2007 California Revenue and Taxation Code Article 2. Information From Taxpayer

CA Codes (rtc:441-470)

441.  (a) Each person owning taxable personal property, other than a
manufactured home subject to Part 13 (commencing with Section 5800),
having an aggregate cost of one hundred thousand dollars (0,000)
or more for any assessment year shall file a signed property
statement with the assessor. Every person owning personal property
that does not require the filing of a property statement or real
property shall, upon request of the assessor, file a signed property
statement. Failure of the assessor to request or secure the property
statement does not render any assessment invalid.
   (b) The property statement shall be declared to be true under the
penalty of perjury and filed annually with the assessor between the
lien date and 5 p.m. on April 1. The penalty provided by Section 463
applies for property statements not filed by May 7. If May 7 falls on
a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, a property statement that is
mailed and postmarked on the next business day shall be deemed to
have been filed between the lien date and 5 p.m. on May 7. If, on the
dates specified in this subdivision, the county's offices are closed
for the entire day, that day is considered a legal holiday for
purposes of this section.
   (c) The property statement may be filed with the assessor through
the United States mail, properly addressed with postage prepaid. For
purposes of determining the date upon which the property statement is
deemed filed with the assessor, the date of postmark as affixed by
the United States Postal Service, or the date certified by a bona
fide private courier service on the envelope containing the
application, shall control.  This subdivision shall be applicable to
every taxing agency, including, but not limited to, a chartered city
and county, or chartered city.
   (d) (1) At any time, as required by the assessor for assessment
purposes, every person shall make available for examination
information or records regarding his or her property or any other
personal property located on premises he or she owns or controls. In
this connection details of property acquisition transactions,
construction and development costs, rental income, and other data
relevant to the determination of an estimate of value are to be
considered as information essential to the proper discharge of the
assessor's duties.
   (2) (A) This subdivision shall also apply to an owner-builder or
an owner-developer of new construction that is sold to a third party,
is constructed on behalf of a third party, or is constructed for the
purpose of selling that property to a third party.
   (B) The owner-builder or owner-developer of new construction
described in subparagraph (A), shall, within 45 days of receipt of a
written request by the assessor for information or records, provide
the assessor with all information and records regarding that
property. The information and records provided to the assessor shall
include the total consideration provided either by the purchaser or
on behalf of the purchaser that was paid or provided either, as part
of or outside of the purchase agreement, including, but not limited
to, consideration paid or provided for the purchase or acquisition of
upgrades, additions, or for any other additional or supplemental
work performed or arranged for by the owner-builder or
owner-developer on behalf of the purchaser.
   (e) In the case of a corporate owner of property, the property
statement shall be signed either by an officer of the corporation or
an employee or agent who has been designated in writing by the board
of directors to sign the statements on behalf of the corporation.
   (f) In the case of property owned by a bank or other financial
institution and leased to an entity other than a bank or other
financial institution, the property statement shall be submitted by
the owner bank or other financial institution.
   (g) The assessor may refuse to accept any property statement he or
she determines to be in error.
   (h) If a taxpayer fails to provide information to the assessor
pursuant to subdivision (d) and introduces any requested materials or
information at any assessment appeals board hearing, the assessor
may request and shall be granted a continuance for a reasonable
period of time. The continuance shall extend the two-year period
specified in subdivision (c) of Section 1604 for a period of time
equal to the period of the continuance.
   (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, every person
required to file a property statement pursuant to this section shall
be permitted to amend that property statement until May 31 of the
year in which the property statement is due, for errors and omissions
not the result of willful intent to erroneously report. The penalty
authorized by Section 463 does not apply to an amended statement
received prior to May 31, provided the original statement is not
subject to penalty pursuant to subdivision (b). The amended property
statement shall otherwise conform to the requirements of a property
statement as provided in this article.
   (j) This subdivision shall apply to the oil, gas, and mineral
extraction industry only. Any information that is necessary to file a
true, correct, and complete statement shall be made available by the
assessor, upon request, to the taxpayer by mail or at the office of
the assessor by February 28. For each business day beyond February 28
that the information is unavailable, the filing deadline in
subdivision (b) shall be extended in that county by one business day,
for those statements affected by the delay. In no case shall the
filing deadline be extended beyond June 1 or the first business day
thereafter.
   (k) The assessor may accept the filing of a property statement by
the use of electronic media. In lieu of the signature required by
subdivision (a) and the declaration under penalty of perjury required
by subdivision (b), property statements filed using electronic media
shall be authenticated pursuant to methods specified by the assessor
and approved by the board. Electronic media includes, but is not
limited to, computer modem, magnetic media, optical disk, and
facsimile machine.
   (l) (1) After receiving the notice required by Section 1162, the
manager in control of a fleet of fractionally owned aircraft shall
file with the lead county assessor's office one signed property
statement for all of its aircraft that have acquired situs in the
state, as described in Section 1161.
   (2) Flight data required to compute fractionally owned aircraft
allocation under Section 1161 shall be segregated by airport.
   (m) (1) After receiving the notice required by paragraph (5) of
subdivision (b) of Section 1153.5, a commercial air carrier whose
certificated aircraft is subject to Article 6 (commencing with
Section 1150) of Chapter 5 shall file with the lead county assessor's
office designated under Section 1153.5 one signed property statement
for its personal property at all airport locations and fixtures at
all airport locations.
   (2) Each commercial air carrier may file one schedule for all of
its certificated aircraft that have acquired situs in this state
under Section 1151.
   (3) Flight data required to compute certificated aircraft
allocation under Section 1152 and subdivision (g) of Section 202 of
Title 18 of the California Code of Regulations shall be segregated by
airport location.
   (4) Beginning with the 2006 assessment year, a commercial air
carrier may file a statement described in this subdivision
electronically by means of the California Assessor's Standard Data
Record (SDR) network.  If the SDR is not equipped to accept
electronic filings for the 2006 assessment year, an air carrier may
file a printed version of its property statement for that year with
its lead county assessor's office.
   (5) This subdivision shall remain in effect only until December
31, 2010, and as of that date is repealed.



