C.R.S. § 39-3-207 — Reporting of exemptions - reimbursement to local governmental entities

(1) No later than October 10, 2002, and no later than each October 10 thereafter through October 10, 2016, and no later than September 10, 2017, and no later than each September 10 thereafter, each assessor shall forward to the administrator a report on the exemptions allowed in his or her county for the current property tax year. The report shall include: (a) A statement of the total amount of actual value of residential real property within the county that is exempted from taxation; (b) With respect to each unit of residential real property for which an exemption is allowed: (I) The legal description of the property; (II) The schedule or parcel number for the property; (III) The name and social security number of the applicant who claimed an exemption for the property and each additional person who occupies the property; and (IV) A statement of the taxable and tax exempt value of the property; and (c) For reports issued for the 2007 property tax year and for each subsequent property tax year, separate identification, in such form as the administrator may require, of the units of residential real property within the county exempted from taxation under section 39-3-203 (1.5) and of the total amount of actual value of the property so exempted. (2) (a) (I) The administrator shall examine the reports sent by each assessor pursuant to subsection (1) of this section to ensure that no applicant has claimed an exemption without meeting all legal requirements for claiming the exemption. No later than November 1, 2002, and no later than each November 1 thereafter, if the administrator determines that an applicant has claimed more than one exemption, the administrator shall provide written notice to the applicant that the applicant has claimed more than one exemption and is therefore not entitled to any exemption. No later than November 1, 2016, and no later than each November 1 thereafter, if the administrator determines that the applicant and the applicant's spouse have claimed separate exemptions in violation of section 39-3-203 (5), that the applicant has claimed an exemption for residential real property that the applicant does not own and occupy as the applicant's primary residence as required by section 39-3-203 (1), or that the applicant is otherwise ineligible to claim an exemption, the administrator shall provide written notice to the applicant that the applicant is ineligible for the exemption and specify the reasons for the determination of ineligibility. The notice shall also include a statement specifying the deadline and procedures for protesting the denial of the exemption or exemptions claimed. (II) An applicant whose claims for exemption are denied by the administrator pursuant to subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (a) may file a written protest with the administrator no later than November 15 of the year in which the exemption or exemptions were denied. If the ground for the denial is that the applicant, or the applicant and the applicant's spouse, claimed multiple exemptions, the sole ground for a protest is that the applicant, or the applicant and the applicant's spouse, filed only one claim for an exemption and the protest shall specify property or properties identified by the administrator in the notice denying exemptions for which no exemption was claimed. The administrator shall request that any appropriate assessor check the assessor's records of exemption applications to determine whether the applicant filed a disputed exemption application and shall decide the protest accordingly. If the ground for the denial is that the applicant is not an owner-occupier of the residential real property for which an exemption is claimed, the sole grounds for a protest are that the applicant actually is an owner-occupier or that the applicant qualifies for an exemption for the property under section 39-3-203 (6). If a protest is denied, the administrator shall mail the applicant a written statement of the basis for the denial and a copy of each exemption application filed with an assessor that the applicant claimed had not been filed. (b) No later than December 1, 2002, and no later than each December 1 thereafter, and after examining the reports sent by each assessor, denying claims for exemptions, and deciding protests in accordance with subsection (2)(a) of this section, the administrator shall provide written notice to the assessor of each county in which an exemption application has been denied because the applicant filed multiple exemption applications with the identity of the applicant who filed multiple exemption applications and the denial of the exemption. No later than December 1, 2016, and no later than each December 1 thereafter, and after examining the reports sent by each assessor, denying claims for exemptions, and deciding protests in accordance with subsection (2)(a) of this section, the administrator shall also provide written notice to the assessor of each county in which an exemption application has been denied for any other reason with the identity of the applicant and the denial of the exemption, specifying the reason for the denial. No later than January 10, 2017, and no later than each January 10 thereafter; except that, for 2024, no later than January 24, each assessor shall forward to the administrator a partial copy of the tax warrant for the assessor's county that includes only property for which the assessor has granted an exemption. The administrator shall examine the tax warrants to ensure that no additional exemptions have been allowed since the administrator examined the reports previously received from the assessors and that each assessor has removed from the tax warrant all exemptions that the administrator previously denied. No later than January 17, 2017, and no later than each January 17 thereafter; except that, for 2024, no later than January 31, the administrator shall notify each assessor and each treasurer of any exemptions to be removed from the tax warrant. (3) No later than April 1, 2003, and no later than each April 1 thereafter through April 1, 2016, to enable the state treasurer to issue a reimbursement warrant to each treasurer in accordance with subsection (4) of this section, each treasurer shall forward to the state treasurer a report on the exemptions allowed in his or her county for the previous property tax year. No later than March 1, 2017, and no later than March 1 of each year thereafter, each treasurer shall forward the report to the administrator, who shall cross-check it as specified in subsection (3.5) of this section before correcting it, if necessary, and forwarding it to the state treasurer to enable the state treasurer to issue a reimbursement warrant to each treasurer in accordance with subsection (4) of this section. The report shall include: (a) A statement of the total amount of actual value of residential real property within the county that was exempted from taxation and the total amount of property tax revenues lost by local governmental entities within the county