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Integrity • Tenacity • Clarity
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Intro: 00:00:32
Welcome to the ITC Tax Podcast where we cut through the complexity of taxes and help businesses plan smarter, save money and stay ahead. Each episode we’ll dive into real conversations about things that matter right now, data centers, site selection, incentives, property tax and more. If your business is growing or planning big projects, you don’t have to navigate it alone. Let’s get into it.
Stephen: 00:00:57 All right. Welcome back to the ITC Podcast and my name’s Stephen Shaw, and today we have one of our consultants, Brett Zieren. Brett, introduce yourself real quick.
Brett: 00:01:08 Hi, yes, my name is as Steven said, Brett Zieren. I’ve been with ITC Tax for just under three years now. Looking forward to our discussion today.
Stephen: 00:01:17 Well, thanks for jumping in today and appreciate your time today, group. We’re going to be talking about something extremely important, which is deadlines for property tax. And just have Brett kind of fill you in on what those look like and why they’re important. So kind of turn it over to you, Brit, but we’ll go back and forth a little bit here and there as you go through it.
Brett: 00:01:40 Yeah. So obviously with we’re kind of in rendition season here, which means every year the majority of the states in the US Require you to report your taxable assets in that particular state. Each state has their own specific deadlines and ramifications for not filing within the timeframe of the deadline being we’re in late March here. The next deadline is April 1 for several states, including Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, among others. There are extensions available in some states depending on the jurisdiction and if the extension is actually available, which would extend that deadline of a potential 30 days. But again, that’s very specific depending on the county and the state that you’re working in. Moving forward to Texas, the deadline for Texas Renditions is April 15th. So you have to get your extension. Excuse me, your rendition or extension in by April 15th in order to avoid a rendition penalty or filing penalty, which is 10% in Texas. However, there is a 30 day extension available in Texas as well that every county will accept as long as it’s filed timely by April 15th, which will extend your filing due date to May 15th.
Stephen: 00:02:57 Yeah, those are important dates to remember with regards to the extensions in most cases, I guess specifically to Texas. Brett, you know, it seems pretty simplistic, but you know, kind of what’s the requirement with that?
Brett: 00:03:12 It’s really, it’s as simple as reporting. There’s a specific, specific county form or specific state form that you need to file to each local county by April 15. Most of them, most of the counties will accept it via mail. However, there’s some counties that will accept it via email. You just need to make sure you get the confirmation, if you are filing via email that it was accepted and it will be considered a timely extension. But to be safe, we always recommend people to file it in the mail via certified mail and get a certified receipt with a date stamp saying that was filed timely to avoid those unnecessary rendition penalties.
Stephen: 00:03:48 So timely meaning April 15th.
Brett: 00:03:52 Yeah, April 15th. Timely, whether that be the actual rendition itself or the extension by April 15th.
Stephen: 00:03:59 And that’s just with a. As long as it’s date stamped on that day or prior to regardless of when they receive it, it’s considered timely in most states.
Brett: 00:04:09 In most states, yes. In our experience, we’ve seen as long as you have that date stamped by April 15, they’ll consider it timely.
Stephen: 00:04:15 Yeah. And there’s times, right, Brett, where you’re having to deal with counties because they’ll receive it, you know, four or five days or however many days after what they consider timely filed. In this case for Texas, April 15, and they don’t always consider it filed timely, even though it clearly shows that it was sent certified mail with the date stamp as of the 15th or prior. So in those instances where a county might consider it late, you know, kind of what’s the, what’s the property owner’s next steps with that?
Brett: 00:04:52 Well, hopefully in that case, if the county’s considered it late, the property owner would have a date stamp certified receipt, so we can prove to the county that it was indeed filed timely. So you can either provide the county the date stamp would be the best course of action. Second course of action would be the tracking for USPS if it was since certified. Every certified receipt has an online tracking system that you can file. So if you look at the tracking notification and say the USPS received the package on, for example, April 15, April 14, whatever it may be, that should be enough to satisfy with the county if they do Indeed assess a 10% rendition penalty.
Stephen: 00:05:30 And this kind of relates to anything that you’re following with a deadline. Right. April 15 for renditions or extensions, May 15 for redishas, that you request an extension for other states that have filing deadlines. I guess it’s important to know too, to keep a lookout in the mail for any counties that might have considered your rendition or your extension late. A lot of cases they’ll send you a letter indicating such and kind of what’s the timing of that if you receive a letter for that? And what’s the Importance of responding to that.
