H.B. 201

1

PROPERTY TAX - JUDGMENT LEVY
2 2002 GENERAL SESSION
3 STATE OF UTAH
4 Sponsor: Wayne A. Harper
5 This act amends the Property Tax Act to increase the amount of a taxing entity's share of a
6 judgment or order that is required to impose a judgment levy. The act provides that refunds
7 for which a judgment levy is imposed that are less than $5,000 are required to be paid by a
8 taxing entity to a taxpayer within 60 days after the date the refunds are ordered to be paid,
9 and makes technical changes. The act takes effect on January 1, 2003.
10 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
11 AMENDS:
12 59-2-102, as last amended by Chapter 61, Laws of Utah 2000
13 59-2-1328, as last amended by Chapter 61, Laws of Utah 2000
14 59-2-1330, as last amended by Chapter 61, Laws of Utah 2000
15 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
16 Section 1. Section 59-2-102 is amended to read:
17 59-2-102. Definitions.
18 As used in this chapter and title:
19 (1) "Aerial applicator" means aircraft or rotorcraft used exclusively for the purpose of
20 engaging in dispensing activities directly affecting agriculture or horticulture with an airworthiness
21 certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration certifying the aircraft or rotorcraft's use for
22 agricultural and pest control purposes.
23 (2) "Air charter service" means an air carrier operation which requires the customer to hire
24 an entire aircraft rather than book passage in whatever capacity is available on a scheduled trip.
25 (3) "Air contract service" means an air carrier operation available only to customers who
26 engage the services of the carrier through a contractual agreement and excess capacity on any trip
27 and is not available to the public at large.

28 (4) "Aircraft" is as defined in Section 72-10-102 .
29 (5) "Airline" means any air carrier operating interstate routes on a scheduled basis which
30 offers to fly passengers or cargo on the basis of available capacity on regularly scheduled routes.
31 (6) "Assessment roll" means a permanent record of the assessment of property as assessed
32 by the county assessor and the commission and may be maintained manually or as a computerized
33 file as a consolidated record or as multiple records by type, classification, or categories.
34 (7) "Certified revenue levy" means a property tax levy that provides the same amount of
35 ad valorem property tax revenue as was collected for the prior year, plus new growth, but exclusive
36 of revenue from collections from redemptions, interest, and penalties.
37 (8) "County-assessed commercial vehicle" means:
38 (a) any commercial vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer which is not apportioned under Section
39 41-1a-301 and is not operated interstate to transport the vehicle owner's goods or property in
40 furtherance of the owner's commercial enterprise;
41 (b) any passenger vehicle owned by a business and used by its employees for
42 transportation as a company car or vanpool vehicle; and
43 (c) vehicles which are:
44 (i) especially constructed for towing or wrecking, and which are not otherwise used to
45 transport goods, merchandise, or people for compensation;
46 (ii) used or licensed as taxicabs or limousines;
47 (iii) used as rental passenger cars, travel trailers, or motor homes;
48 (iv) used or licensed in this state for use as ambulances or hearses;
49 (v) especially designed and used for garbage and rubbish collection; or
50 (vi) used exclusively to transport students or their instructors to or from any private,
51 public, or religious school or school activities.
52 (9) (a) Except as provided in Subsection (9)(b), for purposes of Section 59-2-801 ,
53 "designated tax area" means a tax area created by the overlapping boundaries of only the following
54 taxing entities:
55 (i) a county; and
56 (ii) a school district.
57 (b) Notwithstanding Subsection (9)(a), "designated tax area" includes a tax area created
58 by the overlapping boundaries of:

