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Kern County Auditor-Controller-County Clerk’s and Treasurer-Tax Collector’s
Policy Statement For Cancellation of Taxes,
Penalties and Costs and for the Refund of Taxes
(Revised August 5, 2003)
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Statutory Background Authorizing Relief |
The provisions of Part 9, Chapters 1 through 5, commencing with Section 4801 of the California Revenue and Taxation Code,1 authorize a county, acting through its board of supervisors, its county assessor, its county auditor, and its county tax collector to make certain modifications, additions, deletions and corrections to the county’s property tax rolls.
Rev. & Tax. Code section 3731.1 authorizes a county board of supervisors to delegate, to one or more county officers, its authority to approve the rescission of the property tax sale of parcels that should not have been sold and the refund of the purchase price and recording costs associated with such rescinded sales.
The Kern Board of Supervisors has delegated such authority to the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk and Treasurer-Tax Collector since 1981 and vested these county officers with the power to develop and to amend written policies for the exercise of such authority by means of Resolution 2003-316, adopted on August 5, 2003
This policy is adopted to provide an administrative and procedural framework for the exercise of these powers. It is intended to give taxpayers and the county officers and employees responsible for property tax collection and tax accounting guidance as to the application of these statutes.
The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk and Treasurer-Tax Collector establish these uniform guidelines for their respective departments and for the special committees established here, within the legal mandates outlined in Board resolutions and the applicable Rev. & Tax. Code statutes.
This policy is intended to facilitate the orderly and fair processing of:
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Taxpayer requests for cancellation of penalties and costs imposed for failure to make timely payment of taxes (Rev. & Tax. §§ 4985.2).
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City and other governmental entity requests for the cancellation of defaulted property taxes, tax penalties and tax collection costs due to the County as liens against real property after the city’s or other governmental entity’s foreclosure upon a parcel or the acquisition of a parcel by another governmental entity for the default of bond assessments or special taxes (Rev. & Tax. § 4986.3).
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Taxpayer and/or property owner claims for the refund of taxes and tax penalties claimed under the provisions of Rev. & Tax. § 5096.
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This policy does not affect, modify or otherwise limit the exercise of other discretionary authority vested in these county officers by statute. Except as otherwise specifically provided here, this policy also does not alter, add to or detract from any county officer’s ministerial duties imposed by statute, local ordinance or local resolution.
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Statutory Responsibilities
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The different legal duties of county officers with respect to the assessment of taxable real property, the determination of taxes and assessments due on such property and the billing and collection of the taxes and assessments due on such property is summarily illustrated by the block below. This policy addresses the powers delegated to these officers when taxes have been defaulted. |
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Assessor-Recorder
Determines Owner As Of Lien Date
Determines Mailing Address For Bills
Determines Location Of Property
Determines Value Of Property
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Auditor-Controller
Determines Tax Rate
Extends Tax Roll
Charges Tax Collector For Collection Of Taxes
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Treasurer-Tax Collector
Mails All Tax Bills
Responsible For Collection Of Taxes
Conducts Sales of Tax Defaulted Properties
Cancellation of Tax Sales Due to Errors
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General Procedural Overview
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The California Property Tax System |
Property taxes become a lien against the property taxed on the first day of January preceding the tax year (July 1-June 30) for which the taxes are due (Rev. & Tax. § 2192). Taxes imposed and secured by real property are entitled to super-priority against all other liens, encumbrances or charges (Rev. & Tax. § 2192.1) and the penalties and costs imposed for default in the payment of such taxes must be paid to redeem such property from tax defaulted status (Rev. & Tax. § 4102).
The Auditor is charged with responsibility to enter the assessed value of locally assessed property on the tax roll (Rev. & Tax. § 1646), to calculate the amount of taxes and assessments due on each tax parcel (Rev. & Tax. § 2152), and to transmit this tax roll information to the Treasurer-Tax Collector for preparation and issuance of tax bills (Rev. & Tax. §§ 2601, 2754 and 2909.1).
