Property Tax Administrative Procedures

The bill makes multiple changes to procedural requirements for the administration of property tax in 2 broad categories: Deadlines and requirements for transmitting information.

      Modifications to deadlines. The bill modifies property tax-related deadlines as follows:

• Aligns the regular and late application dates for the qualified-senior primary residence real property classification and the property tax exemption for qualifying veterans with disabilities and their spouses with those for the property tax exemption for qualifying seniors and their spouses. The regular application deadline is July 15 and late applications may be accepted until August 15 ( sections 1, 5, 8, and 6 9 of the bill).
• Increases from $10,000 to $20,000 the current threshold for a board of county commissioners (board) to recommend, or a county assessor with the approval of a board to settle, an abatement or refund of taxes. The threshold for the board being required to submit recommended abatement applications to the property tax administrator (administrator) for review is similarly increased from $10,000 to $20,000. The board is not required to submit an application to the administrator in the case of an abatement or refund caused by a valuation change made to ensure matching values within the same reassessment cycle ( section 3 ).
• Clarifies the timeline for a petitioner to appeal a decision of the board of county equalization to the board of assessment appeals or submit the case to arbitration ( sections 6, 15, 16, and 17 );
• Changes the real property protest deadline from June 8 to June 1 ( sections 7 10, and 8 11 );
• Changes the deadline for a county assessor to send a notice of valuation of personal property from June 15 to July 15 and changes the personal property protest deadline from June 30 to July 31 for a county that uses alternate protest and appeal procedures (alternate procedures) to determine objections and protests for taxable property ( sections 7 10, and 8 11 );
• Clarifies that a county's use of alternate procedures may apply to real or personal property, or both ( section 9 12 ); and
• Aligns the protest deadline for personal property with the date that county assessors must conclude their hearings on such protests so that both the protest and hearing conclusion dates for personal property are June 30, or, for a county that uses alternate procedures, July 31 ( section 8 11 ).

      Modifications to requirements for transmitting information. The bill modifies requirements for transmitting property tax information as follows:

• Clarifies that a county assessor or the board may transmit a required abstract of assessment, certification of taxes levied, or application for a recommended abatement or refund in excess of $20,000 to the administrator in a paper or electronic format ( sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 13 and 11 14 );
• Reduces the number of copies of an application for a recommended abatement or refund in excess of $20,000 that the board must send to the administrator for review to one ( section 3 );
• Repeals the requirement that the administrator conduct a public hearing on proposed changes to property tax manuals, appraisal procedures, instructions, and guidelines, which must still be reviewed by the advisory committee to the administrator ( section 4 and 7 );
• Requires the administrator to prepare and public standardized forms, including a letter of authorization, for all levels of property tax appeals ( section 4 );
• Reduces the number of copies of a notice of determination that an assessor must send to a taxpayer who has objected to the valuation of the taxpayer's property to one ( section 8 11 ); and
• Reduces the number of copies of an abstract of assessment that need to be prepared to one ( sections 4, 10, 13 and 11 14 ).

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)