1 STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2 2nd Session of the 58th Legislature (2022)
3 HOUSE BILL 3901 By: Pfeiffer
4
5
6 AS INTRODUCED
7 An Act relating to revenue and taxation; amending 68
O.S. 2021, Section 3024, which relates to the Court
8 of Tax Review; expanding jurisdiction of court;
amending 68 O.S. 2021, Sections 2880.1, 2835, 2871,
9 2877 and 2945, which relate to ad valorem tax
protests; replacing district court with Court of Tax
10 Review; and providing an effective date.
11
12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
13 SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 68 O.S. 2021, Section 3024, is
14 amended to read as follows:
15 Section 3024. A. There is hereby re-created a Court of Tax
16 Review. For each case brought before the Court of Tax Review, the
17 Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court shall assign the case to
18 a judicial administrative district. The presiding judge of the
19 judicial administrative district to which the case is assigned shall
20 appoint a panel of three judges of the district court, who shall
21 determine in what county the case will be heard. A majority of the
22 three-judge panel shall be required to render a decision in each
23 case. The Oklahoma Supreme Court shall establish court rules for
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1 the Court of Tax Review and the Clerk of the Oklahoma Supreme Court
2 shall serve as Clerk of the Court of Tax Review.
3 B. The Court of Tax Review is hereby vested with jurisdiction
4 over and shall hear:
5 1. Complaints regarding valuation of real and personal property
6 from any order of the county board of equalization as authorized by
7 Section 2880.1 of this title, for which a scheduling conference
8 shall be required within twenty (20) days of the answer filed by the
9 county board of equalization;
10 2. Complaints regarding valuation of public service corporation
11 property by the State Board of Equalization as authorized by Section
12 2881 of this title, for which a scheduling conference shall be
13 required within twenty (20) days of the answer filed by the State
14 Board of Equalization;
15 2. 3. Complaints regarding actions of the State Board of
16 Equalization regarding either intracounty or intercounty property
17 value equalization as authorized by Section 2882 of this title; and
18 3. 4. Appeals as authorized by Section 2830 of this title
19 concerning Category 2 or Category 3 noncompliance as determined by
20 the Oklahoma Tax Commission. The Court of Tax Review shall
21 determine if a county deemed to be in Category 3 noncompliance is
22 required to reimburse the Oklahoma Tax Commission from the county
23 assessor's budget for all costs incurred as a result of the
24 assumption of the valuation function by the Commission.
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1 C. The Court of Tax Review shall prescribe procedures for the
2 purpose of hearing properly filed protests against alleged illegal
3 levies, as shown on the annual budgets filed with the State Auditor
4 and Inspector. The Court shall reconvene as often as deemed
5 necessary by the Court until final determination has been made as to
6 all protested levies. The judges shall be paid their traveling and
7 living expenses while acting as members of the Court, out of the
8 funds now provided by law for payment of district judges' expenses
9 when holding court outside the counties of their residence.
10 Decisions of the Court of Tax Review concerning alleged illegal
11 levies shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 3025, 3026,
12 3027, 3028 and 3029 of this title.
13 D. The Court of Tax Review as it existed prior to July 1, 1997,
14 shall cease to exist and all duties and responsibilities of such
15 court, except as provided in this section, shall be transferred to
16 the Court of Tax Review as re-created in this section.
17 E. All cases which have not been submitted for determination in
18 the Court of Tax Review as it existed prior to July 1, 1997, shall
19 be transferred to the Court of Tax Review as it exists after July 1,
20 1997, for disposition. All cases which have been submitted by the
21 parties for determination in the Court of Tax Review prior to July
22 1, 1997, shall remain with the panel to which they have been
23 assigned for final determination.
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1 SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 68 O.S. 2021, Section 2880.1, is
2 amended to read as follows:
3 Section 2880.1 A. Both the taxpayer and the county assessor
4 shall have the right of appeal from any order of the county board of
5 equalization to the district court of the same county Court of Tax
6 Review, and right of appeal of either may be either upon questions
7 of law or fact including value, or upon both questions of law and
8 fact. The county assessor is the proper party defendant in any
9 appeal to the district court Court of Tax Review brought by the
10 taxpayer. The taxpayer is the proper party defendant in any appeal
11 to the district court Court of Tax Review brought by the county
12 assessor. In either case, the county board of equalization shall
13 not be considered a party in any litigation from an appeal brought
14 pursuant to this section. In case of appeal the trial in the
15 district court Court of Tax Review shall be de novo. Provided, the
16 county assessor shall not be permitted to appeal an order of the
17 county board of equalization upon a question of the
18 constitutionality of a law upon which the board based its order, but
19 the county assessor is hereby authorized in such instance to request
20 a declaratory judgment to be rendered by the district court Court of
21 Tax Review.
22 B. Notice of appeal shall be filed with the county clerk as
23 secretary of the county board of equalization, which appeal shall be
24 filed in the district court Court of Tax Review within thirty (30)
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1 calendar days of the date the board of equalization order was
2 mailed, or in the event that the order was delivered, from the date
3 of delivery. It shall be the duty of the county clerk to preserve
4 all complaints and to make a record of all orders of the board and
5 both the complaint and orders shall be a part of the record in any
6 case appealed to the district court Court of Tax Review from the
7 county board of equalization.
8 C. Either the taxpayer or the county assessor may appeal from
9 the district court Court of Tax Review to the Supreme Court, as
10 provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure, but no matter shall be
11 reviewed on such appeal which was not presented to the district
12 court Court of Tax Review.
13 D. In such appeals to the district court Court of Tax Review
14 and to the Supreme Court and in requests for declaratory judgment it
15 shall be the duty of the district attorney to appear for and
16 represent the county assessor. The General Counsel or an attorney
17 for the Tax Commission may appear in such appeals or requests for
18 declaratory judgment on behalf of the county assessor, either upon
19 request of the district attorney for assistance, or upon request of
20 the county assessor. It shall be the mandatory duty of the board of
21 county commissioners and the county excise board to provide the
22 necessary funds to enable the county assessor to pay the costs
23 necessary to be incurred in perfecting appeals and requests for
24 declaratory judgment made by the county assessor to the courts.
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1 E. In all appeals taken by the county assessor the presumption
2 shall exist in favor of the correctness of the county assessor's
3 valuation and the procedure followed by the county assessor.
4 SECTION 3. AMENDATORY 68 O.S. 2021, Section 2835, is
5 amended to read as follows:
6 Section 2835. A. On or before January 1 of each year, the
7 Oklahoma Tax Commission shall prescribe for the use of all county
8 assessors, suitable blank forms for the listing and assessment of
9 all property, both real and personal. Such forms shall contain such
10 information and instructions as may be necessary in order to obtain
11 a full and complete list of all taxable property and such forms
12 shall be used uniformly throughout the state. Any change in these
13 forms must have the approval of the Tax Commission.
14 B. It shall be the duty of the county assessor to furnish such
15 forms to any taxpayer upon request, and all personal property shall
16 be listed on such forms in the manner provided therein. Such lists
17 shall be signed and sworn to and filed with the county assessor not
18 later than March 15 of each year; and such lists may show the
19 description of real property, which may be by subdivision of quarter
20 sections, or less if any such subdivision is owned in less quantity,
21 describing such less quantity by United States Land Survey
22 nomenclature if that can be done, otherwise by metes and bounds,
23 according to ownership.
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1 C. Real estate need not be listed by the taxpayer, but may be
2 listed if the taxpayer so desires, in which case the list shall show
3 the taxpayer's estimate of the value of each tract of land and shall
4 separately show the value of the buildings and improvements thereon.
5 D. All such sworn lists of property shall contain such other
6 information concerning both real and personal property as may be
7 required by such forms so prescribed.
8 E. All such sworn lists of property, any other documents
9 produced by a taxpayer to the assessor or the board of equalization
10 during the informal and formal hearing process, or during discovery
11 in any ad valorem tax appeal in the Court of Tax Review or the
12 district court, shall be protected as confidential and shall not be
13 available for inspection under the Open Records Act.
14 SECTION 4. AMENDATORY 68 O.S. 2021, Section 2871, is
15 amended to read as follows:
16 Section 2871. A. After delivery of the tax rolls to the county
17 treasurer of any county, no correction or alteration as to any item
18 contained therein as of such date of delivery shall ever be made,
19 except by the county treasurer and on authority of a proper
20 certificate authorized by law or pursuant to order or decree of
21 court in determination of a tax appeal or other proper case.