The Treasurer-Tax Collector is required to issue and mail (or electronically transmit) tax bills for taxes on unsecured property to the property owners of record at their address of record by July 31, with the taxes so assessed last payable without delinquency on August 31. Any taxes added to the unsecured roll after July 31 are last payable without delinquency on the last day of the month following the month succeeding the month of enrollment (Rev. & Tax. § 2922[b]).
Secured taxes are payable in two installments, with the first installment last payable, without penalty, on December 10 and the second installment, last payable without penalty, on April 10 of the tax year for which the taxes are assessed (Rev. & Tax. §§ 2616-2617).
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Property Tax Penalties |
Property taxes not timely paid are subject to a delinquency penalty equal to 10% of the amount of the property tax due plus costs and penalties accruing at the rate of 1.5% per month after the taxes are declared to be in default (Rev. & Tax. §§ 2616, 2617, 2910.1, 2922, subsections [d] and [e]).
Installments not paid without delinquency before December 10 (the first installment) or April 10 (the second installment) are subject to the imposition of a penalty equal to 10% of the amount of the delinquent tax installment and the imposition of costs (Rev. & Tax. §§ 2616, 2617 and 2621).
The property taxed is subject to a declaration of tax default of the property if either or both of the installments remain unpaid by June 30 of the year for which the taxes are due (Rev. & Tax. §§ 3436-3437).
Once property subject to secured taxes is deemed defaulted, the property becomes subject to sale five years after the date of default for satisfaction of the taxes due unless redeemed by the payment of redemption penalties (calculated at 1.5% per month on the amount of defaulted taxes) plus statutory costs payable under the provisions of Rev. & Tax. §§ 4102-4103.
Property subject to defaulted unsecured taxes may be subject to seizure and sale for the taxes due or may be subject to the recording of a judgment lien secured by all real property in the county for the unpaid taxes and penalties due or may be subject to the entry of a summary judgment for the amount of defaulted taxes (Rev. & Tax. §§ 2191.6 et seq,, 2760 et seq.; and 3101 et seq.)
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Application for Waiver of Tax Penalties |
If a property is subject to delinquency penalties for late payment of a property tax or redemption penalties for default in the payment of a secured property tax, the property owner may seek a waiver or cancellation of the imposed penalties and costs under Rev. & Tax. § 4985.2(a).
A property owner may obtain relief from penalties and costs if the property owner can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Auditor and/or Tax Collector, that the default in payment was due to reasonable cause and circumstances beyond the property owner’s control. Further, the taxpayer must show that the failure to pay occurred notwithstanding the exercise of ordinary care and in the absence of any taxpayer neglect.
This relief is conditioned upon payment of the principal amount of the defaulted taxes due within four year after the taxes became defaulted. Payment of the entire amount of the taxes due (including penalties and costs) is a precondition to consideration of an application for tax penalty cancellation. If the property is subject to delinquency penalties due to the inadvertent payment of the incorrect amount of a tax, that penalty may be waived if the Auditor and/or Tax Collector determines the erroneous payment was inadvertent and if the correct amount of the tax is paid within ten (10) days of giving the taxpayer notice of the error (Rev. & Tax. § 4985.2[b]). See the application procedure for tax penalty and cost waivers discussed at Pages 6-10, below.
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Claims For Property Tax Refunds |
If a property owner believes that a property tax or a penalty on that property tax has been erroneously or illegally imposed, that property owner must pay that tax (or the amount of the installment of that tax then due) as a prerequisite to claiming a tax refund (Rev. & Tax. §§ 5096, 5145). A property owner may not dispute the legality of a tax or tax penalty without first paying the total tax due (or at least an installment of the taxes and penalties due).
The taxpayer must file a written and verified claim for refund with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. This claim must be filed by the person who paid the contested tax or tax penalty within four (4) years of the date that the tax or penalty was paid (Rev. & Tax. §§ 5096 and 5097). In Kern, property tax refunds are reviewed and acted upon by the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk. See "Tax Refund Claims Applications" at Pages 15-17, below.
