As the Ohio Legislature finalized its work for the 135th General Assembly during the early morning hours of December 19, many tax-related provisions were included in bills that will make their way to the Governor for his consideration soon.
HB 315 (https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/135/hb315/documents), a measure to revise township laws in Ohio, ended up as the vehicle for several provisions in an early morning conference committee. Here is a brief summation of the tax related provisions that would become law upon signature by the Governor:
- Township TIFs – Authorizes townships to extend a tax increment financing (TIF) district. The extension may not exceed 15 years and may not increase the percentage of the value of improvements exempted from taxation.
- CAUV for conservation projects – Allows farmland to continue to be valued at its current agricultural use valuation (CAUV) if the land becomes subject to a conservation project funded by theH2Ohio program or the land is or was, within the last two years, subject to such a project and is now subject to a conservation easement held by the state or another party in connection with the H2Ohio program..
- Sales Tax Exemption for certain sports facilities – Changes the sales tax exemption for building and construction materials incorporated into the original construction of certain professional sports facilities to include any construction (not just the original construction) and include all tangible personal property incorporated into the professional sports facility. Also, allows the person that leases a county-owned sports facility to sign, on behalf of the county, a sales tax exemption certificate to exempt the tangible personal property incorporated into the professional sports facility.
- Ohio Opportunity Zone investment tax credit – Allows the tax credit for investments in Ohio opportunity zones to be claimed against the financial institutions tax, domestic insurance companies tax, and the foreign insurance tax. Currently, it can only be claimed against the income tax. Would apply to applications filed 90 days after the bill’s 90-day effective date.
- Network Delivery Service Taxation – Allows a company that coordinates delivery of certain goods between customers and local businesses to obtain a waiver from the requirement that it collect sales or use tax on the goods being delivered. Subjects delivery charges of a network delivery service company (that has obtained a waiver to collect and remit sales tax) to the sales or use tax but not the cost of the good delivered. The local business is required to collect the sales or use tax and the good (if taxable) being delivered by the network delivery service company.
- Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) Situsing for Motor Vehicle Receipts – Situses in Ohio receipts from the sale or lease of a motor vehicle by a dealer only if the certificate of title with an Ohio address is issued for that vehicle.
HB 496 (https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/135/hb496/documents), a bill dealing with county auditors and property tax administration. Here are the tax-related provisions that would become law upon signature by the Governor:
- Modifies information a county auditor must certify in the process of submitting a property tax levy to voters, including information appearing on election notices and ballot language, as follows
- Requires rounding estimated revenue to the nearest $1 rather than the nearest $1,000.
- Requires this estimate and rate estimates for bond and fixed-sum levies to be based on valuations on the last available tax list rather than a possible estimate.
- Requires certifying the residential/agricultural effective rate of renewed or extended levies based on the last known rate, as opposed to an estimated effective rate that assumes the levy is approved.
- Repeals a recently enacted law that requires a county board of revision (BOR) to dismiss a property tax complaint filed by a political subdivision if the BOR does not render a decision on the complaint within one year.
- Modifies property tax counter-complaint filing deadlines.
- Modifies a requirement the owner of tax-exempt property inform the county auditor of changes in the property’s exemption status, by instead requiring notification of changes in the property’s use.
- Allows a county auditor to provide a waiver or refund of manufactured home taxes due to damage or destruction of a manufactured home on the auditor’s own initiative, rather than only upon notice from a property owner or third party.
- Modifies how real property and manufactured home tax overpayments are apportioned to each taxing district, moving to a preceding-year basis rather than on the basis of taxing ratios in the year of overpayment.
- Prohibits the transfer of property sold at a tax foreclosure sale unless the purchaser supplies an affidavit stating that the purchaser or certain related parties do not own tax delinquent property in the state or that such delinquency is justified or erroneous.
- Allows a county with a population greater than 800,000, but less than one million, (Hamilton County), to enforce payment of delinquent lodging taxes by placing a property tax lien on the delinquent hotel.
If you would like to further discuss the contents of this post, please reach out to Brian Perera, John Trippier or any of our ZHF Professionals.