59 (i) the taxing entities described in Subsection (9)(a); and
60 (ii) (A) a city or town if the boundaries of the school district under Subsection (9)(a) and
61 the boundaries of the city or town are identical; or
62 (B) a special service district if the boundaries of the school district under Subsection (9)(a)
63 are located entirely within the special service district.
64 (10) "Eligible judgment" means a judgment or final order under Section 59-2-1328 or
65 Section 59-2-1330 :
66 (a) that became a final and unappealable judgment or order no more than 14 months prior
67 to the day on which the notice required by Subsection 59-2-919 (4) is required to be mailed; and
68 (b) for which a taxing entity's share of the judgment or order is greater than or equal to the
69 lesser of:
70 (i) [$1,000] $5,000; or
71 (ii) [1%] 2.5% of the total ad valorem property taxes collected by the taxing entity in the
72 previous fiscal year.
73 (11) (a) "Escaped property" means any property, whether personal, land, or any
74 improvements to the property, subject to taxation and is:
75 (i) inadvertently omitted from the tax rolls, assigned to the incorrect parcel, or assessed
76 to the wrong taxpayer by the assessing authority;
77 (ii) undervalued or omitted from the tax rolls because of the failure of the taxpayer to
78 comply with the reporting requirements of this chapter; or
79 (iii) undervalued because of errors made by the assessing authority based upon incomplete
80 or erroneous information furnished by the taxpayer.
81 (b) Property which is undervalued because of the use of a different valuation methodology
82 or because of a different application of the same valuation methodology is not "escaped property."
83 (12) "Fair market value" means the amount at which property would change hands
84 between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or sell and
85 both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts. For purposes of taxation, "fair market
86 value" shall be determined using the current zoning laws applicable to the property in question,
87 except in cases where there is a reasonable probability of a change in the zoning laws affecting that
88 property in the tax year in question and the change would have an appreciable influence upon the
89 value.

90 (13) "Farm machinery and equipment," for purposes of the exemption provided under
91 Section 59-2-1101 , means tractors, milking equipment and storage and cooling facilities, feed
92 handling equipment, irrigation equipment, harvesters, choppers, grain drills and planters, tillage
93 tools, scales, combines, spreaders, sprayers, haying equipment, and any other machinery or
94 equipment used primarily for agricultural purposes; but does not include vehicles required to be
95 registered with the Motor Vehicle Division or vehicles or other equipment used for business
96 purposes other than farming.
97 (14) "Geothermal fluid" means water in any form at temperatures greater than 120 degrees
98 centigrade naturally present in a geothermal system.
99 (15) "Geothermal resource" means:
100 (a) the natural heat of the earth at temperatures greater than 120 degrees centigrade; and
101 (b) the energy, in whatever form, including pressure, present in, resulting from, created by,
102 or which may be extracted from that natural heat, directly or through a material medium.
103 (16) "Improvements" includes all buildings, structures, fixtures, fences, and improvements
104 erected upon or affixed to the land, whether the title has been acquired to the land or not.
105 (17) "Intangible property":
106 (a) means property that is capable of private ownership separate from tangible property;
107 and
108 (b) includes:
109 (i) moneys;
110 (ii) credits;
111 (iii) bonds;
112 (iv) stocks;
113 (v) representative property;
114 (vi) franchises;
115 (vii) licenses;
116 (viii) trade names;
117 (ix) copyrights; and
118 (x) patents.
119 (18) "Metalliferous minerals" includes gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and uranium.
120 (19) "Mine" means a natural deposit of either metalliferous or nonmetalliferous valuable

121 mineral.
122 (20) "Mining" means the process of producing, extracting, leaching, evaporating, or
123 otherwise removing a mineral from a mine.
124 (21) (a) "Mobile flight equipment" means tangible personal property that is:
125 (i) owned or operated by an:
126 (A) air charter service;
127 (B) air contract service; or
128 (C) airline; and
129 (ii) (A) capable of flight;
130 (B) attached to an aircraft that is capable of flight; or
131 (C) contained in an aircraft that is capable of flight if the tangible personal property is
132 intended to be used:
133 (I) during multiple flights;
134 (II) during a takeoff, flight, or landing; and
135 (III) as a service provided by an air charter service, air contract service, or airline.
136 (b) (i) "Mobile flight equipment" does not include a spare part other than a spare engine
137 that is rotated:
138 (A) at regular intervals; and
139 (B) with an engine that is attached to the aircraft.
140 (ii) In accordance with Title 63, Chapter 46a, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act, the
141 commission may make rules defining the term "regular intervals."
142 (22) "Nonmetalliferous minerals" includes, but is not limited to, oil, gas, coal, salts, sand,
143 rock, gravel, and all carboniferous materials.
144 (23) "Personal property" includes:
145 (a) every class of property as defined in Subsection (24) which is the subject of ownership
146 and not included within the meaning of the terms "real estate" and "improvements";
147 (b) gas and water mains and pipes laid in roads, streets, or alleys;
148 (c) bridges and ferries; and
149 (d) livestock which, for the purposes of the exemption provided under Section 59-2-1112 ,
150 means all domestic animals, honeybees, poultry, fur-bearing animals, and fish.
151 (24) (a) "Property" means property that is subject to assessment and taxation according to

