1-1 By: Hilbert (Senate Sponsor - Brown) H.B. No. 2220
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 1999;
1-3 May 3, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; May 13, 1999, reported favorably by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 13, 1999, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to refunds of overpayments or erroneous payments of ad
1-10 valorem taxes.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 31.11(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-13 follows:
1-14 (a) If a taxpayer applies to the tax collector of a taxing
1-15 unit for a refund of an overpayment or erroneous payment of taxes
1-16 and the auditor for the unit determines that the payment was
1-17 erroneous or excessive, the tax collector shall refund the amount
1-18 of the excessive or erroneous payment from available current tax
1-19 collections or from funds appropriated by the unit for making
1-20 refunds. However, [if the amount of the refund exceeds $500,] the
1-21 collector may not make the refund unless the governing body of the
1-22 taxing unit or the governing body of a taxing unit that collects
1-23 another unit's taxes also determines that the payment was erroneous
1-24 or excessive and approves the refund if the amount of the refund
1-25 exceeds:
1-26 (1) $2,500 for a refund to be paid by a county with a
1-27 population of 2.8 million or more; or
1-28 (2) $500 for a refund to be paid by any other taxing
1-29 unit.
1-30 SECTION 2. Section 31.12(b), Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-31 follows:
1-32 (b) For purposes of this section, liability for a refund
1-33 arises:
1-34 (1) if the refund is required by Section 11.431(b), on
1-35 the date the chief appraiser notifies the collector for the unit of
1-36 the approval of the late homestead exemption;
1-37 (2) if the refund is required by Section 26.07(g), on
1-38 the date the results of the election to reduce the tax rate are
1-39 certified;
1-40 (3) if the refund is required by Section 26.15(f):
1-41 (A) for a correction to the tax roll made under
1-42 Section 26.15(b), on the date the change in the tax roll is
1-43 certified to the assessor for the taxing unit under Section 25.25;
1-44 or
1-45 (B) for a correction to the tax roll made under
1-46 Section 26.15(c), on the date the change in the tax roll is ordered
1-47 by the governing body of the taxing unit; or
1-48 (4) if the refund is required by Section 31.11, on the
1-49 date the auditor for the taxing unit determines that the payment
1-50 was erroneous or excessive or, if the amount of the refund exceeds
1-51 the applicable amount specified by Section 31.11(a) [$500], on the
1-52 date the governing body of the unit approves the refund [determines
1-53 that the payment was erroneous or excessive].
1-54 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-55 applies only to an application for a refund of an overpayment or
1-56 erroneous payment of ad valorem taxes filed with the tax collector
1-57 of a taxing unit on or after the effective date of this Act. An
1-58 application for a refund of an overpayment or erroneous payment of
1-59 ad valorem taxes filed with the tax collector of a taxing unit
1-60 before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it
1-61 existed on the date the refund application was filed, and that law
1-62 is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-63 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-64 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-4 * * * * *