What You Need to Know About Personal Property Tax Renditions

 

A personal property rendition is a report that lists all business assets that are subject to personal property tax. Personal property includes office equipment, furniture, refrigeration units, machinery, supplies, tools, and other items that are not permanently attached to land. Land and real estate are considered “real property”, not personal property.

 

Generally, inventory of goods for resale and materials used for manufacturing are not considered personal property. The same goes for intellectual property like copyrights and trademarks.

 

All but 12 states* in the US require businesses to complete and file a personal property rendition each year. Most personal property reporting is handled by counties rather than states, so it matters where the property is located. Businesses with multiple locations may have a variety of property tax accounts tied to different counties.


*States Without Personal Property Tax

 

These states generate property tax revenue from real estate taxes instead of requiring personal property renditions:

Delaware

Hawaii

Illinois

Iowa

Minnesota

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Dakota

Ohio

Pennsylvania

South Dakota

Due Date of the Personal Property Rendition

 

Each state has an appraisal date (often January 1 or July 1) and a payment date. Some states allow taxpayers to make installment payments with half the personal property tax due earlier in the year and the second half due a few months later.

 

If you closed a location during the year, be sure to notify the county’s assessor so that location will no longer be taxed on that property. The tax liability for that location’s property is not prorated, even if the location was only open for part of the year.

 

What to Do Now

 

If Mize CPAs is engaged to prepare your personal property tax rendition, you’ll work with our state and local tax team. In order to complete a personal property rendition, you’ll need to have a detailed list of all your assets for each location. As you can imagine, it’s important to maintain this list throughout the year as property is acquired or disposed of. Now is the time to take a look at this list to ensure it’s up to date and accurate. Visit with your Mize relationship manager with any questions.


For more about State and Local Tax visit MizeCPAs.com