In addition to real property valuations, the Assessor is required by Colorado law to value all business personal property for taxation purposes. The owner of taxable personal property as of Jan. 1 must file a declaration schedule if the total actual value (market value) of all the personal property is greater than $52,000 per business.
Business personal property includes machinery, equipment and leasehold improvements specific to business purposes. All personal property is taxable in Colorado unless specifically exempt by the Colorado Constitution. All equipment not exempt by law must be listed on the schedule. Exempt assets include software and stand-alone equipment with an initial cost under $350.
Business personal property is valued in accordance with state guidelines and proper appraisal practice. Factors and lives tables are provided by the Colorado State Division of Property Taxation to assist counties with valuation. If the depreciated actual value of business personal property is found to be below the statutory minimum of $52,000, the account is inactivated and the property owner will receive no further correspondence from the Assessor’s Office. If the account value is over $52,000, the property owner will receive a Notice of Valuation in mid-June.
Welcome to Douglas County! A personal property declaration must be filed each year by April 15th if the total depreciated value of all personal property owned within the county exceeds $52,000.
There are several options for filing a declaration:
Each year, the county Assessor mails declaration schedules as soon after January 1st as possible.
If the owner does not receive a declaration schedule in the mail, one may be obtained from the Assessor’s Office or online. The declaration schedule must be received by the Assessor by the April 15th deadline every year.
Failure to receive a declaration schedule does not relieve the business owner of the requirement to file.
The deadline for filing may be extended if, prior to April 15th, the Assessor receives a written request and $20.00 for a ten‐day extension, or $40.00 for a twenty‐day extension. The extension applies to all personal property schedules (single or multiple accounts) that a person is required to file in the county.
The late filing penalty is $50.00 or 15 percent of the taxes due, whichever is less. If the owner of taxable business personal property fails to file a schedule, state law dictates that the property valuation should be based on the best information available. A best information available (BIA) value is calculated from aggregated asset lists provided by similar businesses. In addition, the Assessor may add a penalty of up to 25 percent of assessed value of the undeclared omitted property.
If a Declaration is not provided to the Assessor’s Office, the appraisers must develop a “Best Information Available” (BIA) value that is based on asset listings provided by comparable business types. It is important to understand that according to Colorado Statute and case law, the exclusive means of appealing a BIA valuation is the Assessor level Protest in June (Property Tax Administrator v. Production Geophysical, 860 P.2d 514 (Colo. 1993)). A BIA valuation may not be appealed through the Abatement process.
For property taxes, the State of Colorado exempts the first $52,000 in actual value of business personal property per business. Douglas County Government has increased this exemption to $100,000 of their portion. This increased exemption only applies to Douglas County Government’s General Tax, all other tax authorities remain at the State exemption level. Businesses eligible for this credit will see the exemption noted on their tax statement under Douglas County Business Tax Exemption.
The Board of Douglas County Commissioners votes each year to approve/extend the Business Personal Property Tax exemption during the annual budget adoption in December. The Board first increased the exemptions to $100,000 for 2015 property taxes. This year marks the ninth year business property owners have received this tax credit which totals more than $8.7 million countywide.
Tables published by the State of Colorado Division of Property Taxation website are available here.
Brochure published by the State of Colorado Division of Property Taxation is available here.
Use this form for non-leased equipment.
Use this form for leased equipment.
Owners of business personal property who disagree with their valuation may file an appeal during the statutory time frame..
Brochure detailing procedures for filing a personal property appeal.