152 its value.
153 (b) "Property" does not include intangible property as defined in this section.
154 (25) "Public utility," for purposes of this chapter, means the operating property of a
155 railroad, gas corporation, oil or gas transportation or pipeline company, coal slurry pipeline
156 company, electrical corporation, telephone corporation, sewerage corporation, or heat corporation
157 where the company performs the service for, or delivers the commodity to, the public generally
158 or companies serving the public generally, or in the case of a gas corporation or an electrical
159 corporation, where the gas or electricity is sold or furnished to any member or consumers within
160 the state for domestic, commercial, or industrial use. Public utility also means the operating
161 property of any entity or person defined under Section 54-2-1 except water corporations.
162 (26) "Real estate or property" includes:
163 (a) the possession of, claim to, ownership of, or right to the possession of land;
164 (b) all mines, minerals, and quarries in and under the land, all timber belonging to
165 individuals or corporations growing or being on the lands of this state or the United States, and all
166 rights and privileges appertaining to these; and
167 (c) improvements.
168 (27) "Residential property," for the purposes of the reductions and adjustments under this
169 chapter, means any property used for residential purposes as a primary residence. It does not
170 include property used for transient residential use or condominiums used in rental pools.
171 (28) For purposes of Subsection 59-2-801 (1)(e), "route miles" means the number of miles
172 calculated by the commission that is:
173 (a) measured in a straight line by the commission; and
174 (b) equal to the distance between a geographical location that begins or ends:
175 (i) at a boundary of the state; and
176 (ii) where an aircraft:
177 (A) takes off; or
178 (B) lands.
179 (29) (a) "State-assessed commercial vehicle" means:
180 (i) any commercial vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer which operates interstate or intrastate to
181 transport passengers, freight, merchandise, or other property for hire; or
182 (ii) any commercial vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer which operates interstate and transports

183 the vehicle owner's goods or property in furtherance of the owner's commercial enterprise.
184 (b) "State-assessed commercial vehicle" does not include vehicles used for hire which are
185 specified in Subsection (8)(c) as county-assessed commercial vehicles.
186 (30) "Taxable value" means fair market value less any applicable reduction allowed for
187 residential property under Section 59-2-103 .
188 (31) "Tax area" means a geographic area created by the overlapping boundaries of one or
189 more taxing entities.
190 (32) "Taxing entity" means any county, city, town, school district, special taxing district,
191 or any other political subdivision of the state with the authority to levy a tax on property.
192 (33) "Tax roll" means a permanent record of the taxes charged on property, as extended
193 on the assessment roll and may be maintained on the same record or records as the assessment roll
194 or may be maintained on a separate record properly indexed to the assessment roll. It includes tax
195 books, tax lists, and other similar materials.
196 Section 2. Section 59-2-1328 is amended to read:
197 59-2-1328. Payment under protest -- Judgment for recovery -- Payment -- Tax levy
198 -- Refunds.
199 (1) As used in this section:
200 (a) "Refund" means an amount a taxing entity is ordered to pay a taxpayer in accordance
201 with a judgment or final order issued by a S COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, [ court or ] s the
201a commission S , OR A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION s determining that a tax paid
202 under protest or any portion of a tax paid under protest was unlawfully collected.
203 (b) "Refund" includes interest accruing to the amount described in Subsection (1)(a).
204 [(1)] (2) (a) If it is determined in any action that a tax, or any portion of the tax, paid under
205 protest, was unlawfully collected, a judgment for recovery of the tax plus interest as provided by
206 law, together with costs of action, shall be entered in favor of the taxpayer.
207 (b) Upon being presented a duly authenticated copy of the judgment, the proper officer or
208 officers of the state, county, or municipality whose officers collected or received the tax shall audit
209 and allow the judgment, and cause a warrant to be drawn for the amount recovered by the
210 judgment.
211 (c) If the judgment is obtained against a county, and any portion of the taxes included in
212 the judgment are state, district, school, or other taxes levied by a taxing entity which have been or
213 may be paid over to the state or to any school district or other taxing entity by the county, the

