Florida Senate - 2018                                     SB 650
       
       
        
       By Senator Baxley
       
       
       
       
       
       12-00483-18                                            2018650__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the administrative review of
    3         property taxes; amending s. 194.011, F.S.; providing
    4         that under certain circumstances, petitions to the
    5         value adjustment board may be late filed within a
    6         specified timeframe, subject to certain limitations;
    7         providing an effective date.
    8          
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (3) of section
   12  194.011, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   13         194.011 Assessment notice; objections to assessments.—
   14         (3) A petition to the value adjustment board must be in
   15  substantially the form prescribed by the department.
   16  Notwithstanding s. 195.022, a county officer may not refuse to
   17  accept a form provided by the department for this purpose if the
   18  taxpayer chooses to use it. A petition to the value adjustment
   19  board must be signed by the taxpayer or be accompanied at the
   20  time of filing by the taxpayer’s written authorization or power
   21  of attorney, unless the person filing the petition is listed in
   22  s. 194.034(1)(a). A person listed in s. 194.034(1)(a) may file a
   23  petition with a value adjustment board without the taxpayer’s
   24  signature or written authorization by certifying under penalty
   25  of perjury that he or she has authorization to file the petition
   26  on behalf of the taxpayer. If a taxpayer notifies the value
   27  adjustment board that a petition has been filed for the
   28  taxpayer’s property without his or her consent, the value
   29  adjustment board may require the person filing the petition to
   30  provide written authorization from the taxpayer authorizing the
   31  person to proceed with the appeal before a hearing is held. If
   32  the value adjustment board finds that a person listed in s.
   33  194.034(1)(a) willfully and knowingly filed a petition that was
   34  not authorized by the taxpayer, the value adjustment board shall
   35  require such person to provide the taxpayer’s written
   36  authorization for representation to the value adjustment board
   37  clerk before any petition filed by that person is heard, for 1
   38  year after imposition of such requirement by the value
   39  adjustment board. A power of attorney or written authorization
   40  is valid for 1 assessment year, and a new power of attorney or
   41  written authorization by the taxpayer is required for each
   42  subsequent assessment year. A petition shall also describe the
   43  property by parcel number and shall be filed as follows:
   44         (d) The petition may be filed, as to valuation issues, at
   45  any time during the taxable year on or before the 25th day
   46  following the mailing of notice by the property appraiser as
   47  provided in subsection (1). With respect to an issue involving
   48  the denial of an exemption, an agricultural or high-water
   49  recharge classification application, an application for
   50  classification as historic property used for commercial or
   51  certain nonprofit purposes, or a deferral, the petition must be
   52  filed at any time during the taxable year on or before the 30th
   53  day following the mailing of the notice by the property
   54  appraiser under s. 193.461, s. 193.503, s. 193.625, s. 196.173,
   55  or s. 196.193 or notice by the tax collector under s. 197.2425.
   56  If the petitioner identifies extenuating circumstances
   57  demonstrating to the value adjustment board that the petitioner
   58  was unable to file a petition in a timely manner, the petitioner
   59  may file a petition within 60 days after the deadline. However,
   60  the value adjustment board is not required to delay proceedings
   61  for the 60-day timeframe and no late petition is authorized
   62  after the value adjustment board has concluded its review of
   63  petitions.
   64         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.