The claim must set forth the amount claimed and the factual reasons why the claimant believes that the tax or penalty was illegally assessed or collected (Rev. & Tax. §§ 5096, 5097.2). The county has up to six (6) months to consider the claim after filing and the claim may be deemed denied by the claimant (but not by the County) if not it is not acted upon within that period (Rev. & Tax. §§ 5141, 5142 and 5143). If a tax refund claim is rejected, the taxpayer must be given written notice of that rejection.
Within six (6) months of the rejection of a claim, the property owner may initiate suit for refund of the taxes or penalties claimed in the Superior Court of the County where the contested taxes were assessed (Rev. & Tax. §§ 5140, 5141 and 5143).
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Cancellation Of Property Taxes When Property Deeded To Or Foreclosed Upon By A City Or Other Governmental Entity |
If a city or other governmental entity forecloses upon real property for the default in 1915 Bond Act assessments or for default in the payment of special taxes levied under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 and the property is also subject to an uncollected county property taxes, tax penalties and/or costs, the foreclosing governmental entity may seek tax relief from a county if such relief is necessary to allow the sale or other economic use of the property. A county may grant such tax penalty relief if the foreclosing entity presents satisfactory proof that it is necessary to cancel all or some portion of such taxes, penalties or costs to allow a liquidation sale to third parties or other economic use.
In Kern, the Board of Supervisors has delegated its authority to cancel such taxes, penalties and costs to the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk (Rev. & Tax. § 4986.3).
The application procedure and requirements for the submission of these requests are described at Pages 12-17, below.
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Cancellation Upon Acquisition by State |
If real property is deeded to the California Department of Veteran’s Affairs or escheated to the State of California subject to unpaid taxes, a county auditor, acting under similar delegated authority, may cancel such taxes, penalties and costs (Rev. & Tax. §§ 4986.4 and 4986.5[a]).
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Rescission of Tax Sale and Refund of Purchase Price |
When the Treasurer-Tax Collector has conducted a tax sale of tax defaulted property and determines that the property should not have been sold, the sale may be rescinded and the purchase price and any recording fees paid upon the execution of a rescission agreement and agreement for cancellation of the tax deed by the Treasurer-Tax Collector and tax sale purchaser. The agreement must be reviewed and approved by County Counsel (see pages 17-18 for procedure). The authority to approve such rescissions has been delegated to the Treasurer-Tax Collector by the Board of Supervisors.
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Penalty Waivers and Cancellations for Delinquent Tax Payments
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GUIDELINES FOR INDIVIDUAL TAX PENALTY RELIEF UNDER REV. & TAX. § 4985.2 |
Applications by individuals and business entities for relief from property tax penalties and costs associated with tax delinquencies or defaults resulting from the claimed "excusable neglect" of the owner must be submitted in writing to the Treasurer-Tax Collector.
In order to provide speedy and complete consideration of such penalty relief requests, any taxpayer seeking to be relieved of a delinquent property tax penalty under this sub-section must adhere to the following procedures:
- APPLICATION FORMS. No request for cancellation of penalty shall be considered unless the Applicant submits a complete request on the application form provided by the County. All applications must be signed by the property owner2 under penalty of perjury and filed with the Treasurer-Tax Collector. Any documents (or declarations of fact) necessary to fully and adequately consider the request for relief must be submitted with the written application for relief. A copy of that form is attached to the end of this policy as Exhibit "1."
- DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION AND PAYMENT OF TAXES DUE. The property owner (or his/her authorized agent) must file an application for cancellation of tax penalties and costs within four (4) years of the date of the original tax delinquency.
- The entire amount of the then due taxes, penalties and costs; or
- An application of the property owner to initiate a tax redemption plan for tax defaulted property under Rev. & Tax. § 4216 et seq. and the initial payment of taxes, penalties and costs due under that redemption plan.
Applications for relief that are not accompanied by the payment of taxes (or the partial payment of taxes under a redemption plan) will be automatically denied and the reason for the denial will be recorded by the Treasurer-Tax Collector.
Delinquent penalties for late payment may only be cancelled upon the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s factual finding that the property owner’s submitted application and supporting documents, shows reasonable and good cause for the taxpayer’s failure to make the timely payment of the taxes due.
