Aimed primarily at new residential developments, the “builders inventory” property tax exclusion (GS 105-277.02) arrived in 2015 and is becoming more popular across the state with each passing year.  While I’ve previously blogged about the basics of this exclusion here … Read more

Few things cause more headaches for property tax offices than heir property.  When a taxpayer dies owning real property, listing, exemption eligibility, billing, and enforced collection questions suddenly become very difficult to resolve. The traditional approach to resolving these questions … Read more

After posts on the new builders’ inventory exclusion (here and here) and on new rules for the waiver of interest on old motor vehicle taxes, one final new property tax law deserves its own blog post.  S.L. 2015-266 creates new … Read more

The Machinery Act rarely gives local governments much discretion. Most often our property tax statutes proscribe exactly what should happen in a given situation. There are a few tax collection situations in which local governments have flexibility, however.  Consider the unfettered … Read more

For years home builders have been pushing to exempt their real property inventory from property taxes in the same fashion that personal property inventory held by traditional merchants and manufacturers is exempt under G.S. 105-275(32a), (33) and (34). Home builders … Read more

Tax collectors are obligated to “use all lawful means” to collect their local governments’ property taxes. G.S. 105-350(1).  This provision implicitly obligates local governments to use the foreclosure remedy when available and necessary. Despite this legal obligation some local governments remain … Read more

Foreclosure is a powerful collection remedy of last resort for property taxes that are a lien on real property.  Because property tax liens generally have super-priority, local governments almost always get paid first from the proceeds of a foreclosure sale. … Read more

I hope you were able to join us for our recent board of equalization and review webinar that featured input from experts at the Department of Revenue and local tax offices across the state.  Counties that did not have the chance to … Read more

UPDATE:  S.L. 2015-262 now excludes  from local property taxes all property sited on land held in trust for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, effective for the 2016 tax year and beyond. Gambling is a big business in North Carolina, and … Read more

Many children and more than a few adults are counting the days and hours until Santa arrives next week.  But taxpayers who’ve yet to pay their 2014 property tax bills should be counting the days and hours until January 6, 2015, the … Read more