1-1 By: Brown S.B. No. 1393
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
1-4 Relations; April 8, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 8, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to refunds of overpayments or erroneous payments of ad
1-9 valorem taxes.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 31.11, Tax Code, is
1-12 amended to read as follows:
1-13 (a) If a taxpayer applies to the tax collector of a taxing
1-14 unit for a refund of an overpayment or erroneous payment of taxes
1-15 and the auditor for the unit determines that the payment was
1-16 erroneous or excessive, the tax collector shall refund the amount
1-17 of the excessive or erroneous payment from available current tax
1-18 collections or from funds appropriated by the unit for making
1-19 refunds. However, [if the amount of the refund exceeds $500,] the
1-20 collector may not make the refund unless the governing body of the
1-21 taxing unit also determines that the payment was erroneous or
1-22 excessive and approves the refund if the amount of the refund
1-23 exceeds:
1-24 (1) $2,500 for a refund to be paid by a county with a
1-25 population of 2.8 million or more; or
1-26 (2) $500 for a refund to be paid by any other taxing
1-27 unit.
1-28 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 31.12, Tax Code, is
1-29 amended to read as follows:
1-30 (b) For purposes of this section, liability for a refund
1-31 arises:
1-32 (1) if the refund is required by Section 11.431(b), on
1-33 the date the chief appraiser notifies the collector for the unit of
1-34 the approval of the late homestead exemption;
1-35 (2) if the refund is required by Section 26.07(g), on
1-36 the date the results of the election to reduce the tax rate are
1-37 certified;
1-38 (3) if the refund is required by Section 26.15(f):
1-39 (A) for a correction to the tax roll made under
1-40 Section 26.15(b), on the date the change in the tax roll is
1-41 certified to the assessor for the taxing unit under Section 25.25;
1-42 or
1-43 (B) for a correction to the tax roll made under
1-44 Section 26.15(c), on the date the change in the tax roll is ordered
1-45 by the governing body of the taxing unit; or
1-46 (4) if the refund is required by Section 31.11, on the
1-47 date the auditor for the taxing unit determines that the payment
1-48 was erroneous or excessive or, if the amount of the refund exceeds
1-49 the applicable amount specified by Section 31.11(a) [$500], on the
1-50 date the governing body of the unit approves the refund [determines
1-51 that the payment was erroneous or excessive].
1-52 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-53 applies only to an application for a refund of an overpayment or
1-54 erroneous payment of ad valorem taxes filed with the tax collector
1-55 of a taxing unit on or after the effective date of this Act. An
1-56 application for a refund of an overpayment or erroneous payment of
1-57 ad valorem taxes filed with the tax collector of a taxing unit
1-58 before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it
1-59 existed on the date the refund application was filed, and that law
1-60 is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-61 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-62 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-63 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-64 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-2 * * * * *