Summary of House Bill 202: Amendments to Georgia s Real Property Tax Assessment and Appeal System

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1 Summary of House Bill 202: Amendments to Georgia s Real Property Tax Assessment and Appeal System After a wild finish, the Georgia Legislature passed House Bill 202 on the final day of the session, April 2, Stakeholders put in extensive work on the bill, including over one hundred hours by attorneys of G. Roger Land & Associates, and after the insertion of amendments and compromise by all parties, the final forty-nine page bill was passed. During the last days of the legislative session, House Bill 202 became known as a christmas tree bill because interested parties sought to tack on provisions and amendments from other bills that did not progress through the session. Last minute add-on provisions included: ad valorem tax-breaks for vehicles leased by Mercedes to its employees (proposed by the Governor s office, see Sections 1, 2, and 3); distribution of certain ad valorem tax on vehicles to MARTA (see Section 23); a one year sales and use tax exemption on construction materials for private colleges (see Section 26). House Bill 202 makes a number of important changes to Georgia s real property tax system of assessments and appeals that benefit taxpayers, most notably: Designating an appeal administrator to oversee the appeals process and giving the administrator a separate budget Imposing stricter deadlines on the board of tax assessors during their review of a property appealed to the board of equalization Replacing binding arbitration with nonbinding arbitration and omitting filing fees for appeals to nonbinding arbitration Providing taxpayers with a right to interview the board of tax assessors regarding their appeal or assessment Implementing a settlement conference between the taxpayer and board of tax assessors prior to certification of an appeal to superior court to the clerk Reducing the filing fees for appeals to superior court to $25 Changing the application of the two-year lock following an appeal (O.C.G.A (c)) to apply to most settlements and agreements between the taxpayer and board of tax assessors in addition to final determinations of value, but restricting its application in cases when taxpayers or their representatives do not appear at scheduled hearings or provide written evidence Omitting any interest owed by taxpayers on their property tax bill while appeal is pending Copyright 2015 G. Roger Land & Associates Page 1 of 8

2 Section 1: The following is a section-by-section summary of House Bill 202: Defines manufacturer headquarters in the State of Georgia. Section 2: Allows the application and issuance of Manufacturer HQ on license plates. Section 3: Excludes a vehicle owned by a manufacturer headquarters from motor vehicle titling. Section 4: Imposes penalty of 10 percent on amount of unpaid tax on funds held in trust for the State. Section 5: Authorizes the use of electronic tax bills with consent of the tax commissioner and the taxpayer. Section 6: Adds any sheriff, ex officio sheriff, tax commissioner, or municipal levy officer in the levy of a state, county, or municipal tax execution to Code Section relating to the penalty for obstructing levying officers. Section 7: Requires the proposed millage rate(s) to be published on the local government s website when one is available. Reduces the minimum time period between the notice of the proposed millage rate published in the paper and the adoption of the millage rate from two weeks to one. Section 8: Authorizes the use of electronic tax bills with consent of the tax commissioner and the taxpayer. Section 9: Gives the tax commissioner one additional month to submit the tax digest to the Department of Revenue. Section 10: Copyright 2015 G. Roger Land & Associates Page 2 of 8

