnett County notes you will receive "a partial, temporary bill," calculated as the lesser of 100 percent of the prior year's value or 85 percent of the most recent value, and Fulton County says you must pay it or risk penalties. That temporary bill is itself a sign a case can still be open when the next bill would otherwise be due.

If the Board of Equalization decides against you, the clock turns short again. Fulton County's page states you can appeal that decision to superior court within 30 days of the date the decision was mailed. There is no fee to bring the case to the county Board of Equalization in the first place, since O.C.G.A. section 48-5-311 sets none.

Florida: petition in September, hearing later in the year

Florida's property appraisers mail the TRIM notice, the Notice of Proposed Property Taxes, in August. From that mailing you have 25 days to petition the Value Adjustment Board, under Fla. Stat. section 194.011(3)(d). For 2026, county petition deadlines ranged from September 4 to September 18, so a homeowner who missed the window is planning for next year's TRIM notice instead; the Florida VAB guide lists the county dates.

The petition deadline is not the hearing date. Under Fla. Stat. section 194.035(1), counties over 75,000 in population must appoint special magistrates to take testimony and recommend decisions, and a magistrate hearing a valuation case must be a state-certified real estate appraiser with at least five years of experience. Scheduling those hearings across a full petition volume takes time, which is why VAB hearings typically run well past the September deadline and into the following months, on a calendar the clerk of the court publishes.

One hard date does exist on the back end, though it applies to a specific situation, not to every case. Under Fla. Stat. section 194.014, a petitioner must make a partial payment of at least 75 percent of the ad valorem taxes before the delinquency date while a value petition is pending. If that payment is not made, "the value adjustment board must deny the petition by written decision by April 20." That date shows how far into the following year a Florida case can still be open on the board's docket, even for the narrower category of cases it covers.

Milestones and what controls the timing

How to speed up the parts you control

You cannot move a county board's calendar, and trying to rush a hearing rarely works. What you can control is how long your own case takes to move once it reaches the front of that calendar.

Bring complete evidence the first time. A petition or application with your comparable sales, your record-card corrections, and photos already attached does not need a second information request, which is often what stalls a file. Our guide on finding comparable sales covers what actually counts.

Respond quickly to anything the assessor's office sends back. Many appeals settle before a hearing is ever held, when the assessor's office reviews your evidence and offers a revised value. A slow reply to that offer adds real time to your case even though no rule requires it.

Accept a fair settlement when you get one. If the assessor's revised number reflects your evidence, taking it closes your case immediately instead of waiting for a hearing slot that may be months out. Holding out for a marginally better number can cost you the rest of the year; see can an appeal backfire? for the small, statute-constrained risk of holding out too long.

If you would rather not track any of this yourself, Drop Property Tax reviews your record and comparable sales, files the appeal, and handles the hearing, with a free review of your address and no fee unless the appeal wins. Start with a free review.

Common questions

Do I keep paying my tax bill while I wait?

Yes, in all three states. California's Board of Equalization states plainly that filing an application does not excuse payment. Georgia issues a temporary bill during the appeal, and Florida requires at least 75 percent of the tax paid before the delinquency date for a value petition to stay alive. A win comes back as a refund or a corrected bill, not a pause on the original one.

What happens if California's board really does take two years?

Under Rev. & Tax. Code section 1604(c), if the board has not heard evidence and made a final decision within two years of your timely filing, and you did not agree in writing to extend that period, the opinion of value you wrote on your application becomes the assessed value. That is a real outcome, not a hypothetical, which is why the number on the application matters from day one.

Where do I find my actual hearing date?

There is no universal answer, because each county sets its own calendar. Georgia and Florida both send an acknowledgement after you file, and the county's own assessor or clerk of the court page is the place to check status. California's county assessment appeals board pages work the same way.