441.5.  In lieu of completing the property statement as printed by
the assessor pursuant to Section 452, the information required of the
taxpayer may be furnished to the assessor as attachments to the
property statement provided that the attachments shall be in a format
as specified by the assessor and:  (a) one copy of the property
statement, as printed by the assessor, is signed by the taxpayer and
carries appropriate reference to the data attached; or (b) the
statement is filed electronically and authenticated as provided in
subdivision (k) of Section 441.



442.  (a) The property statement shall show all taxable property
owned, claimed, possessed, controlled, or managed by the person
filing it and required to be reported thereon.
   Every person owning, claiming, possessing, controlling or managing
property shall furnish any required information or records to the
assessor for examination at any time.
   (b) The requirements of this article shall be satisfied with
respect to property belonging to others for which the declarer has
contractual property tax obligations if the declarer includes that
property in the property statement, submits the statement timely, and
includes in the statement all information required in the statement
pertaining to property belonging to others.
   (c) Property that is the subject of a contract designated as a
lease that provides that the lessee has the option of acquiring the
property at the end of the lease term for one dollar (), or any
other nominal consideration, shall be reported by the lessor on the
lessor's property statement.  If that property qualifies for the
property tax exemption provided for by subdivision (d) or (e) of
Section 3 of Article XIII of the California Constitution, that
property shall be regarded as owned by the lessee and is not required
to be shown on any property statement of the lessor.



443.  The property statement shall also show:
   (a) The county where the property is taxable.
   (b) If taxable in the county where the statement is made, any city
or revenue district where it is situated.



443.1.  If the property statement is timely filed in duplicate with
a request that the assessor mark on the duplicate statement opposite
each category of property reported on the statement, the full value
of such category of property as determined by the assessor, the
assessor shall perform such service and shall return the duplicate to
the person filing it no later than July 15 of the year in which it
was filed.



445.  The property statement shall show a description of property,
in the detail required.  Such required detail may include the cost of
the property if the information is within the knowledge of the
assessee or is available to him from his own or other records.




448.  The property statement shall show all information as of 12:01
a.m.  on the lien date.



451.  All information requested by the assessor or furnished in the
property statement shall be held secret by the assessor.  The
statement is not a public document and is not open to inspection,
except as provided in Section 408.


452.  (a) For the assessment year beginning in 1968 and each
assessment year thereafter, the board shall prescribe in detail the
content of property statements, including the specific wording, to be
used by all assessors in the several counties, and cities and
counties, and shall notify assessors of those specifications no later
than the August 31 prior to the tax lien date on which they become
effective. Each assessor shall incorporate the specifications on the
exact form he or she proposes to use and submit that form to the
board for approval prior to use. The property statement shall not
include any question that is not germane to the assessment function.

