Harris County Appraisal District v. Reynolds/Texas, J.V.

884 S.W.2d 526, 1994 WL 447761
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 12, 1994
Docket08-93-00396-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 884 S.W.2d 526 (Harris County Appraisal District v. Reynolds/Texas, J.V.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris County Appraisal District v. Reynolds/Texas, J.V., 884 S.W.2d 526, 1994 WL 447761 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

LARSEN, Justice.

This appeal concerns liability for property taxes. Reynolds/Texas, a joint venture, appealed to the district court the Harris County Appraisal Review Board’s 1 decision assessing back tax liability for improvements to Reynolds’ land the board determined were “omitted property” under Tex.Tax Code Ann. § 25.21 (Vernon 1992). Both Reynolds and the Harris County Appraisal District filed motions for summary judgment in the trial court. The trial court entered summary judgment for Reynolds, and the appraisal district appealed. In two points of error, it contends the trial court improperly granted Reynolds’ summary judgment and improperly denied summary judgment for the appraisal district. We reverse and render judgment for the appraisal district.

FACTS

Reynolds owns Crosstimbers, approximately seven acres of land in Harris County with commercial improvements. Its agent for tax purposes filed an “inventory of property” rendering the property for taxation each year for the years 1984 through 1991. Each rendition contained a description of the property as follows:

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The renditions contained no appraised value for improvements. Although these renditions were not on the appraisal district’s designated forms, the appraisal district never rejected them or returned them to Reynolds. The appraisal district incorporated certain information from these renditions (the identity and number of Reynolds’ agent, for example) into its appraisal rolls. Athough Reynolds paid taxes assessed on the land rendered in these documents, it paid no taxes for the improvements for the years 1984 through 1991.

In November 1991, the appraisal district sent Reynolds notice that the value of improvements on the Crosstimbers property had been omitted from the appraisal records for the years 1984 through 1991. The appraisal district submitted to Reynolds its proposed valuation for the improvements. This correspondence was Reynolds’ first notice that the appraisal district valued the improvements at an amount greater than zero dollars.

Reynolds filed a timely written notice with the appraisal review board protesting the appraisal district’s determination that the improvements were “omitted property.” Reynolds protested the appraisal district’s valua *528 tion of the property, as well. The appraisal review board, after hearing, held that the improvements were omitted property, and therefore subject to taxation for past years. The board also reduced the appraised value from that proposed by the appraiser. The parties have stipulated that if the improvements were omitted property, their appraised value for each of the omitted years should be $1,290,000.

Both sides filed motions for summary judgment in the trial court. The trial court granted Reynolds’ summary judgment, holding that the improvements were not omitted property, that the appraisal district could not include them in its rolls for previous years, and awarding Reynolds attorney’s fees. The appraisal district appealed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The appellate standard of review for summary judgment on appeal is:

1. The movant for summary judgment has the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law;
2. In deciding whether there is a disputed material fact issue precluding summary judgment, evidence favorable to the nonmovants will be taken as true; and
3. Every reasonable inference must be indulged in favor of the nonmovants and any doubts resolved in their favor. Nixon v. Mr. Property Management Company, Inc., 690 S.W.2d 546, 548-49 (Tex. 1985).

When both parties moved the trial court for summary judgment, we consider all evidence accompanying both motions in deciding whether to sustain the judgment. Dallas County Appraisal District v. Institute for Aerobics Research, 766 S.W.2d 318, 319 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1989, writ denied). We determine all questions presented in both motions, and may reverse the trial court judgment and render such judgment as the trial court should have rendered if we determine that the appellant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Jones v. Strauss, 745 S.W.2d 898, 900 (Tex.1988).

ISSUE PRESENTED FOR REVIEW

The questions presented for our review are whether the appraisal district could treat the improvements to Reynolds’ land as omitted property, and appraise it under Tex.Tax Code Ann. § 25.21; whether the improvements were rendered in the documents described above; and if they were rendered whether they must be deemed to have been included in the appraisal rolls and valued at zero dollars, thus precluding taxation for the years prior to 1992.

OMITTED PROPERTY

This ease turns upon whether the improvements to Reynolds’ land were omitted from the appraisal rolls, and therefore subject to Tex.Tax Code Ann. § 25.21, which provides:

(a) If the chief appraiser discovers that real property was omitted from an appraisal roll in any one of the five preceding years ... he shall appraise the property as of January 1 of each year that it was omitted and enter the property and its appraised value in the appraisal records.
(b) The entry shall show that the appraisal is for property that was omitted from an appraisal roll in a prior year and shall indicate the year and the appraised value for each year.

Reynolds contends that the improvements cannot be omitted property because Reynolds rendered them to the chief appraiser, who had no authority to refuse such renditions. Although the improvements were not reflected on the appraisal rolls before 1992, and were not taxed before that year, Reynolds nevertheless argues that they must be deemed included because its rendition form included the word “improvements.” It argues that the notation of zero on the appraisal rolls is, in fact, an appraised value, and the appraised district has no authority to retroactively change that value.

Land and improvements are separate entities of real property under the tax code, subject to independent taxation. Tex.Tax Code Ann. § 1.04; El Paso Central Appraisal District v. Montrose Partners, 754 S.W.2d *529 797, 798 (Tex.App. — El Paso 1988, writ denied);

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884 S.W.2d 526, 1994 WL 447761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-county-appraisal-district-v-reynoldstexas-jv-texapp-1994.