(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the tax collector of any county that is designated by the Governor to be in a state of emergency or disaster due to a major misfortune or calamity and is therefore an eligible county for tax relief, as defined in Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 194) of Part 2, may defer for a period of one year payments under an installment plan if all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The installment plan was already in existence at the time deferral is requested by the assessee or the agent of the assessee.

(2) The assessee or the agent of the assessee can establish to the satisfaction of the tax collector that the assessee incurred substantial disaster damage as defined in Section 194 in connection with his or her property as a result of the disaster.

(3) The assessee or the agent of the assessee files an application for deferral with the tax collector on or before September 1 of the following fiscal year.

(4) The assessee is not receiving any other relief relating to the disaster.

(b) This section does not preclude the assessment of interest in connection with the deferral of any installment payment. Any interest so assessed shall be due and payable together with the deferred installment payment.

(c) For purposes of this section, “substantial business losses” means net business losses incurred by the assessee after accounting for the assessee’s receipt of any federal disaster aid, state disaster aid, related insurance loss claim payments, or property tax relief under Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 194) of Part 2.

(Amended by Stats. 1999, Ch. 941, Sec. 29. Effective January 1, 2000.)