   (b) (1) For property statements to be filed in the 2008 assessment
year and each assessment year thereafter, the board shall prescribe
that the property statement also include the following:
   (A) A brief statement noting the obligation to pay use tax on
taxable purchases for which sales tax was not applicable.
   (B) Information regarding payment of use tax, which information
may be limited to the board's phone number and a Web site address at
which specific information and forms for use tax payment may be
obtained.
   (C) A statement advising the taxpayer that information provided on
a property statement may be shared with the board.
   (2) The board shall implement paragraph (1) in a manner that does
not increase local costs.


453.  The assessor may request any person found within his county to
make and subscribe an affidavit, showing his name, place of
residence or place of business, and whether he is the owner of any
taxable property.


454.  The assessor may subpena and examine any person in relation
to:
   (a) any statement furnished him, or
   (b) any statement disclosing property assessable in his county
that may be stored with, possessed, or controlled by the person.
   He may do this in any county where the person may be found, but
shall not require the person to appear before him in any other county
than that in which the subpena is served.



455.  The assessor shall not combine parcels into a single
assessment when any of those parcels have been declared to be tax
defaulted for delinquent taxes.  This section does not apply to
subdivided land reverted to acreage in accordance with provisions of
the Subdivision Map Act and local ordinances.



456.  If the assessor has not received from the owner of a tract of
land a legal description or a description which geographically
locates the property, he may require such a description from the
owner or his agent, or, in case they cannot be found or are unknown,
the person in possession.  Such legal description may be by reference
to the assessor's map and parcel number.



457.  If the owner, agent, or person in possession neglects to
furnish the assessor with the description within 10 days after the
request, the assessor shall cite him to appear before the superior
court of the county where the land is situated within five days after
service of the citation.  On the day named in the citation, to the
exclusion of all other business, the court shall proceed to hear his
return and answer to the citation.



458.  If the court finds the land has not been surveyed or divided
so that it can be legally described, the court shall, by order duly
entered in open court, direct the county surveyor to make a survey,
and define the boundaries and location of the land by parcels not
exceeding six hundred and forty acres each, and deliver it to the
assessor.



459.  The expense of making the survey and description by the county
surveyor is a lien on the land, and, when approved by the superior
court, shall be certified by it to the board of supervisors who
shall, by resolution, direct the auditor to add the expense to the
taxes on the land, to be collected like other taxes.




459.5.  Sections 457, 458, and 459 are applicable when the owner,
his agent, or person in possession neglects to furnish the assessor
of any taxing agency, including a taxing agency having its own system
for the levying and collection of taxes or assessments, with a
requested description of any tract of land.



460.  If the owner or claimant of any property, not listed by
another person, is absent or unknown, the assessor shall estimate its
value.


461.  Every person who willfully states anything which he knows to
be false in any oral or written statement, not under oath, required
or authorized to be made as the basis of imposing any tax or
assessment, is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof
may be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for  a period not
exceeding six months or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars
(,000), or by both.



462.  Every person is guilty of a misdemeanor who, after written
request by the assessor, does any of the following:
   (a) Refuses to make available to the assessor any information
which is required by subdivision (d) of Section 441 of this code.
   (b) Gives a false name.
   (c) Willfully refuses to give his true name.
   Upon conviction of any offense in this section, the defendant may
be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not
exceeding six months or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars
(,000), or by both.
   If the defendant is a corporation, it may be punished by an
additional fine of two hundred dollars (0) for each day it refuses
to comply with the provisions of this section, up to a maximum of
twenty thousand dollars (,000).


463.  If any person who is required by law or is requested by the
assessor to make an annual property statement fails to file an annual
property statement within the time limit specified by Section 441 or
make and subscribe the affidavit respecting his or her name and
place of residence, a penalty of 10 percent of the assessed value of
the unreported taxable tangible property of that person placed on the
current roll shall be added to the assessment made on the current
roll.
   Notice of any penalty added to the secured roll pursuant to this
section shall be mailed by the assessor to the assessee at his or her
address as contained in the official records of the county assessor.

   If the assessee establishes to the satisfaction of the county
board of equalization or the assessment appeals board that the
failure to file the property statement within the time required by
Section 441 was due to reasonable cause and not due to willful
neglect, it may order the penalty abated, provided the assessee has
filed with the county board written application for abatement of the
penalty within the time prescribed by law for the filing of
applications for assessment reductions.
   If the penalty is abated it shall be canceled or refunded in the
same manner as an amount of tax erroneously charged or collected.



