63-602KK. PROPERTY EXEMPT FROM TAXATION — CERTAIN PERSONAL PROPERTY.

(1) (a) An item of taxable personal property purchased on or after January 1, 2013, shall be exempt from property taxation if the item of taxable personal property has an acquisition price of three thousand dollars ($3,000) or less.

(b) For purposes of this section, the term "acquisition cost" means all costs required to put an item of taxable personal property into service and includes:

(i) The purchase price of a new or used item;

(ii) The cost of freight and shipping;

(iii) The cost of installation, engineering, erection or assembly; and

(iv) Sales and use taxes.

(c) For purposes of this subsection, an "item of taxable personal property" means equipment, machinery, furniture or other personal property that is functioning at its highest and best use for the purpose it was designed and constructed and is generally capable of performing that function without being combined with other items of personal property. An item of taxable personal property is not an individual component part of a piece of equipment, machinery, furniture or other personal property as a whole. An item of taxable personal property does not include an improvement to real property, a part that will become an improvement, or anything defined as a fixture.

(2) On and after January 1, 2015, except as provided in subsection (8) of this section, each person’s personal property, located in the county, which is not otherwise exempt, shall be exempt to the extent of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). For the purposes of this section, a person includes two (2) or more people using the property in a common enterprise who are within a relationship described in section 267 of the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in section 63-3004, Idaho Code.

(3) (a) No later than the third Monday of November 2013, the county clerk of each county shall certify to the state tax commission the amount of exemption from property taxes under subsection (2) of this section, in that county for that year. The certification shall identify the property receiving tax reductions, the value of the property, the property’s location, the amount of the tax levy applicable to personal property in the location, and the tax before and after the exemption allowed in subsection (2) of this section. The certification shall be in the form prescribed by the state tax commission and shall include such additional information as the commission may require by rule as needed to implement the purpose of this section. The certification shall be reviewed and, if necessary, corrected by the state tax commission.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (7) of this section, the year beginning January 1, 2014, and every year thereafter, the amount of annual replacement of property tax on personal property exempted pursuant to subsection (2) of this section shall be the amount approved by the state tax commission pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(4) (a) Subject to the limitations of this section, the state tax commission shall reimburse from the amount appropriated for personal property tax replacement in section 63-3638, Idaho Code, the county treasurer of each county for the reduction on the certification provided in subsection (3) of this section. The county treasurer shall reimburse from the amount received to each taxing district within the county an amount in proportion to the amount of reduction shown on the certification in subsection (3) of this section as corrected. The amount that would otherwise be attributable to tax revenues derived from tax levies on personal property exempted by this section within an existing revenue allocation area as defined in section 50-2903(15), Idaho Code, shall be paid directly by the county treasurer to such public body or agency entitled thereto, equal to the amounts that would have been distributed in accordance with the formula for such distribution set forth in section 50-2908, Idaho Code. Taxing districts created on or after January 1, 2013, shall not be eligible for the reimbursement provided for in this paragraph.

(b) The state tax commission shall pay one-half (1/2) of the reimbursement provided in this section no later than December 20 of each year, and the second one-half (1/2) shall be paid by no later than June 20 of the following year. The money received by the county tax collector under the provisions of this section may be considered by counties and other taxing districts and budgeted against at the same time, and in the same manner, and in the same year as revenues from taxation. The total amount paid to the county treasurers shall not exceed the amount certified to the state tax commission under subsection (3) of this section.

(c) For purposes of the limitation provided by section 63-802, Idaho Code, moneys received from distributions pursuant to section 63-3638, Idaho Code, as property tax replacement for the taxable value of property exempt from taxation pursuant to this section shall be treated as property tax revenues.

(5) (a) Nothing contained in this section shall affect the taxation of forest lands or forest products pursuant to chapter 17, title 63, Idaho Code, or the taxation of the net profits of mines pursuant to chapter 28, title 63, Idaho Code.

(b) The exemption from personal property tax provided for in subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to motor vehicles, recreational vehicles, aircraft and boats that are not registered with the state of Idaho and for which required registration fees have not been paid.

(6) (a) The application for the exemption provided for in subsection (2) of this section shall be in the form prescribed by the state tax commission and shall include such information as the state tax commission may require by rule as needed to implement the purpose of this section including, but not limited to, a list of each item of personal property, the purchase date of each item of personal property, the unit cost of each item of personal property, if more than the exemption allowed in subsection (1) of this section, and the total cost of the items of personal property.

(b) The application for this exemption, if the county is capable of so providing, may be transmitted by the county assessor electronically, as that term is defined in section 63-115, Idaho Code, when requested by the taxpayer, or mailed by the county assessor to the taxpayer, or his agent or representative at the taxpayer’s last known post office address, no later than March 1 of each year. The transmission or mailing of the application shall also include the taxpayer’s application for the exemption allowed by this section for the last year in which the taxpayer filed an application.

