(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:
Each assessor is required by law to discover and assess taxable personal property inthe assessor's county and to provide each person known or believed to own taxable personal property in the county with a personal property schedule;
Each owner of taxable personal property is required by law to list the owner's taxablepersonal property on the personal property schedule, and the receipt of a personal property schedule from the assessor provides notice to a property owner that the property owner may own taxable personal property, which helps to ensure that:
More property owners comply with state property tax laws;
The property tax burden is more fairly distributed; and
The amount of property tax revenues lost by local governments due to propertyowners' lack of knowledge regarding the taxable status of certain personal property is minimized;
Personal property that is used to furnish residential real property is exempt fromproperty taxation so long as it is not used for the production of income at any time, but generally becomes subject to taxation if the residential real property is offered for rent on a furnished basis or otherwise used for business purposes;
In certain areas of the state, a high proportion of residential real property is advertised for rent on a furnished basis directly by property owners or by real estate agents, property management companies, lodging companies, and internet and print-based listing services that act as agents for multiple property owners and advertise multiple properties for rent, and because the advertisements typically do not precisely identify the property offered for rent by address or the owner's name:
It is difficult for each assessor to accurately identify which parcels of furnished residential real property are being offered for rent and to which owners of furnished residential real property the assessor should provide personal property schedules; and
This difficulty impairs the fairness and efficiency of the property tax system andreduces property tax collections by making it more likely that owners of furnished residential real property rented to others will, in some cases deliberately and in many other cases due to a lack of notice regarding state property tax laws, fail to pay property taxes due on personal property used to furnish the residential real property; and
(e) It is therefore necessary and appropriate to require the owner of furnished residential real property or an agent of the owner who advertises the property for rent to provide identifying information regarding the property to the assessor of the county in which the property is located upon the request of the assessor made no more than twice during any year as specified in this section or as mutually agreed to by the assessor and the owner or agent pursuant to paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section.
(2) (a) Upon the request of the assessor of any county or city and county made no more than twice during any year:
A property owner who advertises for rent furnished residential real property that islocated within the county or city and county shall provide to the assessor a list that identifies each property so advertised by address; and
An agent who advertises for rent on behalf of a property owner furnished residentialreal property that is located within the county or city and county shall provide to the assessor a list that identifies each property so advertised by owner and address.
(b) An assessor and a property owner or agent may mutually agree that the owner or agent shall annually provide to the assessor by a specified date the information that an assessor may require to be provided pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (2).
(3) For purposes of this section, "agent" means a real estate broker, as defined in section 12-10-201 (6)(a), a property management company, a lodging company, an internet website listing service, a print-based listing service, or any other person that either separately or as part of a package of services advertises furnished residential real property in the state for rent on behalf of the owner of the property in exchange for compensation.
Source: L. 2009: Entire section added, (HB 09-1110), ch. 162, p. 698, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2019: (3) amended, (HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 1728, § 251, effective October 1.