This statement of facts must also establish that the property owner’s failure to make timely payment was due to circumstances beyond his or her control that occurred notwithstanding his or her ordinary care and without willful neglect on his or her part.
Application For Relief Under Rev. & Tax. § 4985.2(b)
- CIRCUMSTANCES JUSTIFYING RELIEF. The Treasurer-Tax Collector will consider the following examples as circumstances which justify findings in support of cancellation of delinquent penalties:
- Disability of the taxpayer (or person responsible for payment of the taxes) due to injury or illness which commences on or before the tax deadline and continues thereafter under circumstances which preclude not only the taxpayer, but also the spouse, other family member, or agent from making timely payment. The nature and extent of the disability must be supported by medical or other evidence and will be considered in whether to grant or deny the application.
- Death of the taxpayer or person responsible for payment of the taxes that occurred on or within 90 days before the tax deadline under circumstances that results in a practical inability on the part of the heirs of the property owner to pay the tax in a timely manner.
- Inclement weather precluding payment either in person or by mail. Such weather conditions must have commenced on or before the tax deadline and been of sufficient severity up to the date and time of the deadline so as to preclude such timely payment.
- A disaster such as a fire, flood, earthquake, civil unrest, or other extraordinary event which commenced on or before the tax payment deadline and is of such severity up to the date and time of the deadline as to prevent the taxpayer from making timely payment.
- An error on the part of the county assessor, auditor or tax collector in executing duties involving the tax assessment or collection procedure that causes the property not to be assessed or causes a tax bill not to issue to the owner of record and that failure to pay taxes is corrected by the taxpayer within 30 days of notice of the error (Rev. Tax. § 4985).
- A property owner may also have delinquent tax penalties and costs cancelled upon a factual showing of "good cause" under Rev. & Tax. § 4985.2.
The Treasurer-Tax Collector will exercise his or her discretion under this statute to grant or deny relief from penalties and costs and will be the sole judge of the existence or non-existence of "good cause."
- CIRCUMSTANCES NOT JUSTIFYING RELIEF. The Treasurer-Tax Collector or the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk, will not consider the following examples as circumstances which justify findings in support of cancellation of penalties:
- Lack of funds to have made timely payment of taxes.
- Rejection of a negotiable instrument by a bank or other financial institution.
- Failure to receive a tax bill (if the bill was mailed to the property owner’s last known address of record) (Rev. & Tax. § 2610.5 and 2910.1 ).
- Late payment because the taxpayer or other person responsible for payment is out of the country.
- Late payment when the property is held in joint ownership and one owner erroneously relied on another owner or 3rd person to make payment.
- Late payment when the property owner relied on a 3rd party to make the payment (i.e., employee, bookkeeper, attorney, C.P.A., mortgage service company, management company, bank, etc.) and that person failed to make the payment.
- Late payment caused by the payment arriving by mail, delivery service or messenger after the installment delinquency date. While payments sent by U.S. Mail with the pre-paid postage on the letter cancelled prior to the delinquency date will be accepted as timely, private postal meter cancellations will not be accepted as a valid postmark for timely submission of tax payments that are delivered after the tax delinquency date.
- DECISION ON APPLICATION. Upon receipt of the properly submitted application for tax penalty relief and payment of the taxes and penalties due,3 the Treasurer-Tax Collector (or his or her designee) shall consider the application on the factual merits presented and exercise official discretion on the application.
Within thirty (30) days of receipt, the Treasurer-Tax Collector shall respond in writing to the property owner’s application. This written response will inform the taxpayer whether the application has been granted or denied and provide the factual reasons for the grant or denial of the requested relief.
- REVIEW OF DECISION. If a property owner-taxpayer is not satisfied with the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s decision, the property owner may submit a written request for further administrative review within ten (10) days of the date of mailing of the decision. The failure to seek further review within this period will waive further rights of appeal.
This review shall be considered and conducted by a three (3) person County of Kern Tax Penalty Review committee. This committee shall be composed of the Treasurer-Tax Collector (or his or her designee), the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk (or his or her designee) and the County Counsel (or his or her designee).
