Florida Senate - 2009 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for CS for HB 521
Barcode 814750
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
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Floor: 1c/F/3R .
05/01/2009 02:46 PM .
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Senator Lawson moved the following:
1 Senate Substitute for Amendment (221228) (with title
2 amendment)
3
4 Delete lines 3 - 60
5 and insert:
6
7 Delete lines 25 - 93
8 and insert:
9 Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 193.052, Florida
10 Statutes, is amended to read:
11 193.052 Preparation and serving of returns.—
12 (4) All returns shall be completed by the taxpayer in such
13 a way as to correctly reflect the owner’s estimate of the value
14 of property owned or otherwise taxable to him or her and covered
15 by such return. All returns shall include a statement by the
16 taxpayer of the original installed cost of the property and the
17 reproduction or replacement cost thereof and all data and
18 analysis supporting the statement. The return also shall include
19 a statement by the taxpayer of the condition of the property,
20 including, but not limited to, depreciation and obsolescence and
21 all data and analysis supporting the statement. Failure to
22 comply with this requirement constitutes a waiver of the right
23 to challenge the assessment for that year as determined by the
24 property appraiser in any subsequent administrative or judicial
25 proceeding. All forms used for returns shall be prescribed by
26 the department and delivered to the property appraisers for
27 distribution to the taxpayers.
28 Section 2. Paragraph (g) of subsection (3) of section
29 194.011, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
30 194.011 Assessment notice; objections to assessments.—
31 (3) A petition to the value adjustment board must be in
32 substantially the form prescribed by the department.
33 Notwithstanding s. 195.022, a county officer may not refuse to
34 accept a form provided by the department for this purpose if the
35 taxpayer chooses to use it. A petition to the value adjustment
36 board shall describe the property by parcel number and shall be
37 filed as follows:
38 (g) The individual, agent, or legal entity that signs the
39 petition becomes an agent of the taxpayer for the purpose of
40 serving process to obtain personal jurisdiction over the
41 taxpayer for the entire value adjustment board proceedings,
42 including any appeals of a board decision by the property
43 appraiser pursuant to s. 194.036. An individual, agent, or legal
44 entity may not contract with a property owner to represent the
45 property owner based on any agreement whereby the property owner
46 agrees to pay the individual, agent, or legal entity a
47 percentage of the amount of taxes saved based on any reduction
48 in value made by the value adjustment board, and any such
49 contract or agreement is declared null and void and contrary to
50 the public policy of this state.
51 Section 3. Section 194.301, Florida Statutes, is amended to
52 read:
53 194.301 Presumption of correctness.—In any administrative
54 or judicial action in which a taxpayer challenges an ad valorem
55 tax assessment of value, the property appraiser’s assessment
56 shall be presumed correct. This presumption of correctness is
57 lost if the taxpayer shows by a preponderance of the evidence
58 that either the property appraiser has failed to consider
59 properly the criteria in s. 193.011 or if the property
60 appraiser’s assessment is arbitrarily based on appraisal
61 practices which are different from the appraisal practices
62 generally applied by the property appraiser to comparable
63 property within the same class and within the same county. If
64 the presumption of correctness is lost, the taxpayer shall have
65 the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that
66 the appraiser’s assessment is in excess of just value. If the
67 presumption of correctness is retained, the taxpayer shall have
68 the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the
69 appraiser’s assessment is in excess of just value. In no case
70 shall the taxpayer have the burden of proving that the property
71 appraiser’s assessment is not supported by any reasonable
72 hypothesis of a legal assessment. If the property appraiser’s
73 assessment is determined to be erroneous, the Value Adjustment
74 Board or the court can establish the assessment if there exists
75 competent, substantial evidence in the record, which
76 cumulatively meets the requirements of s. 193.011. If the record
77 lacks competent, substantial evidence meeting the just value
78 criteria of s. 193.011, the matter shall be remanded to the
79 property appraiser with appropriate directions from the Value
80 Adjustment Board or the court.
81
82 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
83 And the title is amended as follows:
84 Delete lines 64 - 76
85 and insert:
86
87 Delete lines 2 - 20
88 and insert:
89 An act relating to ad valorem tax assessments;
90 amending s. 193.052, F.S.; revising requirements for
91 preparing and serving returns for property; amending
92 s. 194.011, F.S.; revising filing procedures for
93 petitions to a value adjustment board; amending s.
94 194.301, F.S.; deleting a provision relating to the
95 retention of the presumption of correctness of the
96 property appraiser’s assessment; providing for