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An Iowa Supreme Court decision released last week provides a favorable outcome for many AAI members who have above-ground storage tanks. Below is a summary of the opinion from our legal counsel at BrownWinick:
In Chickasaw County Board of Review v. Property Assessment Appeal Board and Growmark, Inc., the Iowa Supreme Court delivered a significant victory for agricultural businesses and fuel distributors by clarifying that large-scale above-ground storage tanks are generally classified as nontaxable personal property. The court’s analysis centered on the dichotomy in Iowa Code § 427A.1 between real property "improvements," which are taxable regardless of whether they are attached to the land, and "equipment," which are only assessable as real property if they are permanently attached to a building or structure.
Applying the ordinary meaning of these statutory terms, the court determined that Growmark’s eleven 90,000-gallon propane tanks were "implements used for a specific purpose" (fuel distribution) and thus qualified as equipment rather than land-enhancing improvements. Because the tanks sat on concrete saddles held only by gravity and could be moved for approximately $28,124 each—a fraction of the $180,000 replacement cost—the court concluded they were not "attached" for purposes of § 427A.1(1)(d). Under this logic, these tanks are excluded from real property tax assessments and are exempt as personal property under Iowa Code § 427A.2.
For association members and other tank owners, this decision establishes that large storage containers—regardless of their size or how long they have sat at a distribution site—should be excluded from property tax assessments as long as they are unattached, movable without damaging the land, and primarily serve a specific business operation rather than providing a general utility to the real estate.
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