The member of the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office who denied the initial application for relief shall not participate in the administrative review conducted by this committee.
This review shall be conducted exclusively on the basis of the written documents submitted by the applicant and considered by the Treasurer-Tax Collector. No testimony or additional documents shall be considered unless such additional information is specifically requested by the committee. The review committee shall issue a written decision sustaining the appealed decision or granting the requested tax penalty relief within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the request for review.
- FINALITY OF DECISION: If a property owner-taxpayer does not file a timely request further review of the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s denial of relief, that decision will be final for all further administrative purposes.
If the property owner-taxpayer seeks administrative review from the County’s 3 person review committee, that committee’s decision is final upon issuance and mailing. No further administrative review is available. This policy implements the permissive "rule-making" provisions of Section 2610.5.
Applications For Relief Under Rev. & Tax. § 4985.2(c)
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The Treasurer-Tax Collector shall receive and review any judgment or order issued by any state or federal court canceling County of Kern tax penalties that is served on the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.
After consultation with County Counsel, the Treasurer-Tax Collector may forward the judgment or order with a written penalty cancellation request to the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk for correction of the tax roll.
If, after consulting with County Counsel, the Treasurer-Tax Collector has reason to question the validity of any such Court order, the Treasurer-Tax Collector may defer complying with any such order pending the pursuit and exhaustion of any administrative or judicial means to challenge the questioned order or judgment before a Court of competent jurisdiction.
The Treasurer-Tax Collector’s decision to comply with a received Court order for the cancellation of penalties or to seek further judicial review shall be final for all administrative purposes.
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Refund From Tax Penalty Payments Submitted With Application |
If an individual’s application for relief from delinquent tax penalties and costs is approved, the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk shall issue and mail the refund of the waived penalties and/or costs to the taxpayer. If the claim is rejected and the property owner’s submitted payment is sufficient to redeem the tax delinquent or tax defaulted property, the Kern Treasurer-Tax Collector will issue a certificate of redemption. |
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Guidelines For Tax Penalty Relief For Cities And Other Governmental Entities Foreclosing Upon Or Acquiring Tax Defaulted Properties |
Due to property owner defaults in 1915 Bond Act assessments or defaults in Mello-Roos (Rev. & Tax. § 53311 et seq.) special tax payments, cities and other governmental entities (including special districts, community service districts or school districts) are forced to foreclose upon the real property to satisfy the defaulted indebtedness. The acquiring city or other governmental entity are frequently forced to discount the underlying debt in order to sell the property to 3rd parties. When such properties are also subject to defaulted county property taxes and penalties, the total property tax and debt burden on the property will frequently be greater than the property’s market value.
In order to return such properties to the active tax roll, a governmental entity may seek and a county may grant, relief from part or ( in very extraordinary circumstances) all of the existing property tax liens, penalties and costs. While it will cancel tax penalties and costs upon a showing of good cause, Kern will not cancel any part of the defaulted taxes absent extremely compelling circumstances.
A county may (but is not required) to grant tax debt relief under the provisions of Rev. & Tax. § 4986.3.
All applications for relief submitted by governmental entities under this section must clearly and convincingly establish to the satisfaction of the county that the foreclosed upon property cannot be put to reasonable economic use unless part or all of the outstanding penalties, costs or underlying taxes due the county are cancelled. The Applicant must show that the foreclosed property will not and cannot be the subject of an economic "fair market value" sale unless the County of Kern grants relief.
Any relief from payment of defaulted county taxes under this policy requires that the Applicant entity (1) return all Teeter Fund payments previously received from the County (if any) for the taxes billed in the defaulted tax years and (2) agree to reduce the delinquent special taxes, bond assessments, penalties and costs to be ultimately recovered by the bondholders through the sale of the property by at least the same amount that the governmental entity asks the county to cancel or waive under Rev. & Tax. § 4986.3.
County penalties, costs or the underlying taxes will not be cancelled or waived in order to make the city or other governmental entity Applicants "whole" to the prejudice of Kern County. The Applicant (and the bondholders) must be ready to surrender their financial claims against the property at least to the same extent as the county is asked to waive its tax penalties, costs and/or property taxes.
