Harris County Appraisal District v. Texas Gas Transmission Corp.

105 S.W.3d 88, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 2646, 2003 WL 1563867
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 27, 2003
Docket01-01-01103-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 105 S.W.3d 88 (Harris County Appraisal District v. Texas Gas Transmission Corp.) 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. Texas Gas Transmission Corp., 105 S.W.3d 88, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 2646, 2003 WL 1563867 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinions

EN BANC OPINION

TIM TAFT, Justice.

Appellant, Harris County Appraisal District (the District), challenges a judgment rendered in favor of appellee, Texas Gas Transmission Corporation (Texas Gas), ordering the District to correct the 1995 appraisal roll to take into account interstate allocation for an aircraft belonging to Texas Gas. We address (1) whether a taxpayer must provide the District with information establishing entitlement to allocation at the time of rendition and (2) whether a prior year’s appraisal roll may be corrected under section 25.25(c)(3) of the Tax Code. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 25.25(c)(3) (Vernon 2001). We reverse the judgment and render judgment that Texas Gas take nothing by way of its suit.

Facts

The facts are undisputed. Texas Gas was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Williams Companies, Inc. Texas Gas owned a business aircraft that was registered at Houston Intercontinental Airport and was taxable in Texas. The aircraft traveled outside of Texas, but returned for repair, storage, inspection, maintenance, and service.

[91]*91Texas Gas rendered1 the aircraft for taxation for the tax year 1995. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. §§ 22.01(a), 22.25 (Vernon 2001) (requiring rendition of taxable personal property and establishing place and manner of filing same).2 Texas Gas did not include with its rendition form any information from which the District could have determined entitlement to, or from which it could have calculated the aircraft’s value for, allocation.3 The aircraft was listed on the District’s appraisal roll at a market value of $5,170,000. Texas Gas did not protest the 1995 appraised value of its aircraft.

On December 30,1999, Texas Gas filed a motion under section 25.25(c)(3) of the Tax Code to correct the 1995 appraisal roll by allocating 41% of the appraised value of its aircraft to Texas. Texas Gas submitted the aircraft’s flight logs and analysis to support its entitlement to allocation of the aircraft’s value.

On June 20, 2000, the District’s appraisal review board heard the motion, which the board denied by written order on June 23, 2000. Texas Gas sued for judicial review of the order, and the parties submitted the case to the trial court on an agreed statement of facts. The trial court found that, in 1994, 39% of the aircraft’s departures were from Texas. The trial court found in favor of Texas Gas and ordered the District to reduce the 1995 appraised value of the aircraft from $5,170,000 to $2,253,160.

Standard of Review

The case was tried pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 263. See Tex.R. Civ. P. 263. A case submitted under Rule 263, similar to a special verdict, is a request by the parties for judgment in accordance with the applicable law. See id.; see also see also Chiles v. Chubb Lloyds Ins. Co., 858 S.W.2d 633, 634 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1993, writ denied). There are no presumptions in favor of the judgment because the trial court had no factual issues to resolve. Stewart v. Hardie, 978 S.W.2d 203, 206 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1998, pet. denied). The only issue on appeal is whether the trial court correctly applied the law to the agreed facts. Harris County Appraisal Dist. v. Transamerica Container Leasing Inc., 920 S.W.2d 678, 680 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1995, writ denied). Because the issue is purely a question of law, our review is de novo. Stewart v. Hardie, 978 S.W.2d 203, 206 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1998, pet. denied).

Interstate Allocation

In its first issue, the District contends that Texas Gas had to show entitlement to interstate allocation for the aircraft at the time of rendition, but failed to do so. In its second issue, the District contends that, absent such a timely showing, Texas Gas [92]*92may not correct a prior year’s appraisal roll under section 25.25(c)(8) of the Tax Code.

A. Showing Entitlement to Allocation at Time of Rendition

The Tax Code requires taxpayers to render for taxation all tangible personal property used for producing income on January 1 of the tax year. See Tex. Tax Code ÁNN. § 22.01(a) (Vernon 2001). The word “shall” in section 22.01(a) is mandatory, not discretionary. See Robinson v. Budget Rent-A-Car Sys., Inc., 51 S.W.3d 425, 430-31 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2001, pet. denied). Although we have held that rendition is mandatory, we have not had an opportunity to address whether a taxpayer must also provide information showing entitlement to allocation with his rendition.

Section 21.03(a) of the Tax Code addresses interstate allocation:

If personal property that is taxable by a taxing unit is used continually outside this state, whether regularly or irregularly, the appraisal office shall allocate to this state the portion of the total market value of the property that fairly reflects its use in this state.

Tex. Tax Code AnN. § 21.03(a) (Vernon 2001). This section does not expressly state when a taxpayer must provide information showing entitlement to allocation. However, the provision under which Texas Gas sought allocation for its business aircraft implies that a taxpayer who seeks allocation must provide information showing entitlement to allocation at the time of rendition:4

(a) If an aircraft is used for a business purpose of the owner, is taxable by a taxing unit, and is used continually outside this state, whether regularly or irregularly, the appraisal office shall allocate to this state the portion of the fair market value of the aircraft that fairly reflects its use in this state. The appraisal office shall not allocate to this state the portion of the total market value of the aircraft that fairly reflects its use beyond the boundaries of this state.
(b) The allocable portion of the total fair market value of an aircraft described by Subsection (a) is presumed to be the fair market value of the aircraft multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is [93]*93the number of departures by the aircraft from a location in this state during the year preceding the tax year and the denominator of which is the total number of departures by the aircraft from all locations during the year preceding the tax year.

Tex. Tax Code ÁNN. § 21.055(a)-(b) (Vernon 2001) (emphasis added).5

It is the chief appraiser who determines taxable personal property’s market value. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 23.01(b) (Vernon 2001).

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105 S.W.3d 88, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 2646, 2003 WL 1563867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-county-appraisal-district-v-texas-gas-transmission-corp-texapp-2003.