Allamakee County Corner

Senate File 295 and Your Assessment
June 12, 2013 Senate File 295 was signed into law. For the 2013 assessment year this legislation created the Business Property Tax Credit (BPTC), a 95% rollback on commercial, industrial and railway property and permissible allowable valuation growth reduction from 4% to 3%. Notification was mailed to all commercial, industrial and railroad classed property owners informing them about the availability of the BPTC.
The Legislative Services Agency has estimated the first year BPTC will be approximately $523. The BPTC credit does not apply to residential or agriculturally classified property. One credit is available for each qualified property unit once an application has been filed. This portion of Senate File 295 will affect your taxes payable September 2014 and March 2015.
January 1, 2014 assessment changes include a 90% rollback on commercial, industrial and railway property, the date assessments must be completed April 1st, and protests to the Board of Review dates April 7-May 5.
Iowa will have a new classification of property for January 1, 2015, Multi-residential. Multi-residential classed property is to be used or intended to be used for human habitation even if there is also commercial or industrial use. Exclusions to the new classification will include Section 42 housing, hotels, motels, inns, and other buildings where rooms or dwelling units are typically rented for less than one month.
The Allamakee County Assessor’s Office will determine which properties or portion of properties meet the requirements of Multi-Residential.  For example, a commercial business building with qualifying apartments on the second floor starting January 1, 2015 assessment will have dual classification. The portion of the valuation attributable to apartments will be multi-residential class, leaving the remaining value commercial class. All multi-residential class valuation has a progressive rollback that by 2022 will be equal  to that of residential property.
This article does not include all the details of Senate File 295. 2013 Iowa Legislative Summaries may be viewed at http://www.iowa.gov/tax/taxlaw/13legsum.html . For any questions or to learn more about Senate File 295 contact the Allamakee County Assessor’s Office at 563-568-3145.

Ann Burckart
Allamakee County Assessor