(a)A board of county commissioners, a
county assessor, or a township assessor (if any) may enter into a
contract for the discovery of property that has been undervalued or
omitted from assessment. The contract must prohibit payment to the
contractor for discovery of undervaluation or omission with respect to
a parcel or personal property return before all appeals of the assessment
of the parcel or the assessment under the return have been finalized.
The contract may require the contractor to:
(1)examine and verify the accuracy of a personal property return
filed by a taxpayer with the county assessor or a township
assessor of a township in the county, if the contractor considers
the examination and verification of that personal property return
to be useful to the accuracy of the assessme
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(a) A board of county commissioners, a
county assessor, or a township assessor (if any) may enter into a
contract for the discovery of property that has been undervalued or
omitted from assessment. The contract must prohibit payment to the
contractor for discovery of undervaluation or omission with respect to
a parcel or personal property return before all appeals of the assessment
of the parcel or the assessment under the return have been finalized.
The contract may require the contractor to:
(1) examine and verify the accuracy of a personal property return
filed by a taxpayer with the county assessor or a township
assessor of a township in the county, if the contractor considers
the examination and verification of that personal property return
to be useful to the accuracy of the assessment process; and
(2) compare a return with the books of the taxpayer and with
personal property owned, held, possessed, controlled, or occupied
by the taxpayer, if the contractor considers the comparison to be
useful to the accuracy of the assessment process.
(b) This subsection applies if funds are not appropriated for
payment of services performed under a contract described in subsection
(a). The county auditor may create a special nonreverting fund in which
the county treasurer shall deposit the amount of taxes, including
penalties and interest, that result from additional assessments on
undervalued or omitted property collected from all taxing jurisdictions
in the county after deducting the amount of any property tax credits that
reduce the owner's property tax liability for the undervalued or omitted
property. The fund remains in existence during the term of the contract.
Distributions shall be made from the fund without appropriation only
for the following purposes:
(1) All contract fees and other costs related to the contract.
(2) Except as provided in subdivision (3), for a contract for
services entered into after June 30, 2017, including any
extensions, the contract must specify a monetary threshold set by
the county assessor and that when the money in the fund exceeds
the threshold then the county auditor shall distribute the money in
excess of the threshold to the appropriate taxing units in the
county using the property tax rates of each taxing unit in effect at
the time of the distribution.
(3) After the payments required by subdivision (1) have been
made and the contract has expired, the county auditor shall
distribute all money remaining in the fund to the appropriate
taxing units in the county using the property tax rates of each
taxing unit in effect at the time of the distribution.
(c) A board of county commissioners, a county assessor, or a
township assessor may not contract for services under subsection (a) on
a percentage basis or otherwise provide for payments under the
contract that are based in any way on increases of assessed value or
property tax revenue that are attributable to the discovery of property
that has been undervalued or omitted from assessment.
(d) The term of a contract for services under subsection (a) that is
entered into after June 30, 2017, may not exceed three (3) years,
including any extensions.
[Pre-1975 Property Tax Recodification Citation:
6-1-63-1.]
Formerly: Acts 1975, P.L.47, SEC.1. As amended by
P.L.178-2002, SEC.39; P.L.154-2006, SEC.54; P.L.146-2008,
SEC.289; P.L.180-2016, SEC.13; P.L.119-2017, SEC.1.