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S.B. No. 1659
AN ACT
relating to certain ad valorem tax exemptions, payments, and
refunds.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (f), Section 1.111, Tax Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(f) A property owner in writing filed with the appraisal
district may direct the appraisal district, appraisal review board,
and each taxing unit participating in the appraisal district to
deliver all notices, tax bills, tax refunds, orders, and other
communications relating to one or more specified items of the
owner's property to a specified person instead of to the property
owner. The instrument must clearly identify the person by name and
give the person's address to which all notices, tax bills, tax
refunds, orders, and other communications are to be delivered. The
property owner may but is not required to designate the person's
agent for other tax matters designated under Subsection (a) as the
person to receive all notices, tax bills, tax refunds, orders, and
other communications. The designation of an agent for other tax
matters under Subsection (a) may also provide that the agent is the
person to whom notices, tax bills, tax refunds, orders, and other
communications are to be delivered under this subsection.
SECTION 2. Section 11.13, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (s) to read as follows:
(s) A person who receives an exemption authorized by
Subsection (c) or (d) for an individual 65 years of age or older for
a tax year and who subsequently establishes a different residence
homestead during the same tax year may not qualify for an exemption
authorized by Subsection (c) or (d) for an individual 65 years of
age or older on the subsequent residence homestead before January 1
of the following tax year.
SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 11.431, Tax Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The chief appraiser shall accept and approve or deny an
application for a residence homestead exemption after the deadline
for filing it has passed if it is filed not later than one year after
the deliquency date for the taxes on the homestead [were paid or
became delinquent, whichever is earlier].
SECTION 4. Subsection (a), Section 26.112, Tax Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) If [Except as provided by Section 26.10(b), if] at any
time during a tax year property is owned by an individual who
qualifies for an exemption under Section 11.13(c) or (d) for an
individual 65 years of age or older, the amount of the tax due on the
property for the tax year is calculated as if the person qualified
for the exemption on January 1 and continued to qualify for the
exemption for the remainder of the tax year.
SECTION 5. Subsection (f), Section 26.15, Tax Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(f) If a correction decreases the tax liability of a
property owner after the owner or the owner's agent has been billed
for [paid] the tax, the taxing unit shall refund to the property
owner the difference between the tax paid and the tax legally due,
except as provided by Section 25.25(n). A refund under this
subsection shall be made to the person who was the owner of the
property on January 1 of the tax year in which the taxes were
assessed unless otherwise specified by that person. The taxing
unit shall make a refund under this subsection without requiring
additional action by or documentation from the property owner, the
property owner's agent, or the party who paid the taxes.
SECTION 6. Section 31.075, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) A taxing unit may not require a property owner or the
property owner's agent to provide a receipt issued under this
subsection as evidence that a tax has been paid.
SECTION 7. Section 31.11, Tax Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (h) to read as follows:
(h) Overpayments caused by a change of exemption status or
correction of the tax roll are covered under Section 26.15.
SECTION 8. Subsection (b), Section 26.10, Tax Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 9. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of
this section, this Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) The amendments to Sections 11.13 and 26.112, Tax Code,
made by this Act and the repeal of Subsection (b), Section 26.10,
Tax Code, by this Act take effect January 1, 2004, and apply only to
ad valorem taxes imposed for a tax year that begins on or after that
date.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1659 passed the Senate on
May 13, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that the
Senate concurred in House amendments on May 31, 2003, by the
following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1659 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 28, 2003, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor