W. Va. Code R. § 110-1E-3

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 110-1E-3 - Petition For Hearing Of Record

3.1. Who may petition. -- The owner(s)of the property, the person(s) in whose name the property is assessed or the person(s) liable for the taxes assessed against the property may petition for a hearing of record before the county commission of the county in which is situated the larger portion of the appraised property which is liable to assessment for ad valorem property taxation, and the county commission shall sit as an Administrative Appraisal Review Board. Such petition shall be on the form provided for that purpose by the State Tax Department to the county commission.

3.2. Timeliness of petition. -- The petition requesting such hearing shall be submitted within thirty (30) days after the earlier of:

a. The day the Tax Commissioner notifies the owner(s) or the person(s) liable for the taxes assessed of his determination as authorized and described in West Virginia Code § 11-1A-16.4, or

b. The twenty-first (21) day after making the request for the Tax Commissioner to review the valuation, such review process being described in West Virginia Code § 11-1A-16(c).

3.3. Who to receive a copy of petition. -- Contemporaneously with the filing of the petition with the county commission, the petitioner shall mail a copy of the petition to the Tax Commissioner, and shall mail or deliver a copy to the assessor, the prosecuting attorney, and the property owner (if the property owner is not the petitioner). Upon receipt of the petition, the Tax Commissioner shall take action appropriate to assure the interests of the State and local taxing bodies are protected. Such action shall include:

a. Making a determination as to appropriate legal counsel to defend the interests of the State and the local taxing bodies,

b. Notifying the selected counsel, and

c. Pro viding sufficient information and other assistance to assure the accomplishment of a proper defense.

3.4. Attachments to the petition. --The petition filed with the county commission shall have endorsed or appended to it a certificate signed by the petitioner or his attorney that such copies were mailed or delivered. Also appended to the petition and to each copy of the petition shall be any attachments the petitioner feels may be relevant to deciding the issues involved in the hearing. The only other time relevant information may be submitted is at the hearing before the county commissioner. Additionally, each protestor and/or intervenor must attach to the petition and each copy of the petition a statement which alleges and shows sufficient good cause to allow such protest or intervention.

a. At the time the county commission provides to the petitioner the Petition For Hearing form, the county commission shall complete that portion of the form titled Office Use Only. The county commission must assign a docket number to the petition prior to when the petition is mailed to the Tax Commissioner.

3.5. Hearings docket system. -- The county commission shall establish a system, the purpose of which will be to docket hearings which result from the filing of petitions.

a. The county commission whenever possible shall docket together for concurrent hearings which will occur on the same day and/or which will occur at the same time for two (2) or more pieces of property, petitions filed upon properties which have common elements and for which the basis for the petition is the same; i.e., similar types of property in the same geographical area (residences in the same subdivision).

b. The time allotted for each hearing should be dependent upon the complexity of the challenge. For example, the hearing time for a residence should be no more than one-half (1/2) hour.

3.6. Hearings date and time notification. -- The State Tax Department shall provide the necessary assistance to expedite the hearing process.

a. The State Tax Department, upon receiving petitions from petitioners, shall properly enter the petitions into the data processing system network. The network shall be designed so as to allow the State Tax Department to provide a suggested hearing list to the respective county commissions.

b. Upon receipt of the suggested hearing list, the county commission shall determine its docket for hearing the petitions. A county commission may not determine its hearings docket until it has received the suggested hearings list from the State Tax Department. Each county commission shall notify the State Tax Department of its hearings docket, such notice being provided at least thirty (30) days prior to the date of the hearing.

c. Upon receiving such notification, the State Tax Department shall generate the appropriate notice and insert the notice in a mailing envelope. Subsequent to being inserted in the envelope, envelopes for each county shall be batched together and on a weekly basis returned to the appropriate county which in turn and at its own expense shall mail the envelopes to the parties. At that time, the State Tax Department shall also review its resource requirements and the requests for appraisers who will be witnesses at the hearings.

3.7. Commencement of hearings. -- For each type of property, the county commission shall not commence to docket hearings until after the completion of one hundred seven (107) days after the date of the notice required by West Virginia Code § 11-1A-16(a).

a. Hearings on each type of property should commence as soon as possible but in no instance later than thirty (30) days after the completion of the one hundred seven (107) day period.

b. The county commission should schedule the hearings so as to have completed all hearings and rendered all decisions on or before January 16, 1986: Provided, That in those instances where the final notice of value was not provided in a timely manner, due process requires the provision of the same one hundred seven (107) day time period.

c. The county commission may schedule for hearing prior to the completion of the one hundred seven (107) day time period petitions on properties which have common elements of geography, type and use, and upon which exists the same basis for challenging the appraised value.

W. Va. Code R. § 110-1E-3