Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 38, September 20, 2024
3.1. Who may petition. -- The owner(s)of the
property, the person(s) in whose name the property is assessed or the person(s)
liable for the taxes assessed against the property may petition for a hearing
of record before the county commission of the county in which is situated the
larger portion of the appraised property which is liable to assessment for ad
valorem property taxation, and the county commission shall sit as an
Administrative Appraisal Review Board. Such petition shall be on the form
provided for that purpose by the State Tax Department to the county
commission.
3.2. Timeliness of
petition. -- The petition requesting such hearing shall be submitted within
thirty (30) days after the earlier of:
a. The
day the Tax Commissioner notifies the owner(s) or the person(s) liable for the
taxes assessed of his determination as authorized and described in West
Virginia Code § 11-1A-16.4, or
b. The twenty-first (21) day after making the
request for the Tax Commissioner to review the valuation, such review process
being described in West Virginia Code § 11-1A-16(c).
3.3. Who to receive a copy of petition. --
Contemporaneously with the filing of the petition with the county commission,
the petitioner shall mail a copy of the petition to the Tax Commissioner, and
shall mail or deliver a copy to the assessor, the prosecuting attorney, and the
property owner (if the property owner is not the petitioner). Upon receipt of
the petition, the Tax Commissioner shall take action appropriate to assure the
interests of the State and local taxing bodies are protected. Such action shall
include:
a. Making a determination as to
appropriate legal counsel to defend the interests of the State and the local
taxing bodies,
b. Notifying the
selected counsel, and
c. Pro viding
sufficient information and other assistance to assure the accomplishment of a
proper defense.
3.4.
Attachments to the petition. --The petition filed with the county commission
shall have endorsed or appended to it a certificate signed by the petitioner or
his attorney that such copies were mailed or delivered. Also appended to the
petition and to each copy of the petition shall be any attachments the
petitioner feels may be relevant to deciding the issues involved in the
hearing. The only other time relevant information may be submitted is at the
hearing before the county commissioner. Additionally, each protestor and/or
intervenor must attach to the petition and each copy of the petition a
statement which alleges and shows sufficient good cause to allow such protest
or intervention.
a. At the time the county
commission provides to the petitioner the Petition For Hearing form, the county
commission shall complete that portion of the form titled Office Use Only. The
county commission must assign a docket number to the petition prior to when the
petition is mailed to the Tax Commissioner.
3.5. Hearings docket system. -- The county
commission shall establish a system, the purpose of which will be to docket
hearings which result from the filing of petitions.
a. The county commission whenever possible
shall docket together for concurrent hearings which will occur on the same day
and/or which will occur at the same time for two (2) or more pieces of
property, petitions filed upon properties which have common elements and for
which the basis for the petition is the same; i.e., similar types of property
in the same geographical area (residences in the same subdivision).
b. The time allotted for each hearing should
be dependent upon the complexity of the challenge. For example, the hearing
time for a residence should be no more than one-half (1/2) hour.
3.6. Hearings date and time
notification. -- The State Tax Department shall provide the necessary
assistance to expedite the hearing process.
a. The State Tax Department, upon receiving
petitions from petitioners, shall properly enter the petitions into the data
processing system network. The network shall be designed so as to allow the
State Tax Department to provide a suggested hearing list to the respective
county commissions.
b. Upon receipt
of the suggested hearing list, the county commission shall determine its docket
for hearing the petitions. A county commission may not determine its hearings
docket until it has received the suggested hearings list from the State Tax
Department. Each county commission shall notify the State Tax Department of its
hearings docket, such notice being provided at least thirty (30) days prior to
the date of the hearing.
c. Upon
receiving such notification, the State Tax Department shall generate the
appropriate notice and insert the notice in a mailing envelope. Subsequent to
being inserted in the envelope, envelopes for each county shall be batched
together and on a weekly basis returned to the appropriate county which in turn
and at its own expense shall mail the envelopes to the parties. At that time,
the State Tax Department shall also review its resource requirements and the
requests for appraisers who will be witnesses at the hearings.
3.7. Commencement of hearings. --
For each type of property, the county commission shall not commence to docket
hearings until after the completion of one hundred seven (107) days after the
date of the notice required by West Virginia Code § 11-1A-16(a).
a. Hearings on each type of property should
commence as soon as possible but in no instance later than thirty (30) days
after the completion of the one hundred seven (107) day period.
b. The county commission should schedule the
hearings so as to have completed all hearings and rendered all decisions on or
before January 16, 1986: Provided, That in those instances where
the final notice of value was not provided in a timely manner, due process
requires the provision of the same one hundred seven (107) day time
period.
c. The county commission
may schedule for hearing prior to the completion of the one hundred seven (107)
day time period petitions on properties which have common elements of
geography, type and use, and upon which exists the same basis for challenging
the appraised value.
