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House Bill 533 |
House Author: Villarreal |
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Effective: 6-17-11 |
Senate Sponsor: Hinojosa |
House Bill 533 amends the Tax Code to establish that a person is not required to render for taxation personal property that is exempt from additional appraisal or taxation on the basis of its inclusion in the appraisal of real property by a method that takes into account the value of furniture, fixtures, and equipment in or on the real property. The bill requires the chief appraiser to deliver to a person who fails to timely file a rendition statement or property report a notice, by first class mail, of the imposition of a penalty for that failure to file the statement or report and authorizes the inclusion in that notice of a notice of appraised value if practicable. The bill requires the chief appraiser to certify to the assessor for each taxing unit participating in the appraisal district that imposes taxes on the property that a penalty imposed under provisions relating to the filing of renditions and other reports has become final, rather than that the chief appraiser has imposed a penalty, and establishes the conditions under which a penalty becomes final.
The bill limits the chief appraiser's authority to waive a penalty to the waiver of a penalty imposed for a delinquent rendition statement or property report by excluding the authority to waive a penalty for filing a false statement with the intent to commit fraud or evade the tax or for tampering with a related document; changes the deadline for submitting a request for a waiver of the penalty; and requires the chief appraiser, if the chief appraiser denies the waiver request, to deliver by first class mail written notice of the denial to the property owner. The bill authorizes the property owner to protest the imposition of the penalty before the appraisal review board and sets out certain provisions relating to the initiation of such a protest.
The bill establishes that the procedures for a protest before the appraisal review board regarding a denial of a penalty waiver request are governed by the procedures governing a taxpayer protest of other actions by the chief appraiser, appraisal district, or appraisal review board that apply to or adversely affect the property owner and entitles the property owner to appeal an order of the appraisal review board determining a protest of such denial. The bill authorizes the chief appraiser and a protesting property owner to enter into a settlement agreement on the matter being protested, if both parties agree that there was a mistake.