CS/CS/HB 521--Ad valorem tax assessment challenges.

This legislation revises the burden of proof in challenges to the value used for ad valorem tax assessments. The bill provides that, in an administrative or judicial action in which an ad valorem assessment is challenged, the property appraiser's assessment is presumed correct if the appraiser shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the assessment was arrived at by complying with [section]193.011, F.S., any other applicable statutory requirements relating to classified use values or assessment caps, and professionally accepted appraisal practices, including mass appraisal standards, if appropriate. The taxpayer may overcome the presumption upon a showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the assessed value does not represent the just value, does not represent the classified use value or fractional value of the property, or is arbitrarily based on appraisal practices that are different from the appraisal practices generally applied by the property appraiser to comparable property within the same county. If the taxpayer overcomes the presumption of correctness, the value adjustment board or court must establish the assessment if there is enough evidence to do so. If not, the issue is remanded to the property appraiser with instructions of how to change the assessment. A challenge to the revised assessment is handled by the same procedures. A taxpayer is not required to overcome a presumption of correctness in a challenge to the classification or exemption status of a property. The party initiating the challenge has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the classification or exempt status assigned to the property is incorrect. The bill expresses the Legislature's intent that a taxpayer shall never have the burden of proving that the property appraiser's assessment is not supported by any reasonable hypothesis of a legal assessment. The bill reaffirms that the Legislature expressly rejected the "every reasonable hypothesis" standard in 1997 by creating a lower burden of proof and expresses the Legislature's intent to reject any cases published since 1997 citing the "every reasonable hypothesis" as interpretive of legislative intent. The effective date of this bill is upon becoming a law and shall first apply to assessments in 2009. The Governor approved these provisions. Ch. 09-121, L.O.F.