3 Authorizes two or more counties to form a regional tax assessor s office or share staff resources through an intergovernmental agreement. Authorizes contractors to provide valuation services to the Board of Assessors under certain circumstances, and requires contractors to receive training specified by the Department of Revenue. Section 11: Amends requirements of state auditor to require adjustments upward or downward to sales price for each of a representative number of parcels. Sale prices shall also shall be reduced by any portion thereof attributable to personal property, real property exempt from taxation, or standing timber included in the sales transaction. Section 12: Removes a population act at the request of Gwinnett County. Revises O.C.G.A (c) by limiting the 3 year assessment lock during the next two years following an appeal subject to the following exceptions: 1) No lock if taxpayer or representative fails to attend hearing or provide written evidence; 2) Does not apply if taxpayer files return at a different valuation during the next two successive years; 3) BOE, hearing officer, or arbitrator may increase or decrease value is taxpayer files an appeal during the next two successive years; 4) board of tax assessors may increase or decrease the value if there are substantial additions, deletions or improvements to property, if errors in the tax assessor s records are discovered and corrected, or if the tax assessors finds other material factors that substantially affect the value. Section 13: Provides the board of tax assessors an additional 15 days to get the tax digest to the tax commissioner. Section 14: Reduces the threshold to file an appeal with a hearing officer from $1 million in value per nonhomestead parcel to $750,000. Also adds in wireless properties with aggregate value exceeding $750,000. Further amends the provisions for requesting documents pertinent to property tax records in O.C.G.A (d) to include that, at the taxpayer s request, the board of tax assessors is required to give a description of the methodology used by the board of tax assessors in setting the property s fair market value. In addition, actions to enforce the provisions of this Code Section may be brought in superior court and makes attorney s fees and litigation costs recoverable in some situations. Copyright 2015 G. Roger Land & Associates Page 3 of 8

4 Section 15: Revises O.C.G.A by: Creating distinction of appeal administrator : designates the appeal administrator as the person responsible for oversight of the board of equalization (BOE) and appeals requires separate and distinct budget within the county budget for the appeal administrator requires the appeal administrator to maintain all communications with the taxpayer for a 12 month period after the deadline for filing an appeal to superior court expires. Revising provisions regarding Board of Equalization members: authorizes the grand jury to remove a member of the BOE for failure to perform their duties authorizes the members of the BOE to choose their chair and vice chair instead of the grand jury provides that when a regional BOE is created by intergovernmental agreement, funding from each participating county must be specified to cover the appeal administrator s operations requires a member of the BOE to own property in the jurisdiction the board serves requires applicants for BOE to file an application form that includes their education, employment background, experience, and qualifications for such appointment requires BOE members to complete an additional 20 hours of training after every term (3 years) authorizes the Superior Court Clerk to notify the BOE appointees of their selection by mail or telephone instead of having the sheriff serve them by leaving a summons at their place of residence allows board members to receive compensation for online educational training Revising provisions affecting the appeal process generally: requires the Department of Revenue Commissioner to develop a optional uniform appeal form that requires the an initial assertion of valuation by the taxpayer. Any assertion of value may be later amended by the taxpayer by submitting written evidence authorizes the taxpayer to submit an appraisal not more than nine months prior to the date of assessment. Within 45 days the board of tax assessors must notify the taxpayer of acceptance or rejection and the reasons for rejection. Copyright 2015 G. Roger Land & Associates Page 4 of 8

5 allows taxpayer to consolidate appeals requires the Department of Revenue Commissioner to publish and update annually a manual for the BOE, arbitrators, and hearing officers Revising provisions affecting appeals to the Board of Equalization: imposes more strict timeframe for the board of tax assessors to respond to a taxpayer s initial appeal and resolves the appeal in the taxpayers favor if they fail to respond requires the Department of Revenue to create a uniform 30 day notice and requires the counties to use it for notifying the taxpayer of changes to their assessment allows BOE to send notice of hearing date via allows either taxpayer or board of tax assessors to request the other party submit their evidence seven days in advance of the appeal hearing. Failure to provide evidence results in continuance or exclusion of evidence clarifies that the BOE must inform the taxpayer of their final decision at the conclusion of the hearing and that such decisions may handed to each party, as opposed to mailed via certified or registered mail Revising provisions affecting appeals to a hearing officer: reduces the fair market value jurisdiction from $1 million to $750,000 for hearing officers and includes any contiguous property owned by the same taxpayer authorizes an appeal to a hearing officer for wireless property accounts exceeding $750,000 after review by board of tax assessors, taxpayer has to option to convert the appeal to the BOE requires parties to make all evidence available to both parties 7 days prior to the hearing increases the compensation for the hearing officer to $75 for the first hour of the appeal requires the hearing officer to receive four hours of continuing education hearing officer may hand deliver his decision to the parties as opposed to requiring certified or registered mail if the county s tax bills are issued before the hearing officer has rendered his or her decision, authorizes a temporary tax bill the same as BOE section New provisions giving taxpayer a right to an interview; Copyright 2015 G. Roger Land & Associates Page 5 of 8

