Agenda - 04-07-2015 - 4e - Laserfiche WebLink

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Correcting Records Should egregious record inaccuracies be discovered during the process leading up to the county's 2017 revaluation, those changes would take effect in the corresponding year. All records for the revaluation will be keyed into the system with an effective date of January 1, 2017. Any resulting change in tax assessment would take place with the revaluation date and the tax bill to be mailed in July /August 2017. The North Carolina General Statutes (NCGS), specifically 105 -381, allow a refund of taxes for only three instances: 1. A tax imposed through clerical errors; 2. An illegal tax; 3. A tax levied for an illegal purpose. Much debate centers on taxpayers that may have been taxed for an area or square footage that did not exist. For example, a taxpayer may have been taxed for a finished bonus room that actually was unfinished or for a finished basement that actually was unfinished. Chris McLaughlin at the UNC School of Government opines that such situations are not legally refundable. In his opinion, these are deemed appraisal judgments and fit neither of the three refund options. Should a taxpayer be taxed on a house or structure, however, that did not exist, that would be refundable under an illegal tax. The line appears to be that a refund may be issued when a taxpayer is taxed on a structure that does not exist, but when the quality, individual features or property characteristics are inaccurate, Mr. McLaughlin holds that the taxpayer has the opportunity to appeal these each year during the appeals process. The NC Department of Revenue takes a position that the statute is unclear regarding these instances. One reason it may be impractical to refund for such occurrences is that an appraisal is one's opinion of value. Different appraisers can form different opinions of value, albeit supported by market data, and different appraisers may even measure square footage to be slightly different. Because of this, the NC Real Estate Commission considers any differences less than 5% immaterial. Similarly, the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) recommends the following standards of accuracy for data collection: • Continuous or area measurement data, such as living area and exterior wall height, should be accurate within one foot (rounded to the nearest foot) of the true dimensions or within 5% of the area. If areas, dimensions, or volumes must be estimated, the property records should note where quantities are estimated. • For each objective, categorical or binary data field to be collected or verified, at least 95% of the coded entries should be accurate.