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Application For Relief By Cities After Foreclosure Under Rev. & Tax. § 4986.3 |
If a city or other governmental entity (hereafter "Applicant") seeks relief in the form of the full or partial cancellation of delinquent or defaulted tax penalties, collection costs and/or defaulted taxes subsequent to that governmental entity’s foreclosure upon real property for the default of 1915 Act bond assessments or Mello-Roos special taxes, that governmental entity must follow the written application and consideration procedure set forth below: |
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Written Application For Section 4986.3 Relief |
The Applicant shall submit a written request for relief on the form provided by the County of Kern (attached as Exhibit "2") or by a letter containing each of the information elements set out here:
- Name, address, telephone number(s), fax number, e-mail address and responsible officer/contact person(s) for the Applicant;
- The real properties for which the relief is sought (identified by street address, Kern Assessor’s Tax Parcel Number ["Kern ATN"] and legal description);
- The amount (by Kern ATN) of the current, delinquent or defaulted property taxes, special assessments, penalties and costs due on each parcel as of the date of application and the names and mailing addresses of all county governmental agencies that receive a share of the general taxes, special taxes and assessments on the parcels;4
- The date on which the Applicant foreclosed upon or otherwise obtained title to the tax defaulted parcel(s), together with a copy of the judgment of foreclosure, the order for judicial sale or the deed in lieu of foreclosure for each of the parcels subject to the Applicant’s request for relief;
- The amount of defaulted bond assessments or Mello-Roos special taxes, penalties and costs due on each parcel subject to Applicant’s request as of the date of foreclosure;
- The current amount of bond assessments (and total bond indebtedness) or special taxes outstanding on each of the parcels;
- A written current unconditional "fair market value" appraisal of each of the parcels (at the current or probable "highest and best use") prepared by an appraiser licensed by the California Office of Real Estate Appraisers (Bus. & Prof. § 11301 et seq.). The appraisal must be prepared in accordance with the then approved Uniform Standards of Appraisal Practice issued by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation;
- The amounts of County of Kern Teeter Fund Payments (if any) that the Applicant has received from the County in anticipation of the payment of the delinquent or defaulted taxes on each of the parcels and the Applicant’s plans (if any) to repay the County for those Teeter Funds received;
- A narrative description containing a brief background description of the transaction giving rise to the creation of and purposes for the 1915 Bond Act or Mello-Roos debt for which the tax penalty relief is requested. The Applicant must outline the factual need and economic justification for the tax penalty relief sought. The Applicant must also describe, in detail, the nature and extent of the monetary relief sought from the County and the date on which the balance of the outstanding defaulted property taxes will be paid (if the requested relief were to be granted); and
- The Committee is required to recover its actual costs and expenses of the county officers and staff expended in considering and processing any request for relief under this statute (Kern Admin. Bulletin No. 2). To this end, all applications for relief are to be accompanied by a processing fee. All costs to the County associated with the proceedings are to be advanced by the Applicant.
The Applicant shall submit an initial deposit in an amount of not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) with the completed application. The deposit shall be placed in a trust account held by the County. All costs expended by the County for staff time or other County resources expended during the review process are to be paid from this account.
If, in the judgment of the Committee and the involved departments, the costs incurred or projected will cause the balance in this account to fall below two thousand dollars ($2,000), the Committee shall request the Applicant to advance monies sufficient to bring the account to a balance that is projected to meet remaining costs required to complete the review process. Failure to advance the requested monies within ten (10) days of a written demand by the County will result in all processing of the application to cease and may (in the discretion of the Committee) cause the request to be denied.
Monies held in the trust account are to be applied to pay the County and its staff for all wages, costs and expenses incurred in reviewing and processing the application as well as the costs of any private consultants deemed necessary to conduct and complete the review process and notification of all other governmental entities that will be impacted by the relief requested by and granted to the Applicant.
Any unexpended part of the actual cost deposit will be refunded within 15 days of the issuance of a decision on the application.