22 B. A board of tax roll corrections is hereby created and shall
23 consist of the chair of the board of county commissioners as chair
24 or, in the chair's absence, the vice-chair of the board of county
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1 commissioners or their statutory designee, the chair of the county
2 equalization board or, in the chair's absence, the vice-chair of the
3 county equalization board as vice-chair, the county clerk as
4 nonvoting member and secretary, and the county assessor, a majority
5 of whom shall constitute a quorum. The board is hereby authorized
6 to hear and determine allegations of error, mistake or difference as
7 to any item or items so contained in the tax rolls, in any instances
8 hereinafter enumerated, on application of any person or persons
9 whose interest may in any manner be affected thereby, or by his or
10 her agent or attorney, verified by affidavit and showing that the
11 complainant was not at fault through failure to fulfill any duty
12 enjoined upon him or her by law, or upon discovery by the county
13 treasurer or assessor before the tax has been paid or attempted to
14 be paid and disclosure by statement of fact in writing signed by the
15 treasurer or assessor and verified by the assessor or treasurer as
16 the case may be. Such right shall not be available to anyone
17 attempting to acquire, or who has acquired, the lien of the county
18 for such tax, whether by purchase, assignment, deed or otherwise.
19 In counties with two county boards of equalization, the chair of
20 each such board shall serve, in alternating years, as the vice-chair
21 of the board of tax roll corrections. When a complaint is pending
22 before the board of tax roll corrections, such taxes as may be owed
23 by the protesting taxpayer shall not become due until thirty (30)
24 days after the decision of the board of tax roll corrections. When
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1 a complaint is filed on a tax account which has been delinquent for
2 more than one (1) year, and upon showing that the tax is delinquent,
3 the complaint shall be dismissed, with prejudice.
4 C. If, upon such hearing, it appears that:
5 1. Any personal or real property has been assessed to any
6 person, firm, or corporation not owning or claiming to own the same;
7 2. Property exempt from taxation has been assessed;
8 3. Exemption deductions allowed by law have not been taken into
9 account;
10 4. The same property, whether real or personal, has been
11 assessed more than once for the taxes of the same year;
12 5. Property, whether real or personal, has been assessed in the
13 county for the taxes of a year to which the same was not subject;
14 6. Improvements to real estate or other property assessed have
15 been destroyed by fire, or that the value of land has been impaired,
16 damaged or destroyed by wildfires, floods or overflow of streams,
17 and the county assessor has made and entered an adjustment to
18 assessments previously made and entered;
19 7. Lands or lots have in any manner been erroneously described;
20 8. Any valuation or valuations assessed and entered are at
21 variance with the valuation finally equalized;
22 9. Any valuation or valuations returned for assessment and not
23 increased by the county assessor have been entered on the assessment
24 rolls for equalization at variance with the value returned, or in
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1 the event of increase by either the county assessor or the county
2 board of equalization and no notice thereof was sent; provided,
3 offer of proof of failure to receive notice may not be heard;
4 10. Any valuation assessed and entered included, in whole or in
5 part, as of the date of assessment under the law relating thereto,
6 any property that had no taxable situs in the county, did not exist
7 or had been erroneously placed;
8 11. Any property subject to taxation as of January 1 of any
9 year was thereafter acquired by conveyance of title, including tax
10 title, by the county, or any city, town or school district therein;
11 12. An error resulted from inclusion in the total of levies
12 computed against the valuation entered, a tax levy or levies
13 certified and final for none or part of which such property was
14 liable in fact and the same be self-evident on recomputation, and
15 involve no question of law;
16 13. As to personal tax, if there has been an error in the name
17 of the person assessed, or, as to real property, the record owner at
18 the time of assessment desires that his or her name be entered in
19 lieu of whatever other name may have been entered as "owner" upon
20 the roll;
21 14. There has been any error in the tax extended against the
22 valuation entered, whether by erroneous computation or otherwise;
23
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1 15. There has been any error in transcribing from the county
2 assessor's permanent survey record to the assessment rolls either as
3 to area or value of lands or lots or as to improvements thereon;
4 16. The county treasurer has, of his or her own volition,
5 restored to the tax rolls any tax or assessment where the entry upon
6 the tax rolls shows the same theretofore to have been stricken or
7 reduced by certificate issued by constituted authority, except where
8 restored by specific court order or in conformity to general decree
9 of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma invalidating in mass all such
10 certificates of a class certain, and except if the owner of such
11 property demand its restoration and make payment, in which instance
12 the county treasurer shall require that the owner sign on the face
13 of the owner's receipt a statement that the owner "paid voluntarily
14 without demand, request or duress"; or
15 17. Any personal property assessment and personal tax charge
16 has been entered upon the assessment and tax rolls except upon
17 proper return of assessment by the taxpayer or increase thereof with
18 due notice, or as a delinquent assessment made by the county
19 assessor or deputies in detail either on view or reliable
20 information; then, in the event any of the grounds stated in this
21 subsection are present, it shall be the duty of the board of tax
22 roll corrections to make and the secretary to enter its findings of
23 fact and to correct such error, if such exists, by issuing its
24 order, in words and figures, to accomplish such:
Req. No. 9958