Colorado § 39-5-125 - Omission - correction of errors.

§ 39-5-125. Omission - correction of errors.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, whenever it is discovered that any taxable property has been omitted from the assessment roll of any year or series of years, the assessor shall immediately determine the value of such omitted property and shall list the same on the assessment roll of the year in which the discovery was made and shall notify the treasurer of any unpaid taxes on such property for prior years.

(2) Omissions and errors in the assessment roll, when it can be ascertained therefrom what was intended, may be supplied or corrected by the assessor at any time before the tax warrant is delivered to the treasurer or by the treasurer at any time after the tax warrant has come into his hands.

(3) If taxable personal property that has been omitted from the assessment roll of any year or series of years is discovered due to a property owner or an agent of a property owner who advertises for rent furnished residential real property providing information to the assessor pursuant to section 39-5-108.5 (2), the assessor shall not notify the treasurer of any unpaid taxes on the taxable personal property for prior years and the property owner or agent shall not be liable for any such unpaid taxes for prior years.

(4) If omitted property is added by the assessor or the treasurer for a prior assessment year, then a petition for abatement or refund may be filed at any time after the taxes are levied and an amended tax bill has been generated, but before two years after January 1 of the year following the year in which the taxes are levied.

Source: L. 64: R&RE, p. 705, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 137-5-25. L. 2009: (1) amended and (3) added, (HB 09-1110), ch. 162, p. 700, § 2, effective August 5. L. 2017: (4) added, (HB 17-1049), ch. 148, p. 495, § 2, effective August 9.

ANNOTATION

I. General Consideration.

II. Property Omitted from Rolls.

III. Errors in Rolls.

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATION.

Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under this section as it existed prior to its 1964 repeal and reenactment.

This section expressly authorizes assessor and treasurer to correct errors in the assessment roll at any time, before or after the treasurer receives the tax warrant. Modular Cmtys., Inc. v. McKnight, 191 Colo. 101, 550 P.2d 866 (1976); RTV, L.L.C. v. Grandote Int'l Ltd., 937 P.2d 768 (Colo. App. 1996).

Under this section and § 39-10-101 (2)(a)(I), both the assessor and the treasurer may retroactively correct errors that caused property to be omitted from the assessment roll and tax list and warrant. Marsico Cap. Mgmt. v. Denver Bd. of County Comm'rs, 2013 COA 90, 342 P.3d 462.

Treasurer making correction must exercise reason and sound judgment. Haley v. Elliott, 20 Colo. 379, 38 P. 771 (1894).

This section does not obviate the necessity of notice required by § 39-5-122. Gale v. Statler, 47 Colo. 72, 105 P. 858 (1909).

A nonoperating fractional interest owner does not have a legally protected interest in the valuation and taxation of their oil and gas leasehold and land and, therefore, lacks standing to challenge a retroactive assessment and property tax increase. Colo. Prop. Tax Adm'r v. CO2 Comm., 2023 CO 8, 527 P.3d 371.

Applied in Haley v. Elliot, 20 Colo. 379, 38 P. 771 (1894); Chase v. Boar of County Comm'rs, 37 Colo. 268, 86 P. 1011 (1906); City & County of Denver v. Pitcher, 54 Colo. 203, 129 P. 1015 (1913); San Luis Power & Water Co. v. Trujillo, 93 Colo. 385, 26 P.2d 537 (1933).

II. PROPERTY OMITTED FROM ROLLS.

As used in this section, the word "omitted" means to have been left out or unmentioned. Bachelor Gulch Operating v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 2013 COA 46, 316 P.3d 43.

Assessor must account for omitted taxes and arrearages. The assessor has power and it is his duty, under this section, when it is discovered that certain special taxes upon particular property have been omitted from the assessment book, to place the same upon his book with all arrearages which should have been assessed in former years, notwithstanding the property had been regularly listed and the omission consisted only in failing to extend the special tax levy. Aggers v. People ex rel. Town of Montclair, 20 Colo. 348, 38 P. 386 (1894).

List property omitted by owner. In the event of a failure by the owner to list his property, it is made the duty of the assessor to do so. Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Yingling, 14 Colo. App. 449, 60 P. 582 (1900).

Assessor has the authority to assess taxes retroactively on property previously omitted from the assessment rolls, including the "value of improvements" located on land. Chew v. Bd. of Assmt. Appeals, 673 P.2d 1028 (Colo. App. 1983); RTV, L.L.C. v. Grandote Int'l Ltd., 937 P.2d 768 (Colo. App. 1996).

This section and § 39-10-101 (2)(a) authorize retroactive assessments of additional property taxes only against "omitted property", not "omitted value". Section 39-10-107 authorizes retroactive assessments of additional property taxes against "omitted value" on oil and gas leaseholds. Cabot Petroleum Corp. v. Yuma County Bd. of Equaliz., 847 P.2d 152 (Colo. App. 1992), rev'd on other grounds, 856 P.2d 844 (Colo. 1993); In Stitches, Inc. v. Denver County Bd. of County Comm'rs, 62 P.3d 1080 (Colo. App. 2002); Jet Black, LLC v. Routt County Bd. of County Comm'rs, 165 P.3d 744 (Colo. App. 2006); Kinder Morgan v. Montezuma County Bd., 2015 COA 72, 399 P.3d 735, aff'd, 2017 CO 72, 396 P.3d 657.

Tenant improvements that were not included in assessment rolls due to assessor error were "omitted property" not merely "omitted value" and therefore could be taxed retroactively. Marsico Cap. Mgmt. v. Denver Bd. of County Comm'rs, 2013 COA 90, 342 P.3d 462.

This section is inapplicable to property that is subdivided during the course of a particular tax year, because such property has not been "omitted". Such property is deemed either to have existed as of the assessment date, in which case it was appraised as part of the parent parcel, or to not have existed, in which case it was not "omitted" because it was not a property that existed but was not captured on assessment rolls. Bachelor Gulch Operating v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 2013 COA 46, 316 P.3d 43.

The value of previously omitted common area parcels could be added on a proportional basis to ownership parcels even though the ownership parcels had previously been assessed at a lower value. Jet Black, LLC v. Routt County Bd. of County Comm'rs, 165 P.3d 744 (Colo. App. 2006).

III. ERRORS IN ROLLS.

Subsection (2) addresses errors in the assessment roll, not errors in the notice of valuation. An assessor, therefore, could not include a valuation that was corrected from the notice of valuation in the assessment roll. Yen, LLC v. Jefferson County Bd. of Comm'rs, 2021 COA 107, 498 P.3d 1140.

Dollar mark omitted before valuation figures may be supplied. Where in the copy of an assessment roll the dollar mark ($) was omitted before the valuation figures, it is one of those omissions or informalities which the assessor or treasurer is authorized to correct. Haley v. Elliott, 20 Colo. 379, 38 P. 771 (1894).