The Pulaski County Council will continue to consider a move that may affect individuals filing personal property tax forms.
Indiana state legislators enacted an exemption for business personal property if the owner had an original equipment acquisition cost under $20-thousand. To cope with this, another form has been added for County officials to track businesses or individuals claiming the exemption.
Pulaski County Assessor Holly Van Der Aa says there’s now a new form to account for the exemption.
“The total for the whole county, so if you have more than one personal property return in the county,” says Van Der Aa. “If your acquisition cost is under $20-thousand, you file this exemption.”
Pulaski County will be losing tax revenue as a result of the change, but local business owners could potentially see a boost.
The new form is still expected to be filed by May 15th of next year or late fees may apply even to a $0 tax bill. As a form of compensation for the lost revenue and the bureaucracy of filing a personal property tax form that owes nothing, the state of Indiana has allowed county governments to apply a $50 fee to that particular form.
Some counties have chosen not to apply the fee, but the Pulaski County Council still has quite a few questions. During Monday’s Council meeting Van Der Aa says Indiana is a self-reporting state, but she’ll have a better idea of the lost revenue to the County in June.
“People are still coming in to file,” says Van Der Aa. “We have had quite a few file it. A lot of times when people get wind that it’s the $20-thousand, they might have $19,999 worth.”
There are other options that the county may consider such as exempting new business personal property. The Pulaski County Assessor’s office believes that would only shift the burden to existing tax payers.
The Pulaski County Council agreed to continue considering the matter at a future meeting.
