BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 1913 |
By: Bohac |
Ways & Means |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Current law requires the governing body of a taxing unit to waive penalties and authorizes the governing body to provide for the waiver of interest on a delinquent tax if an act or omission of an officer, employee, or agent of the taxing unit or the appraisal district in which the taxing unit participates caused or resulted in the taxpayer's failure to pay the tax before delinquency and if the tax is paid within a specified period.
Interested parties note that, at times, a taxing unit or appraisal district fails to give notice to a current owner or lender of subsequent assessment, which creates a delinquency to the property owner. In addition, the parties contend that, when the property owner is not the original taxpayer, the property owner rarely receives notice within the specified period to seek a waiver of penalties and interest and that a new owner often may not receive any notice at all. C.S.H.B. 1913 seeks to advance tax equity for new property owners and ensure that taxing authorities receive amounts owed.
|
||||||||
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
|
||||||||
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1913 amends the Tax Code to authorize the governing body of a taxing unit to waive penalties and interest on a delinquent property tax that relates to a date preceding the date on which the property owner acquired the property if the property owner or another person liable for the tax pays the tax not later than the 181st day after the date the property owner receives appropriate notice of the delinquent tax and the delinquency is the result of taxes imposed on omitted property entered in the appraisal records, on erroneously exempted property or appraised value added to the appraisal roll, or on property added to the appraisal roll under a different account number or parcel when the property was owned by a prior owner. The bill requires a request for such a waiver to be made before the 181st day after the date the property owner making the request receives notice of the delinquent tax and sets out provisions relating to a statement to be included in the notice.
|
||||||||
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2013.
|
||||||||
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 1913 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||
|