Nebraska § 77-5013 - Commission; jurisdiction; time for filing; filing fee.

§ 77-5013. Commission; jurisdiction; time for filing; filing fee.

(1) The commission obtains exclusive jurisdiction over an appeal or petition when:

(a) The commission has the power or authority to hear the appeal or petition;

(b) An appeal or petition is timely filed;

(c) The filing fee, if applicable, is timely received and thereafter paid; and

(d) In the case of an appeal, a copy of the decision, order, determination, or action appealed from, or other information that documents the decision, order, determination, or action appealed from, is timely filed.

Only the requirements of this subsection shall be deemed jurisdictional.

(2) A petition, an appeal, or the information required by subdivision (1)(d) of this section is timely filed and the filing fee, if applicable, is timely received if placed in the United States mail, postage prepaid, with a legible postmark for delivery to the commission, or received by the commission, on or before the date specified by law for filing the appeal or petition. If no date is otherwise provided by law, then an appeal shall be filed within thirty days after the decision, order, determination, or action appealed from is made.

(3) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, filing fees shall be as follows:

(a) For each appeal or petition regarding the taxable value of a parcel of real property, the filing fee shall be:

(i) Forty dollars if the taxable value of the parcel is less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars;

(ii) Fifty dollars if the taxable value of the parcel is at least two hundred fifty thousand dollars but less than five hundred thousand dollars;

(iii) Sixty dollars if the taxable value of the parcel is at least five hundred thousand dollars but less than one million dollars; or

(iv) Eighty-five dollars if the taxable value of the parcel is at least one million dollars; or

(b) For any other appeal or petition filed with the commission, the filing fee shall be forty dollars.

(4) No filing fee shall be required for an appeal by a county assessor, the Tax Commissioner, or the Property Tax Administrator acting in his or her official capacity or a county board of equalization acting in its official capacity.

(5) The form and requirements for execution of an appeal or petition may be specified by the commission in its rules and regulations.

A party properly placed an envelope in the mail "for delivery to [the Tax Equalization and Review Commission]" where the record showed that the party intended to appeal certain tax valuations, that the envelope had an accurate address for the commission, and that when the envelope was remailed, with no significant changes made from the first mailing, it arrived at the commission. Lozier Corp. v. Douglas Cty. Bd. of Equal., 285 Neb. 705, 829 N.W.2d 652 (2013).

A postage meter stamp qualifies as a "postmark" under subsection (2) of this section. Lozier Corp. v. Douglas Cty. Bd. of Equal., 285 Neb. 705, 829 N.W.2d 652 (2013).

Subsection (2) of this section does not provide that a mailing which arrived controls over a prior mailing which did not. Instead, this subsection focuses on, among other things, whether the appeal was properly placed in the mail, rather than on whether the Tax Equalization and Review Commission received it. Lozier Corp. v. Douglas Cty. Bd. of Equal., 285 Neb. 705, 829 N.W.2d 652 (2013).

The Douglas County Board of Equalization denied petitioners' property valuation protests, and petitioners appealed to the Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC). The envelope containing the appeals had no postmark or cancellation mark. After a show cause hearing, at which petitioners failed to appear, TERC found that it lacked jurisdiction over petitioners' appeals under section 77-1502 and this section because it was "[w]ithout competent evidence to demonstrate the appeals were deposited in the United States mail on or before" the necessary date. Petitioners appealed the dismissal, and the Nebraska Court of Appeals found that there was not sufficient competent evidence to show that petitioners were provided notice of the show cause hearing, and therefore, petitioners must be afforded an opportunity to adduce evidence to TERC that jurisdictional requirements were satisfied. Fundamental Inv. v. Douglas Cty. Bd. of Equal., 33 Neb. App. 842, 29 N.W.3d 240 (2025).

A separate filing fee must accompany each appeal to the Tax Equalization and Review Commission and must be timely received by the commission in order for it to have jurisdiction over an appeal. Widtfeldt v. Tax Equal. & Rev. Comm., 15 Neb. App. 410, 728 N.W.2d 295 (2007).