- Completed applications shall be submitted, together with the deposit of costs to:
Auditor-Controller-County Clerk
County of Kern
1115 Truxtun Avenue, 2nd Floor
Bakersfield, CA 93301
Attn: Rev. & Tax. § 4986.3 Tax Application
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Staff Review of City or Governmental Agency Tax Penalty Relief Applications and Decisions |
Any completed application for relief under Rev. & Tax. § 4986.3 shall be considered within 30 days of submission of a complete application. The Applicant will receive a written decision within that time granting all or part of the requested relief or denying the relief.
The Applicant’s submission shall be considered by a three (3) person committee composed of:
- The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk (or his or her designee);
- The Treasurer-Tax Collector (or his or her designee); and
- The County Administrative Officer (or his or her designee).
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This Committee shall receive legal advice from the County Counsel (or his or her designee), who shall attend all Committee meetings.
The members of the Committee may select a rotating chair to calendar and notice meetings. The Committee may designate one member (or its legal advisor) to prepare written decisions on applications for relief. No formal minutes need be maintained. The Committee shall act based on the written submission of the Applicant and such other information, whether oral or written evidence, that the Committee may request the Applicant to present.
The Applicant may appear at the Committee Meeting at which its application is considered. The Applicant may present such additional written or oral information in support of its request that it believes to be relevant or material.
The Committee shall act on any application based on the Committee’s determination, in its sole discretion, that the Applicant has presented "satisfactory proof" of good cause and economic need for relief to be granted so as to permit the Applicant to satisfy (or partially satisfy) any unpaid property taxes, assessments, special taxes, penalties, costs and secured governmental debt. Such proof shall include appraisals of the property and such other evidence of the need for tax relief as the Committee and Applicant may deem relevant.
The Committee may grant full or partial relief to the Applicant conditioned upon the payment of all or any portion of any outstanding property taxes by a certain date.
If the Committee grants all or any part of the relief requested by the Applicant, the Committee (acting through the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk) shall give written notice of the relief granted and the fiscal impact of that relief to each governmental entity (other than the County of Kern) entitled to a portion of the taxes, assessments, penalties or costs waived or cancelled. The cost of such notice will be paid from the Applicant’s deposit.
While the Committee may, in its sole discretion, seek and obtain advice, guidance or ratification of any act performed upon request made to the Board of Supervisors, the decisions of the Committee are not subject to further appeal to the Board of Supervisors. The Committee shall promptly mail a copy of its decision to the Applicant and file any written decision on an application with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.
The decision of the Committee is final for all further administrative purposes and shall be evidenced by a written decision. The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk (or his or her designee) shall sign all decisions of the Committee.
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Tax Refund Claims Applications |
A property owner-taxpayer may seek the refund of property taxes or tax penalties previously paid by filing a written verified tax refund claim (either as part of an application for property tax equalization filed pursuant to Rev. & Tax. § 5097[b] or as a separate refund claim). This claim may only be filed by the person who paid the tax amount claimed subject to refund. A tax refund claim form is attached to the conclusion of this Policy as Exhibit "3."
Tax refund claims must be lodged with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, addressed as:
Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
County of Kern
1115 Truxtun Avenue, 5th Floor
Bakersfield, CA 93301
While the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk or the Treasurer-Tax Collector may refund taxes or penalties resulting from their corrections of the tax roll (under the provisions of Rev. & Tax. § 5097.2) all tax refund applications not resulting from tax roll corrections must be lodged with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors to be valid claims against the County of Kern.
Taxes or tax penalties are subject to refund if the property owner-taxpayer files his or her claim (verified under penalty of perjury) within four (4) years of the date that the protested taxes were paid and alleges facts showing that the taxes claimed were:
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Paid more than once;
- Erroneously or illegally collected;
- Illegally assessed or levied;
- Paid on an assessment in excess of the ratio of assessed value to the full value of the property as provided in Section 401 by reason of the assessor's clerical error or excessive or improper assessments attributable to erroneous property information supplied by the assessee;
- Paid on an assessment of improvements when the improvements did not exist on the lien date;
- Paid on an assessment in excess of the equalized value of the property as determined pursuant to Section 1613 by the county board of equalization; or
- Paid on an assessment in excess of the value of the property as determined by the assessor pursuant to Section 469.