Brett: 00:06:08 Yeah. So obviously, I’ll start with the latter there. The importance is, obviously, if you are filed timely, either extension or rendition, that you’re not unfairly assessed a 10% penalty. So if you have all your ducks in a row, you have your certified mail receipt, you have your date stamp, that would be a pretty easy conversation to have with the county to remove that 10% rendition penalty. We always recommend to our clients, if they receive that in the mail, to handle it ASAP as soon as possible, just so we can get ahead of it and it’s not assessed. Whenever the tax bill comes out later in the year or early next year, it’s always much easier, much easier to get ahead of those things while we’re still in the current year when it. Before it gets to a tax bill or tax statement. Because if it gets all the way to a tax statement, then we’re trying to remove a penalty. There’ll be a have to be a supplemental tax statement issued to remove that penalty if it was indeed assessed in error. So, yeah, if you do receive it in the mail, we would definitely recommend tackling it right away just to get it done and get it out of the way and not inadvertently potentially pay a 10% penalty that you shouldn’t have.
Stephen: 00:07:13 Or if our client please send it to us. Right. And we’ll handle it for you because we’re going to have all that information that Brett just kind of listed out and how to confirm that it was filed timely. A lot of times with those letters that we’re kind of referring to, there’s new dates on there dates to respond to that letter. Right. So make the process as easy as possible. We always respond to those letters within that time frame that’s mentioned on the letter. It’s not a statute per se deadline, but it is statute in the sense of responding in 30 days with letters like that. But they’ll state on there what that new date is. It’s not a reoccurring date. It’s just the date as to when they send the letter out, Right?
Brett: 00:08:09 Yeah, correct.
Stephen: 00:08:11 So the importance of meeting any deadline is so that you’re able to justify correctly that what was filed was filed timely, that you responded to any letters that might say otherwise in a timely fashion. And so as you move through the year to Brett’s point, once you get to the end of the year where tax bills are coming out, there are times when that letter either never was sent or you just didn’t receive it. There are ways to get around that, but If a letter is received, it’s always best to respond to it timely. You know, if a deadline’s missed, does it remove you from any abilities to appeal or anything like that that you need to be aware of by state?
Brett: 00:09:00 There are some states that without a filed rendition timely, you lose your right to appeal. In Texas, however, you can still appeal as long as you file a rendition at any point in the year. So if you do miss the April 15 deadline without an extension, we would still definitely recommend filing a rendition to get something in the system and at least allow you the ability to protest your account, protest your property. You can also file what’s called an amended rendition if that’s something you’re interested in. Just if the information or the data may not be available by the deadline, you can file a rendition to avoid the penalty. And then later on down the road in the year, once the data becomes available, you can file an amended rendition and still avoid a 10% penalty and still secure your right to protest that account.
Stephen: 00:09:48 Yeah, and the important thing about amended returns is we always tell our clients, you know, know the state that you’re dealing with, obviously we’re the ones that are handling that for you, but even prospects that we’re talking to, you know, always know the state that you’re dealing with. So with regards to amended returns, states like Texas typically allow that there’s no negative ramifications for amending a return. But there are other states that if you amend it, even if you file timely, the amendment to them indicates that it was filed late now. And so you’ve all of a sudden, by amending, you know, created a lay penalty for yourself with the, with the filing of the rendition. So just keep that in mind. You know, these dates are important. To Brett’s point, you don’t always lose your rights for certain things, but in some states you do. So that’s why it’s important just to be on time with any filings that you have or any requests for an extension.
Brett: 00:11:01 Yeah. And also since we’re talking about deadlines, another big deadline in April is going to be April 30, which in Texas is going to be majority, if not all the exemption. That’s when all the exemption forms are due. And when, I mean exemption, I mean tceq, Freeport exemption, agriculture exemption, are the big ones that we see on our day to day basis. There are no extensions available for that for that deadline. There may be some new legislation coming down that we’re still not 100% sure on that the normal extension that you filed a rendition may be applied to those exemption accounts. But to be safe we definitely recommend getting all those exemptions in by April 30th because obviously those exemptions are going to decrease your overall tax liability. Specifically, the Freeport and TCEQ are the two big ones we see in our day to Day. So April 30th is the deadline for those exemption forms in Texas.
Stephen: 00:11:56 Great point on that. I know we’ve talked about exemptions in prior podcast, but just as a refresher, Freeport exemptions are filed annually and it only applies to inventory Pollution control is filed one time once approved, applicable to machinery, equipment and other assets that qualify. But again a one time filing once approved and it lasts a lifetime. But the importance about the Freeport is that you have to file annually to request that. Anything else Brett, you want to bring up?
Brett: 00:12:36 No, that’s all I had. Stephen, thank you.
Stephen: 00:12:38 Well, thanks for your time. Short and sweet.
he rest of the tax season for: 2026
Brett: 00:12:53 Thank you Stephen. SA.