6 in the course of any assessment or appeal, the taxpayer is entitled to an interview with an employee or officer of the board of tax assessors regarding the valuation of the taxpayer s property. Such interview may be recorded at the taxpayer s expense. Taxpayer must request the interview in writing and the interview shall be granted within 30 days, with an additional 30 day extension at the taxing authority s discretion. Enforcement of this provision is available through the superior court and the penalty for board of tax assessors failure to comply is $100 plus reasonable attorney's fees and expenses of litigation incurred in any action brought to compel such interview. Provisions regarding interest owed and due following the resolution of a property tax appeal: if the final value of a property is reduced and the taxpayer is owed a refund, such interest accrues from the due date of the original bill and is capped at $150 for homestead property and $5,000 for nonhomestead property. if the final value of the property results in the taxpayer owing additional property taxes, there will be no interest charged during the appeal and for 60 days following the determination of final value. After 60 days, interest accrues from the original billing due date. Notification to taxpayer s attorney or representative: all notices required under O.C.G.A must be sent to taxpayer and his attorney or representative when taxpayer notifies the board of tax assessors of the representation. Notice to attorneys and representatives may be sent by when agreed to. Failure to comply results in tolling any deadline imposed on the taxpayer until proper notice is given. Section 16: Revisions to arbitration appeals process under O.C.G.A : replaces binding arbitration with non-binding arbitration omits filing fees requires board of tax assessors and taxpayer to meet to discuss choosing arbitrator requires parties to exchange evidence 7 days prior to arbitration hearing arbitrator determines FMV and party with value furthest from final value shall pay the costs and fees of the arbitrator arbitrator may hand deliver decision Revisions to superior court appeals process under O.C.G.A : Copyright 2015 G. Roger Land & Associates Page 6 of 8

7 requires a settlement conference between the taxpayer and the board of assessors prior to an appeal to superior court and within 45 days of the notice of appeal to superior court. Failure to board of tax assessors to attend results in taxpayer s stated value prevailing. Failure of taxpayer to attend results in failure to be entitled to attorney s fees at conclusion of case. reducing filing fee for appeal to superior court to $25 taxpayer is entitled to costs of litigation and attorney s fee if final value if 85% or less of the valuation set by the BOE, arbitrator or hearing officer. The provisions of O.C.G.A (c) apply to any agreement, settlement or final value of an appeal as otherwise permitted under O.C.G.A Section 17: Reserved Section 18: Requires the Department of Revenue to track and publish certain appeal statistics. Section 19: Authorizes levy and collection of taxes for independent school systems. Section 20: Moves the deadline for obtaining a mobile home location permit from May to April 1. Section 21: Increases the penalty for failure to display a mobile home location permit. Section 22: Changes date for filing mobile homes return for taxation. Section 23: Changes ad valorem tax on motor vehicles for Marta. Section 24 and 25: Requires the fair market value of real and personal property to be shown on the PT-61 real estate transfer form to ensure the appraised value for tax purposes the following year does not exceed to sale price of the property. Section 26: One year exemption of sales and use tax for construction materials for a private college. Copyright 2015 G. Roger Land & Associates Page 7 of 8

8 Section 27: Enactment of certain parts of the bill: Section 28: - Sections 1, 2, and 3 this section, and Section 28 of this Act shall become effective upon their approval by the Governor or upon their becoming law without such approval. - Sections 13 and Section 15 of this act shall become effective on July 1, The remaining sections of this Act shall become effective on January 1, 2016, and Sections 9, 12, and 15 of this Act shall l be applicable to all appeals filed on or after such date. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. Copyright 2015 G. Roger Land & Associates Page 8 of 8