214 proper officer or officers of the state, school district, or other taxing entity shall, upon demand by
215 the county, cause a warrant to be drawn upon the treasurer of the state, school district, or other
216 taxing entity in favor of the county for the amount of the taxes received, together with interest as
217 provided by law and an equitable portion of the costs of the action.
218 [(2)] (3) (a) Each taxing entity may levy a tax to pay its share of one or more eligible
219 judgments, as defined in Section 59-2-102 .
220 (b) The levy under Subsection [(2)] (3)(a) is in addition to, and exempt from, the maximum
221 levy established for the taxing entity.
222 [(3)] (4) Unless otherwise agreed to by a taxing entity and a taxpayer, all refunds [and
223 interest] ordered under this section shall be paid by taxing entities to taxpayers:
224 (a) within 60 days [of] after the date the refund is ordered to be paid; or
225 (b) if a judgment levy is imposed by the taxing entity relating to the refund:
226 (i) if the refund ordered to be paid is $5,000 or more, no later than December 31 of the year
227 in which the judgment levy is imposed[.]; and
228 (ii) if the refund ordered to be paid is less than $5,000, within 60 days after the date the
229 refund is ordered to be paid.
230 Section 3. Section 59-2-1330 is amended to read:
231 59-2-1330. Payment of property taxes -- Unlawful collection by county -- Liability
232 of state or taxing entity -- Disputed taxes -- Tax levy -- Refunds.
233 (1) As used in this section:
234 (a) "Refund" means an amount a taxing entity is ordered to pay a taxpayer in accordance
235 with a judgment or final order issued by a S COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, [ court or ] s the
235a commission S , OR A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION s ordering a reduction in the
236 amount of any tax levied against property for tax purposes.
237 (b) "Refund" includes interest accruing to the amount described in Subsection (1)(a).
238 [(1)] (2) Unless otherwise specifically provided by statute, property taxes shall be paid
239 directly to the county assessor or the treasurer when due.
240 [(2)] (3) If S [ the commission , ] A COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, THE COMMISSION, s
240-1a or a court of competent
240a jurisdiction orders a reduction in the
241 amount of any tax levied against any property for tax purposes, the taxpayer shall be reimbursed
242 under Subsection [(3)] (4).
243 [(3)] (4) (a) The state and any taxing entity which has received property taxes or any
244 portion of property taxes is liable to a judgment debtor for the amount the state or the taxing entity

245 received plus interest as provided in Subsection [(3)] (4)(b) if:
246 (i) the taxes are collected by the authorized officer of any county;
247 (ii) a taxpayer obtains a judgment or final order from the county board of equalization or
248 the commission against the county or an authorized officer of the county establishing that the taxes
249 have been unlawfully collected; and
250 (iii) any portion of the taxes has been paid to the state or to any taxing entity by the county
251 or its authorized officer.
252 (b) Interest under Subsection [(3)] (4)(a) shall accrue:
253 (i) at a rate equal to the rate earned by the county;
254 (ii) (A) on the amount of taxes received from the time the state or a taxing entity received
255 the taxes; and
256 (B) for an equitable portion of the costs of action.
257 [(4)] (5) (a) Each taxing entity may levy a tax to pay its share of the judgment or final order
258 under Subsection [(3)] (4) if:
259 (i) the judgment or final order is issued no later than 15 days prior to the date the levy is
260 set under Subsection 59-2-924 (2)(a);
261 (ii) the amount of the judgment levy is included on the notice under Section 59-2-919 ; and
262 (iii) the judgment or final order is an eligible judgment, as defined in Section 59-2-102 .
263 (b) The levy under Subsection [(4)] (5)(a) is in addition to, and exempt from, the
264 maximum levy established for the taxing entity.
265 [(5)] (6) (a) An owner of property assessed by the commission that has filed a valuation
266 protest pursuant to Section 59-2-1007 and has not received a final decision on that protest shall
267 pay, on or before the date of delinquency, the full amount of taxes due.
268 (b) A property owner that pays the full amount of taxes due under Subsection [(5)] (6)(a)
269 is not required to pay penalties or interest on a disputed tax unless:
270 (i) a final decision is entered establishing a value greater than the value stated on the
271 disclosure notice under Section 59-2-1317 ; and
272 (ii) the property owner fails to pay the additional tax liability within a 45-day period after
273 the county bills the property owner for the additional tax.
274 [(6)] (7) Unless otherwise agreed to by a taxing entity and a taxpayer, all refunds [and
275 interest] ordered under this section shall be paid by taxing entities to taxpayers:

276 (a) within 60 days [of] after the date the refund is ordered to be paid; or
277 (b) if a judgment levy is imposed by the taxing entity relating to the refund:
278 (i) if the refund ordered to be paid is $5,000 or more, no later than December 31 of the year
279 in which the judgment levy is imposed[.]; and
280 (ii) if the refund ordered to be paid is less than $5,000, within 60 days after the date the
281 refund is ordered to be paid.
282 Section 4. Effective date.
283 This act takes effect on January 1, 2003.




Legislative Review Note
as of 11-21-01 9:37 AM

A limited legal review of this legislation raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel