Missouri Senate

Perfected

The act prohibits the imposition of penalties and interest where there is clear and convincing evidence that a county made an error in the determination of taxes owed by a taxpayer. Under current law, counties may opt to accept property tax payments in installments. This act requires Jackson County to accept payments for property taxes in installments.

The income exemption for married claimants, under the property tax credit program, is increased from two thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars for claimants that own and occupy their homestead for the entire year. The maximum award under the property tax credit program is increased from seven hundred fifty dollars to eleven hundred dollars. The maximum upper limit and minimum base amounts, for the property tax credit for calendar year 2008, are extended to all subsequent calendar years. For homeowners claiming the property tax credit, the maximum upper limit is increased to thirty thousand dollars and the minimum base amount is increased to fifteen thousand dollars.

Voter approved property tax rate increases must be adjusted to derive the same amount of revenue as would be realized if the tax rate increase were applied to a political subdivision's most recent total assessed valuation, as certified by the city or county clerk on or before the date of the election in which the increase was approved. Under current law, the Hancock Amendment of the Missouri Constitution requires political subdivisions to roll-back their tax rate ceiling due to increases in assessed value. This act requires every political subdivision, in a reassessment year, to roll-back its prior year's tax rate regardless of whether the political subdivision was levying the tax at its tax rate ceiling. A governing body of a political subdivision may, in a non-reassessment year, modify its tax rate, not to exceed its maximum authorized voter approved levy, through the adoption of an ordinance, resolution, or policy statement explaining its actions. A school district which levies a tax rate below the performance levy due to mandatory roll-backs provided for under this act will remain eligible to receive grants currently provided to small school districts. Political subdivisions, which have received voter approval for an increase to their tax rate ceiling subsequent to setting their most recent tax rate, are exempt from the mandatory roll-back in reassessment years provision.

Effective January 1, 2009, for all charter counties and the City of St. Louis, assessors are required to provide the city or county clerks with assessment books on or before March first of each year. The city or county clerks must make abstracts of the assessment books showing the aggregate amounts of different types of property and the valuations of each type for each political subdivision levying taxes on property. The governing bodies of political subdivisions must use the information provided in the abstracts to informally project non-binding tax rate levies and provide such projected levies to the clerk no later than April 15th of each year. Utilizing the projected tax levies, the county collector must then calculate the projected tax liability for each property for which the assessor intends to provide a notice of increased assessed value by April thirtieth. Failure by a political subdivision to provide projected tax levies by April 15th will result in a twenty percent reduction in such political subdivision tax levy for the tax year. However, if a political subdivision's failure to provide projected tax levies in the time prescribed is due to a delinquency in the provision of, or a failure to provide, the required information by either the clerk or the assessor, no such reduction will be triggered.

Beginning January 1, 2011, all counties will be subject to the same projected tax liability and notice requirements applicable to the City of St. Louis and charter counties. The state tax commission must develop, or enter into contracts for the development of, computer software programs which will produce the notice of projected tax liability. Upon receiving a request from a collector, the commission must provide the computer software programs to such collector.

Under current law, certain counties and the City of St. Louis must deduct either one eighth of one percent or one quarter of one percent of all ad valorem property tax collections and deposit such amount into the county's assessment fund until December 31, 2009. This act extends this requirement until December 31, 2015. For all years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, if the state tax commission withholds state assessment reimbursement funds from a county for three consecutive quarters, the extra one-eighth of one percent or one quarter of one percent collection revenues in the county assessment fund will be forfeited and returned by the county to the political subdivisions within such county.

The clerk of a circuit court is required to send the county collector a notice that an appeal seeking exemption has been filed upon a taxpayer's timely filing of an appeal of a final decision of the board of equalization. Such notice must contain the name of the taxpayer, the case number assigned by the court, and the parcel or locator number of the property being appealed. The notice to the collector must state that the taxes in dispute are to be impounded. The act also requires the state tax commission to send the county collector a notice of appeal upon timely filing of a taxpayer's appeal. Such notice must contain the taxpayer's name, the appeal number assigned by the commission, the assessed value by the board of equalization and the assessed value proposed by the taxpayer, if such values are available to the commission when the appeal is filed. Such notice must specifically state that the taxes in dispute are to be impounded and if such notice is filed in an odd numbered year, it shall serve as notice to the collector to impound taxes for the following even numbered year if no decision has been rendered in the appeal.

A taxpayer is relieved from the requirement of filing a statement of protest if such taxpayer filed an appeal from a local board of equalization to the state tax commission or circuit court. The act modifies several other provisions of law regarding notification of appeal of assessment and the impounding, investment and refund of protested tax payments.

The act repeals the requirement that the state tax commission notify each school district of the equivalent sales ratio for the previous year, which was adopted to determine the equalized assessed valuation of the property and the equalized operating levy of the school district for distributions under the old school funding formula.

JASON ZAMKUS