Frequently Asked Questions
Discoveries
Q: On December 5, 2004, the county tax assessor
discovered business personal property owned by John
Speedy d/b/a Your Speedy Printer, which Speedy failed
to list in 2004. The assessor amended the abstract
for Speedy that day to reflect the discovered property
and mailed to Speedy a notice of the discovery, which
stated, pursuant to G.S. 105-312(d), that the listing
and appraisal would become final unless Speedy filed
a written exception with the assessor within 30 days.
Speedy did not respond to the notice of discovery.
The discovery became final on January 3, 2005 and
the tax assessor prepared on that date a receipt for
the amount of the discovery, including a 10 percent
penalty. On January 4, 2005, the county tax collector
mailed Speedy a bill for the taxes due as a result
of the discovery. On what date did interest begin
to accrue on the amount due as a result of the discovery?
In what tax levy should this discovery have been included?
A: The taxes due upon discovered property, together
with any penalties, are "deemed to be a tax
for the fiscal year beginning on July 1 of the calendar
year in which the property was discovered."
G.S. 105-312(i). A discovery is considered made
on the date that the abstract is made or corrected.
G.S. 105-312(d). The tax resulting from the December
5, 2004 discovery of Speedy's property thus was
a tax for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. As such, the
amount due as a result of the discovery was payable
at par (without interest) through January 5, 2005.
On January 6, 2005, 2 percent interest accrued against
the taxes due for the 2004 discovery.
G.S. 105-312(j) requires that tax receipts prepared
for discovered property be delivered to the tax
collector, who is charged with collecting those
amounts. Tax receipts for discovered property "have
the same force and effect as if they had been delivered
to the collector at the time of the delivery of
the regular tax receipts for the current year."
Id. "Current year" refers to the year
of the discovery, which, in Speedy's case was 2004.
These amounts were thus included in the 2004-2005
tax levy.
The above example demonstrates the problems inherent
with December discoveries. By the time the discovery
is finalized and the taxpayer receives a bill, the
taxpayer has either no time at all or no reasonable
amount of time in which to pay the bill before interest
accrues. If at all possible, discoveries should
be made before the month of December.
|