(c) A taxpayer need only make application for the exemption in this section once as long as all of the following conditions are met:

(i) The taxpayer has received the exemption during the previous year as a result of him making a valid application as defined in this section.

(ii) The amount of the exemption allowed by this section is more than the taxable value of personal property owned by the taxpayer.

(iii) The taxpayer has not made purchases of personal property, excluding items of taxable personal property exempted pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, that would cause the taxable value of the personal property owned by the taxpayer to exceed the maximum amount allowed as an exemption by this section.

(d) Knowingly failing to report changes in the taxable value of personal property that exceed the amount of the exemption allowed pursuant to this section shall subject the taxpayer to a fine not in excess of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in addition to other penalties set forth in this chapter.

(7) Recovery of property tax exemptions allowed by this section but improperly claimed:

(a) Upon discovery of evidence, facts or circumstances indicating any exemption allowed by this section was improperly claimed, the county assessor shall decide whether the exemption claimed should have been allowed, and if not, notify the board of county commissioners, at which time the board may waive a recovery of the property tax and notify such taxpayer in writing.

(b) The assessment and collection of the recovery of property tax must begin within the seven (7) year period beginning on the date the assessment notice reflecting the improperly claimed exemption was required to be mailed to the taxpayer.

(c) The taxpayer may appeal to the board of tax appeals the decision by the board of county commissioners to assess the recovery of property tax within thirty (30) days of the date the county assessor sent the notice to the taxpayer pursuant to this section.

(d) For purposes of calculating the tax, the amount of the recovered property tax shall be for each year the exemption allowed by this section was improperly claimed or approved, up to a maximum of seven (7) years. The amount of the recovery of property tax shall be calculated using the product of the amount of exempted value for each year multiplied by the levy for that year plus costs, late charges and interest for each year at the rates equal to those provided for delinquent property taxes during that year. In cases of fraud, the fine set forth in subsection (6)(d) of this section shall be assessed for each tax year.

(e) Any recovery of property tax shall be due and payable no later than the date provided for property taxes in section 63-903, Idaho Code, and if not timely paid, late charges and interest, beginning the first day of January in the year following the year the county assessor sent the notice to the taxpayer pursuant to this section, shall be calculated at the current rate provided for property taxes.

(f) Recovered property taxes shall be billed, collected and distributed in the same manner as property taxes. If the recovery is for property tax for which the state provided replacement money, the amounts recovered shall be reported and remitted to the state tax commission, which shall reimburse the general fund. The state tax commission will then notify each affected taxing district or unit of its proportionate share of the recovered property tax, which amount shall be deducted from future payments to be made pursuant to subsection (3) of this section.

(g) Thirty (30) days after the taxpayer is notified, as provided in paragraph (a) of this subsection, the assessor shall record a notice of intent to attach a lien. Upon the payment in full of such recovered property taxes prior to the attachment of the lien as provided in paragraph (h) of this subsection, or upon the successful appeal by the taxpayer, the county assessor shall record a rescission of the intent to attach a lien within seven (7) business days of receiving such payment or within seven (7) business days of the county commissioners’ decision granting the appeal.

(h) Any unpaid recovered property taxes shall become a lien upon the taxpayer’s personal property in the same manner as provided for property taxes in section 63-206, Idaho Code, except such lien shall attach as of the first day of January in the year following the year the county treasurer sent the notice to the taxpayer pursuant to this section.

(i) For purposes of the limitation provided by section 63-802, Idaho Code, moneys received pursuant to this subsection as recovery of property tax shall be treated as property tax revenue.

(8) For operating property with values apportioned to more than one (1) county, the personal property exemption shall be subtracted from the Idaho allocated value prior to apportionment and, for private railcar companies, prior to determining whether their values are to be apportioned. Notwithstanding amounts calculated as provided in subsection (1) of this section, the amount of the exemption otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section shall be calculated as follows:

(a) Take the lesser amount of:

(i) The number of counties in which a company has operating property multiplied by one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000); or

(ii) The total statewide value of eligible personal property reported by the company.

(b) Reduce the amount calculated in paragraph (a) of this subsection by the value of any nonoperating personal property granted the exemption otherwise found in subsection (2) of this section, as reported by county assessors.

History:

[63-602KK, added 2008, ch. 400, sec. 2, p. 1093; am. 2009, ch. 42, sec. 1, p. 119; am. 2013, ch. 243, sec. 1, p. 581; am. 2014, ch. 357, sec. 4, p. 890; am. 2015, ch. 96, sec. 1, p. 233.]