464.  All moneys recovered by the assessor under Section 463 shall
be paid into the county treasury.



465.  (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the assessor may
destroy any document when six years have elapsed since the lien date
for the tax year for which that document was obtained.  Documents may
be destroyed when three years have elapsed since the lien date
described in the preceding sentence, if the documents have been
microfilmed, microfiched, imaged, or otherwise preserved on a medium
that provides access to the documents.
   (b) Affidavits claiming an exemption, for the first time, pursuant
to Sections 254.5, 257, and 277 may be destroyed by the assessor as
follows:
   (1) Six years after the lien date of the tax year for which the
exemption was last granted.
   (2) Three years after the lien date described in paragraph (1) if
the documents have been microfilmed, microfiched, imaged, or
otherwise preserved on a medium that provides access to the
documents.



467.  Annually, on or before March 20th, every taxing agency shall
file with the assessor of the county in which the property is located
statements containing legal descriptions of:
   (a) All real estate which it has conveyed by deed to any person
during the assessment year ending on the last day of December.
   (b) All real estate owned by it on the preceding lien date and
which it has agreed by contract in writing to sell and convey to any
person.  The statement covering property sold by contract shall show
for each parcel of real estate the name and address of the purchaser,
the consideration for the sale and conveyance thereof, and the
amount of the consideration paid as of the lien date.



468.  In addition to any other remedies described in this article,
if any person fails to furnish any information or records required by
this article upon request by the assessor, the assessor may apply to
the superior court of the county for an order requiring the person
who failed to furnish such information or records to appear and
answer concerning his property before such court at a time and place
specified in the order.  The court may so order in any county where
the person may be found, but shall not require the person to appear
before the court in any other county than that in which the subpoena
is served.


469.  (a) In any case in which locally assessable trade fixtures and
business tangible personal property owned, claimed, possessed, or
controlled by a taxpayer that is not fully exempt from property
taxation under other provisions of law and that is engaged in a
profession, trade, or business has a full value of four hundred
thousand dollars (0,000) or more, the assessor shall audit the
books and records of that profession, trade, or business at least
once each four years. If the board determines the value of property
pursuant to Section 15640 of the Government Code, that determination
may be deemed an audit by the assessor for purposes of this section.

   (b) With respect to any audit of the books of a profession, trade,
or business, regardless of the full value of the trade fixtures and
business tangible personal property owned, claimed, possessed, or
controlled by the taxpayer, the following shall apply:
   (1) Upon completion of an audit of the taxpayer's books and
records, the taxpayer shall be given the assessor's findings in
writing with respect to data that would alter any previously enrolled
assessment.
   (2) Equalization of the property by a county board of equalization
or assessment appeals board pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 1601) of Part 3 of this division shall not preclude a
subsequent audit and shall not preclude the assessor from levying an
escape assessment in appropriate instances, but shall preclude an
escape assessment being levied on that portion of the assessment that
was the subject of the equalization hearing.
   (3) If the result of an audit for any year discloses property
subject to an escape assessment, then the original assessment of all
property of the assessee at the location of the profession, trade, or
business for that year shall be subject to review, equalization and
adjustment by the county board of equalization or assessment appeals
board pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1601) of Part 3
of this division, except in those instances when the property had
previously been equalized for the year in question.
   (4) If the audit for any particular tax year discloses that the
property of the taxpayer was incorrectly valued or misclassified for
any cause, to the extent that this error caused the property to be
assessed at a higher value than the assessor would have entered on
the roll had the incorrect valuation or misclassification not
occurred, then the assessor shall notify the taxpayer of the amount
of the excess valuation or misclassification, and the fact that a
claim for cancellation or refund may be filed with the county as
provided by Sections 4986 and 5096.



470.  (a) Upon request of an assessor, a person owning, claiming,
possessing, or controlling property subject to local assessment shall
make available at his or her principal place of business, principal
location or principal address in California or at a place mutually
agreeable to the assessor and the person, a true copy of business
records relevant to the amount, cost, and value of all property that
he or she owns, claims, possesses, or controls within the county.
   (b) In the case of a taxpayer that has its principal place of
business outside of California and has been requested to make
business records available pursuant to subdivision (a), that taxpayer
may, as an alternative to making the requested business records
available pursuant to the terms of that subdivision, pay the county
the amount of reasonable and ordinary expenses for food, lodging,
transportation, and other related items incurred by the assessor's
representative, in traveling to the place outside California where
the requested business records are available for examination and
performing his or her official duties with respect to the examination
of those records.