Changes to Indiana’s Personal Property Tax Regulations

Published on 12/4/2015
Writtin by: Paul Bogdanoff, CPA and Tim Dages, CPA

There have been several major revisions to Indiana’s Personal Property Tax return regulations that business owners and nonprofit administrators should be aware. Bogdanoff Dages and Co., P. C. has reviewed these changes and would like to provide this update.

The first change is starting January 1, 2016 the assessment date for Indiana Tangible Personal Property Tax Returns (PPT) has been moved from March 1, to January 1. Nevertheless, the due date of the return is still May 15.

The second change is for taxpayers with less than $20,000 in acquisition cost, using the federal tax basis, of tangible personal property they will be exempt from filing the PPT returns. However, the taxpayer must file a notarized Certificate of Eligibility For Personal Property Exemption affidavit stating that they are exempt from filing the PPT returns with the county assessor by May 15. The county assessor may charge the taxpayer up to a $50 filing fee to file the notarized form. Therefore, if the taxpayer has equipment with minimal acquisition cost the taxpayer may end up paying more in fees then they would have in tax.  There is an example of the form on the Department of Government Finance’s website https://www.wellscounty.org/file/2015/12/Assessor-Personal-Property-Exemption-Sample-Certificate.pdf. If the taxpayer has leased equipment and meets the exemption threshold, the taxpayer will still need to file the forms 103-O or 103-N. At this time, taxpayers may not file forms 103 and 104 in lieu of the notarized certificate of exemption. If the notarized certificate of exemption is not timely filed, there will be a late fee of $25 assessed and an additional penalties may be assessed if the affidavit is not filed by June 15th.

The third change impacts nonprofits only. The Exemption Application for Nonprofit, Form, 136, is now due April 1 instead of May 15 and is still filed every even numbered year.

Bogdanoff Dages and Co., P. C. is here to help you with your Personal Property Tax returns.  Bogdanoff Dages and Co., P. C. will have the ability to notarize the certificate of exemption if you wish to come in and sign the form.