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The responsibility to review tax refund claims was delegated to the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk by the Board of Supervisors through the adoption of Resolution 89-521, adopted June 10, 1989.
This delegation of authority was affirmed by the adoption of Board Resolution 2003-082 on March 11, 2003. It was again affirmed by adoption of Resolution 2003-_____ on _____, 2003.
The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk shall review all tax refund claims on their merits and may consult with County Counsel as to legal questions posed by a particular tax refund claim.
The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk may consult with the Board of Supervisors or any other county officer in the process of reviewing the tax refund claim.
The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk shall consider such claims of the factual and legal merits, using his or her official discretion and either issue a written decision to the property owner-taxpayer granting or denying the refund claim within six (6) months of its submission (Rev. & Tax. § 5141).
If the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk allows the claim, the allowed amount of the claim shall be paid.
If the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk denies the claim, that decision will be the final decision of the County of Kern for purposes of judicial review under Rev. & Tax. § 5141. The decision reached by the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk shall be the final administrative decision of the County.
The Auditor-Controller-County Clerk will notify the property owner-taxpayer of the decision on the submitted claim in writing within six (6) months of submission and provide a copy of any such decision to County Counsel and the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.
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Recission of Tax Sales |
A county tax collector is authorized and required to attempt to sell tax defaulted property to satisfy the unpaid taxes (Rev. & Tax. § 3691 et seq.). A county tax collector is required to publish notice of the intent to sell the property, secure the consent of the board of supervisors and to secure the power to sell the property from the State Controller (Rev. & Tax. §§ 3361-3364, 3691.1-3691.6 and 3699). The tax collector must notify the last assessee of record, notify all governmental entities of the pending sale, and to all "parties in interest" and occupants of the property prior to conducting a tax sale (Rev. & Tax. §§, 3694, 3695, 3701 and 3702).
If the tax collector fails to provide the requisite notice of the intent to sell the property, the title owners of record or other "parties in interest" may seek to invalidate the sale within one year of the execution of the tax deed for the property (Rev. & Tax. §§ 3725-3726).
If the tax collector determines that there has been a defect in the tax sales procedure or that there is some other reason why the property should not have been sold, the tax collector may seek to enter an agreement to rescind the sale if:
- The property has not been transferred or conveyed by the purchaser to a bona fide purchaser for value; or
- The property has not become subject to a bona fide encumbrance for value subsequent to the recording of the tax deed (Rev. & Tax. § 3731).
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In Kern, the authority to rescind tax sales under Rev. & Tax. § 3731 has been delegated to the Kern Treasurer-Tax Collector.
Upon the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s determination that a tax sale should be rescinded, his or her finding that there has not been a subsequent transfer or encumbrance for value and the agreement of the tax sale purchaser to a rescission, the Treasurer-Tax Collector may prepare an "Agreement of Rescission," setting aside the tax sale and cancelling the tax deed.
Upon review and approval of the "Agreement of Rescission" by County Counsel, the executed agreement shall be acknowledged by the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk and recorded, without fee, by the Assessor-Recorder. A copy of the recorded agreement shall be forwarded to the State Controller by the Treasurer-Tax Collector.
After the "Agreement of Rescission" has been recorded, the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk shall issue a refund of the purchase price and recording fee to the tax sale purchaser. That officer shall maintain a permanent record of all tax sale rescissions approved.
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¹ Hereafter Rev. & Tax. |
² Or, if the property owner is a partnership, corporation or limited liability company, by an officer or agent of that property owner properly authorized to submit property tax related documents on behalf of the property owner. Such authorization must be demonstrated by written evidence from the property owner submitted with the signed application. |
³ Or the portion of the taxes and penalties due under a tax defaulted property redemption plan. |
&sup4; This information may be obtained from the Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Auditor-Controller-County Clerk before submission of the application upon payment of a tax title research fee. |
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