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Property Tax Protection Program™
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Rendition And Discovery To Facilitate Valuing Personal Property
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Tax assessors first must learn what property you own before they can attempt to value it. Most states have a process requiring property owners to self-report the personal property they own. The tax assessors’ objective is to obtain information in a consistent format so they may value the property. This is understandable since there are only 2,850 personal property appraisers at appraisal districts to value $3.5 trillion of personal property annually, based on our estimate. The first steps in the rendition process are to understand: 1) what is taxable, 2) what exemptions, if any, are available, 3) the requirements to render, 4) the options for rendering and 5) the penalty for not rendering. The purpose of including the State of Oregon discovery process is to document how appraisal districts are diligently attempting to locate and tax personal property. They have many sources to obtain information, including other government offices.
Oregon Property Discovery Instructions Appraisal districts have many options for discovering property that is not reported, as indicated by the following excerpt on how to locate and discover personal property from Methods for Valuing Personal Property published by the state of Oregon: https://www.oregon.gov/DOR/forms/FormsPubs/methods-valuing-personal-property_303-450.pdf “All taxable personal property is assessed as of the January 1 assessment date in the county where it’s located. Taxable personal property is to be reported by March 15 each year. This includes machinery, furniture, equipment, etc., used previously or presently in a business, including items that have been fully depreciated or expensed for income tax purposes. Individuals, partnerships, firms, and corporations that fail to file a return are subject to assessment through the discovery process. Complete discovery depends upon county funding, cooperation of the taxpayer (owner, lessee, or lessor), and the resources available. Basic office policies and procedures should be developed that govern the discovery of personal property. Two of the most common methods of discovering personal property are the self-reporting by the taxpayer and field research by county staff members. A taxpayer who has taxable personal property must report it to the county in which the property has situs. Situs is its location on the assessment date (January 1 of any year). The property is taxable for the entire year at its situs. As county staff does appraisals in the field, they should watch for new businesses and relay that information to the personal property personnel. The following lists are the most usable and proven methods; however, this list isn’t inclusive. At the local level, information may be obtained from numerous sources. Aerial photographs: Aerial photos, if available, can show the location of equipment and new business construction. Building permits: Local cities and counties can often provide lists of permits for new commercial construction and remodeling. Bulletin boards in stores, cafes, and other places of business: Bulletin boards can be a good source of information on “repair,” “maintenance,” and “personal services” types of companies. Business directories: Commercially produced directories can provide listings of businesses by address, business name, telephone number, and “doing business as” (dba). A reverse telephone directory also can be useful. Business vehicles: Business names and telephone numbers on vehicles can be a starting point for discovering new businesses. Chambers of commerce: Local chambers of commerce can supply names of member businesses or provide membership listings for a specific geographic location. City and county business license listings: Local business license listings are one of the most efficient and effective ways to find new businesses. Local newspapers: In addition to news stories, some papers publish lists of new businesses and commercial leases. When you scan the newspaper advertisements, play special attention to “Grand Opening” sales and other indicators of change. Public health department: A municipal health department may have lists of registered restaurants, hotels/motels, adult foster care homes, and day care centers with the current operators.