SPONSOR: Perkins
This bill provides that, if a valuation of utility, industrial, commercial, railroad, or other form of real property in subclass(3) within any county with a charter form of government or within a city not within a county is made by a computer or computer program, the burden of proof to sustain such valuation must be on the assessor at any hearing or appeal.
The bill also provides that, before the assessor can increase the assessed valuation of any parcel of subclass (3) real property by more than 15%, since the last assessment, the assessor must conduct a physical inspection of the property.
This bill provides that, if a property's assessed value increased by 15% percent or more and the board of equalization does not hear and decide the case by September 30th in a reassessment year, the appeal is automatically dismissed. In this case, the assessor's increased assessed valuation will be voided in its entirety, and the previous year's assessed valuation must be applied to the property in its place.
The bill provides that in the event the assessor fails to provide sufficient evidence to establish that the physical inspection was performed correctly, the owner must prevail on the appeal, the assessor's increased valuation must be voided in its entirety, and the previous assessed valuation must be applied to the property in its place. Furthermore, if a taxpayer submits a licensed Missouri appraisal to the board of equalization at least five days before the appeal hearing, the appraisal's value must be presumed correct, unless the assessor presents strong evidence to the contrary.
This bill provides that, when the State Tax Commission (STC) equalizes the valuation of a class or subclass of property that results in an increase of more than 15% in a single tax year, the increase must be evenly divided between each of the next reassessment cycles in a way that does not cause any single year to increase beyond 15%.
The bill provides that the taxpayer must be awarded the costs of the appeal and reasonable attorney's fees if an assessor appeals certain decisions of the STC to the court and the taxpayer is the prevailing party.
Statutes affected: