137.115. Real and personal property, assessment--maintenance plan--assessor may mail forms for personal property--classes of property, assessment--physical inspection required, when, procedure.
Real and personal property, assessment--maintenance plan--assessor maymail forms for personal property--classes of property,assessment--physical inspection required, when, procedure.
137.115. 1. All other laws to the contrary notwithstanding, theassessor or the assessor's deputies in all counties of this state includingthe city of St. Louis shall annually make a list of all real and tangiblepersonal property taxable in the assessor's city, county, town or district.Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3 of this section and section137.078, the assessor shall annually assess all personal property atthirty-three and one-third percent of its true value in money as of Januaryfirst of each calendar year. The assessor shall annually assess all realproperty, including any new construction and improvements to real property,and possessory interests in real property at the percent of its true valuein money set in subsection 5 of this section. The true value in money ofany possessory interest in real property in subclass (3), where such realproperty is on or lies within the ultimate airport boundary as shown by afederal airport layout plan, as defined by 14 CFR 151.5, of a commercialairport having a FAR Part 139 certification and owned by a politicalsubdivision, shall be the otherwise applicable true value in money of anysuch possessory interest in real property, less the total dollar amount ofcosts paid by a party, other than the political subdivision, towards anynew construction or improvements on such real property completed afterJanuary 1, 2008, and which are included in the above-mentioned possessoryinterest, regardless of the year in which such costs were incurred orwhether such costs were considered in any prior year. The assessor shallannually assess all real property in the following manner: new assessedvalues shall be determined as of January first of each odd-numbered yearand shall be entered in the assessor's books; those same assessed valuesshall apply in the following even-numbered year, except for newconstruction and property improvements which shall be valued as though theyhad been completed as of January first of the preceding odd-numbered year.The assessor may call at the office, place of doing business, or residenceof each person required by this chapter to list property, and require theperson to make a correct statement of all taxable tangible personalproperty owned by the person or under his or her care, charge ormanagement, taxable in the county. On or before January first of eacheven-numbered year, the assessor shall prepare and submit a two-yearassessment maintenance plan to the county governing body and the state taxcommission for their respective approval or modification. The countygoverning body shall approve and forward such plan or its alternative tothe plan to the state tax commission by February first. If the countygoverning body fails to forward the plan or its alternative to the plan tothe state tax commission by February first, the assessor's plan shall beconsidered approved by the county governing body. If the state taxcommission fails to approve a plan and if the state tax commission and theassessor and the governing body of the county involved are unable toresolve the differences, in order to receive state cost-share fundsoutlined in section 137.750, the county or the assessor shall petition theadministrative hearing commission, by May first, to decide all matters indispute regarding the assessment maintenance plan. Upon agreement of theparties, the matter may be stayed while the parties proceed with mediationor arbitration upon terms agreed to by the parties. The final decision ofthe administrative hearing commission shall be subject to judicial reviewin the circuit court of the county involved. In the event a valuation ofsubclass (1) real property within any county with a charter form ofgovernment, or within a city not within a county, is made by a computer,computer-assisted method or a computer program, the burden of proof,supported by clear, convincing and cogent evidence to sustain suchvaluation, shall be on the assessor at any hearing or appeal. In any suchcounty, unless the assessor proves otherwise, there shall be a presumptionthat the assessment was made by a computer, computer-assisted method or acomputer program. Such evidence shall include, but shall not be limitedto, the following:
(1) The findings of the assessor based on an appraisal of theproperty by generally accepted appraisal techniques; and
(2) The purchase prices from sales of at least three comparableproperties and the address or location thereof. As used in thissubdivision, the word "comparable" means that:
(a) Such sale was closed at a date relevant to the propertyvaluation; and
(b) Such properties are not more than one mile from the site of thedisputed property, except where no similar properties exist within one mileof the disputed property, the nearest comparable property shall be used.Such property shall be within five hundred square feet in size of thedisputed property, and resemble the disputed property in age, floor plan,number of rooms, and other relevant characteristics.
2. Assessors in each county of this state and the city of St. Louismay send personal property assessment forms through the mail.
3. The following items of personal property shall each constituteseparate subclasses of tangible personal property and shall be assessed andvalued for the purposes of taxation at the following percentages of theirtrue value in money:
(1) Grain and other agricultural crops in an unmanufacturedcondition, one-half of one percent;
(2) Livestock, twelve percent;
(3) Farm machinery, twelve percent;
(4) Motor vehicles which are eligible for registration as and areregistered as historic motor vehicles pursuant to section 301.131, RSMo,and aircraft which are at least twenty-five years old and which are usedsolely for noncommercial purposes and are operated less than fifty hoursper year or aircraft that are home built from a kit, five percent;
(5) Poultry, twelve percent; and
(6) Tools and equipment used for pollution control and tools andequipment used in retooling for the purpose of introducing new productlines or used for making improvements to existing products by any companywhich is located in a state enterprise zone and which is identified by anystandard industrial classification number cited in subdivision (6) ofsection 135.200, RSMo, twenty-five percent.
4. The person listing the property shall enter a true and correctstatement of the property, in a printed blank prepared for that purpose.The statement, after being filled out, shall be signed and either affirmedor sworn to as provided in section 137.155. The list shall then bedelivered to the assessor.
5. All subclasses of real property, as such subclasses areestablished in section 4(b) of article X of the Missouri Constitution anddefined in section 137.016, shall be assessed at the following percentagesof true value:
(1) For real property in subclass (1), nineteen percent;
(2) For real property in subclass (2), twelve percent; and
(3) For real property in subclass (3), thirty-two percent.
6. Manufactured homes, as defined in section 700.010, RSMo, which areactually used as dwelling units shall be assessed at the same percentage oftrue value as residential real property for the purpose of taxation. Thepercentage of assessment of true value for such manufactured homes shall bethe same as for residential real property. If the county collector cannotidentify or find the manufactured home when attempting to attach themanufactured home for payment of taxes owed by the manufactured home owner,the county collector may request the county commission to have themanufactured home removed from the tax books, and such request shall begranted within thirty days after the request is made; however, the removalfrom the tax books does not remove the tax lien on the manufactured home ifit is later identified or found. A manufactured home located in amanufactured home rental park, rental community or on real estate not ownedby the manufactured home owner shall be considered personal property. Amanufactured home located on real estate owned by the manufactured homeowner may be considered real property.
7. Each manufactured home assessed shall be considered a parcel forthe purpose of reimbursement pursuant to section 137.750, unless themanufactured home has been converted to real property in compliance withsection 700.111, RSMo, and assessed as a realty improvement to the existingreal estate parcel.
8. Any amount of tax due and owing based on the assessment of amanufactured home shall be included on the personal property tax statementof the manufactured home owner unless the manufactured home has beenconverted to real property in compliance with section 700.111, RSMo, inwhich case the amount of tax due and owing on the assessment of themanufactured home as a realty improvement to the existing real estateparcel shall be included on the real property tax statement of the realestate owner.
9. The assessor of each county and each city not within a countyshall use the trade-in value published in the October issue of the NationalAutomobile Dealers' Association Official Used Car Guide, or its successorpublication, as the recommended guide of information for determining thetrue value of motor vehicles described in such publication. In the absenceof a listing for a particular motor vehicle in such publication, theassessor shall use such information or publications which in the assessor'sjudgment will fairly estimate the true value in money of the motor vehicle.
10. Before the assessor may increase the assessed valuation of anyparcel of subclass (1) real property by more than fifteen percent since thelast assessment, excluding increases due to new construction orimprovements, the assessor shall conduct a physical inspection of suchproperty.
11. If a physical inspection is required, pursuant to subsection 10of this section, the assessor shall notify the property owner of that factin writing and shall provide the owner clear written notice of the owner'srights relating to the physical inspection. If a physical inspection isrequired, the property owner may request that an interior inspection beperformed during the physical inspection. The owner shall have no lessthan thirty days to notify the assessor of a request for an interiorphysical inspection.
12. A physical inspection, as required by subsection 10 of thissection, shall include, but not be limited to, an on-site personalobservation and review of all exterior portions of the land and anybuildings and improvements to which the inspector has or may reasonably andlawfully gain external access, and shall include an observation and reviewof the interior of any buildings or improvements on the property upon thetimely request of the owner pursuant to subsection 11 of this section.Mere observation of the property via a drive-by inspection or the likeshall not be considered sufficient to constitute a physical inspection asrequired by this section.
13. The provisions of subsections 11 and 12 of this section shallonly apply in any county with a charter form of government with more thanone million inhabitants.
14. A county or city collector may accept credit cards as proper formof payment of outstanding property tax or license due. No county or citycollector may charge surcharge for payment by credit card which exceeds thefee or surcharge charged by the credit card bank, processor, or issuer forits service. A county or city collector may accept payment by electronictransfers of funds in payment of any tax or license and charge the personmaking such payment a fee equal to the fee charged the county by the bank,processor, or issuer of such electronic payment.
15. Any county or city not within a county in this state may, by anaffirmative vote of the governing body of such county, opt out of theprovisions of this section and sections 137.073, 138.060, and 138.100,RSMo, as enacted by house bill no. 1150 of the ninety-first generalassembly, second regular session and section 137.073 as modified by housecommittee substitute for senate substitute for senate committee substitutefor senate bill no. 960, ninety-second general assembly, second regularsession, for the next year of the general reassessment, prior to Januaryfirst of any year. No county or city not within a county shall exercisethis opt-out provision after implementing the provisions of this sectionand sections 137.073, 138.060, and 138.100, RSMo, as enacted by house billno. 1150 of the ninety-first general assembly, second regular session andsection 137.073 as modified by house committee substitute for senatesubstitute for senate committee substitute for senate bill no. 960,ninety-second general assembly, second regular session, in a year ofgeneral reassessment. For the purposes of applying the provisions of thissubsection, a political subdivision contained within two or more countieswhere at least one of such counties has opted out and at least one of suchcounties has not opted out shall calculate a single tax rate as in effectprior to the enactment of house bill no. 1150 of the ninety-first generalassembly, second regular session. A governing body of a city not within acounty or a county that has opted out under the provisions of thissubsection may choose to implement the provisions of this section andsections 137.073, 138.060, and 138.100, RSMo, as enacted by house bill no.1150 of the ninety-first general assembly, second regular session, andsection 137.073 as modified by house committee substitute for senatesubstitute for senate committee substitute for senate bill no. 960,ninety-second general assembly, second regular session, for the next yearof general reassessment, by an affirmative vote of the governing body priorto December thirty-first of any year.
16. The governing body of any city of the third classification withmore than twenty-six thousand three hundred but fewer than twenty-sixthousand seven hundred inhabitants located in any county that has exercisedits authority to opt out under subsection 15 of this section may levyseparate and differing tax rates for real and personal property only ifsuch city bills and collects its own property taxes or satisfies the entirecost of the billing and collection of such separate and differing taxrates. Such separate and differing rates shall not exceed such city's taxrate ceiling.
(RSMo 1939 § 10950, A.L. 1945 P. 1782 § 10, A.L. 1951 p. 852, A.L. 1959 H.B. 108, A.L. 1972 H.B. 1175, A.L. 1973 H.B. 592, A.L. 1981 S.B. 13, A.L. 1983 S.B. 63, et al., A.L. 1985 S.B. 234, A.L. 1985 S.B. 152, A.L. 1986 S.B. 476, A.L. 1987 H.B. 909 merged with H.B. 384 Revision, A.L. 1989 H.B. 181 & 633 merged with S.B. 148, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1817, A.L. 1991 H.B. 608 merged with S.B. 432, H.B. 25, A.L. 1992 S.B. 630, A.L. 1998 S.B. 535 merged with S.B. 827, A.L. 2002 H.B. 1150, et al. § 137.115 and § 1, A.L. 2003 H.B. 57, A.L. 2004 S.B. 960 merged with S.B. 1394, A.L. 2005 H.B. 58 merged with S.B. 210 merged with S.B. 267, A.L. 2007 S.B. 22, A.L. 2008 H.B. 2058 merged with S.B. 711 merged with S.B. 718)Prior revisions: 1929 § 9756; 1919 § 12766; 1909 § 11348
(2000) Term "possessory interests" includes leaseholds. St. Charles County v. Curators of the University of Missouri, 25 S.W.3d 159 (Mo.banc).
(2005) Characteristics of potential owner of property, such as possession of casino license, are irrelevant to determining value of property at highest and best use; therefore, applying standard for casino real property which differs from other commercial properties is valuation subclass in violation of section and Article X, Section 4(b), Constitution of Missouri. Snider v. Casino Aztar/Aztar Missouri Gaming Corp., 156 S.W.3d 341 (Mo.banc).