Tennessee § 67-5-509 - Errors — Correction of assessments.

§ 67-5-509. Errors — Correction of assessments.

If the tax computed on an erroneous basis of valuation or assessment has been paid prior to certification of the corrected assessment by the assessor, the trustee or municipal collector shall, within sixty (60) days after receipt of such certification from the assessor, refund to the taxpayer that portion of such tax paid that resulted from the erroneous assessment, such refund to be made without the necessity of payment under protest or such other requirements as usually pertain to refunds of taxes unjustly or illegally collected. The validity of any assessment or levy of taxes, or proceedings for the equalization, review, or collection of taxes, or for the enforcement of any tax lien, shall not be affected by any defect, error, irregularity or omission in such assessment, levy or proceedings, unless the defect, error, irregularity or omission shall result in a denial of minimum constitutional guarantees. As used in this subsection (b), “assessment” includes a back assessment, reassessment, or correction of assessment error. Whenever the assessor shall discover, or it has been called to such assessor's attention, that there has been an error or omission in the listing, description, classification or assessed value of property or any other error or omission in the tax rolls held by the trustee or municipal collector, the assessor shall certify in writing the facts to the trustee or municipal collector, who shall receive the tax on the corrected assessment and report the difference in the trustee's or municipal collector's errors and releasement list, and shall make such other corrections as such certificate may show right and proper. The assessor shall certify to the trustee or municipal collector the facts and the reasons for such a change in such assessment, and the tax shall be collected upon the revised assessment. The state board of equalization may require that a copy of such certification be furnished by the assessor to the executive secretary to the state board of equalization. Correction of assessments pursuant to this section must be requested by the taxpayer, or initiated by the assessor, prior to March 1, no more than the second year following the tax year for which the correction is to be made. Additional taxes due as the result of a corrected assessment shall not be deemed delinquent until sixty (60) days after the date notice of the corrected assessment is sent to the taxpayer. Once a suit has been filed for the collection of delinquent taxes pursuant to § 67-5-2405, the assessment and levy for all county, municipal and other property tax purposes are deemed to be valid and are not subject to correction under this section. Should any assessor fail or refuse to correct any error as provided in this section within thirty (30) days after being requested to do so, or should the correction of any error result in an increase in an assessment, any person aggrieved thereby may appeal directly to the state board of equalization and may be assisted or represented in the appeal as provided in § 67-5-1514. Appeal to the board shall be filed within forty-five (45) days after the assessor's failure or refusal to correct the error, or within forty-five (45) days after the assessor sends notice of any assessment change resulting from the correction. If determined by the board that any such error exists, the board shall issue an order certifying the corrected assessment to the trustee or municipal collector. An assessor shall correct an error in coding, entry, or transcription of data, if documentation clearly establishes that an error occurred and that the error affected the property's value as of the assessment date. The assessor shall also correct errors in the ownership, location, or physical description of property. An assessor may not revisit, as a correction of error, matters requiring an application of the assessor's judgment, such as the quality of fit or finish in a structure, the degree to which location or depreciation affects property value, or the degree of comparability of a property to others in the relevant market. On appeal, an owner aggrieved by the assessor's decision with regard to the correction of an error may argue the applicability of this section, including whether the error affected the recorded value, but the appeal may not reopen issues of value generally that should properly have been raised before the county board of equalization. The assessor's conclusion that a residential duplex was fully available for rent as of the assessment date is not a correctable error absent a demonstrated mistake in coding, entry, or transcription of data. Errors or omissions correctable under this section do not include clerical mistakes in tax reports or schedules filed by a taxpayer with the assessor. Acts 1973, ch. 226, § 6; 1974, ch. 771, § 8; 1976, ch. 782, § 13; 1977, ch. 262, § 1; T.C.A., §§ 67-606, 67-639, 67-640; Acts 1984, ch. 662, § 1; 1990, ch. 898, § 1; 1992, ch. 996, §§ 1, 2; 2013, ch. 209, § 9; 2015, ch. 193, § 1. Compiler's Notes. Acts 2009, ch. 530, § 104 provided that the deadline established by subsection (d) is extended with respect to forced assessments of tangible personal property for tax year 2007 until September 1, 2009. Law Reviews. Recovering Erroneously Paid Property Taxes in Tennessee: An Epic Journey, 10 Mem. St. U.L. Rev. 279 (1980). Attorney General Opinions. Jurisdiction over the correction of property tax assessment errors, OAG 96-077 (4/24/96). Assessor's authority to reduce assessment, OAG 07-037 (3/26/07). Meaning of obvious clerical mistakes under T.C.A. § 67-5-509(f) . OAG 13-103, 2013 Tenn. AG LEXIS 101 (12/10/13).