as a result of the exemption that must be reimbursed by the state; (b) With respect to each unit of residential real property for which an exemption was allowed: (I) The legal description of the property; (II) The schedule or parcel number for the property; (III) The name of the applicant who claimed an exemption for the property and each additional person who occupies the property; and (IV) A statement of the taxable and tax exempt value of the property and the amount of taxes due on the property; and (c) For reports issued for the 2007 property tax year and for each subsequent property tax year, separate identification, in such form as the administrator may require, of the units of residential real property within the county exempted from taxation under section 39-3-203 (1.5), the total amount of actual value of the property so exempted, and the total amount of property tax revenues lost by local government entities within the county as a result of the exemption. (3.5) After receiving reports from each treasurer pursuant to subsection (3) of this section, the administrator shall cross-check the reports to identify any exemption allowed in a county that must be denied due to a failure of the individual allowed the exemption to satisfy all legal requirements for claiming the exemption. The administrator shall remove any exemption that must be denied from the report in which it appears and shall forward all reports to the state treasurer no later than the April 1 immediately following the receipt of the reports by the administrator. In addition, if the administrator identifies any exemption improperly allowed for a prior property tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2016, for which the state treasurer reimbursed a treasurer pursuant to subsection (4) of this section or identifies any exemption properly allowed for such a prior property tax year for which the state treasurer did not reimburse a treasurer, the administrator shall advise the state treasurer to adjust the current year reimbursement to the treasurer to correct the error. No later than that April 1, the administrator shall also notify the treasurer and assessor of each county of the exemptions removed from the report for the county and any resulting and other adjustments to the amount of current year reimbursement to be paid by the state treasurer to the treasurer. (3.7) In accordance with section 25-2-103 (4.5), C.R.S., the administrator shall annually provide to the state registrar of vital statistics of the department of public health and environment a list, by name and social security number, of every individual who received an exemption for the immediately preceding year so that the registrar can provide to the administrator a list of all such individuals who have died. No later than April 1, 2017, and no later than each April 1 thereafter, the administrator shall forward to the assessor of each county, the name and social security number of each deceased individual who received an exemption for the immediately preceding year for residential real property located within the county so that the assessor can terminate the exemption for the property. (4) (a) (I) In accordance with section 3.5 of article X of the state constitution, no later than April 15, 2003, and no later than each April 15 thereafter, the state treasurer shall issue a warrant to each treasurer for the amount needed to fully reimburse all local governmental entities within the treasurer's county for the amount of property tax revenues lost as a result of the application of the exemption to property taxes that accrued during the previous property tax year and are payable during the year in which the state treasurer issues the warrant. The reimbursement shall be paid from the state general fund and shall not be subject to the statutory limitation on state general fund appropriations set forth in section 24-75-201.1, C.R.S. (II) As used in this paragraph (a), with respect to exemptions allowed for property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2016, property tax revenues lost as a result of the application of the exemption includes only those revenues lost as a result of exemptions properly allowed in accordance with the requirements of this part 2 and does not include any revenues lost as a result of an exemption being erroneously allowed. (b) Each treasurer shall distribute the total amount received from the state treasurer pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) to the local governmental entities within the treasurer's county as if the lost tax revenues had been regularly paid. When a treasurer distributes said amount, the treasurer shall provide each local governmental entity with a statement of the amount distributed to the local governmental entity that represents reimbursement received from the state for property tax revenues lost as a result of the exemption. In accordance with section 3.5 of article X of the state constitution, moneys distributed to a local governmental entity as reimbursement for property tax revenues lost as a result of the exemption shall not be included in the local governmental entity's fiscal year spending for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution. (4.5) In accordance with subsection (3.5) of this section, for any property tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2016, the state treasurer shall not reimburse a treasurer for property tax revenues lost as a result of an exemption erroneously allowed in the treasurer's county. If, pursuant to subsection (3.5) of this section, the administrator advises the state treasurer that the state treasurer has provided either too much or too little reimbursement to a treasurer for exemptions allowed in the treasurer's county for any prior property tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2016, the state treasurer shall adjust the reimbursement for the current property tax year as directed by the administrator in order to correct the error. (5) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the reports required by this section and the contents thereof shall be kept confidential by an assessor, a treasurer, the administrator, the state treasurer, or the state auditor; except that said persons may provide the reports to each other as required or authorized by law. (6) to (8) Repealed. Source: L. 2001: Entire part added, p. 467, § 1, effective April 25. L. 2002: IP(1) amended, p. 842, § 2, effective August 7. L. 2007: (1)(c) and (3)(c) added and (3)(b)(III) amended, p. 482, §§ 8, 9, effective April 15. L. 2012: (6) added, (HB 12-1326), ch. 195, p. 777, § 4, effective May 22. L. 2016: (6) amended, (HB 16-1161), ch. 35, p. 89, § 1, effective March 22; IP(1), (2), IP(3), and (4)(a) amended and (3.5), (3.7), and (4.5) added, (HB 16-1175), ch. 332, p. 1346, § 4, effective June 10. L. 2020: (6) repealed, (HB 20-1387), ch. 174, p. 801, § 1, effective June 29. L. 2022: (7) added, (HB 22-1205), ch. 436, p. 3070, § 1, effective August 10. L. 2023, 1st Ex. Sess.: (2)(b) amended, (SB 23B-001), ch. 1, p. 10, § 10, effective November 20. L. 2024: (8) added, (HB 24-1052), ch. 473, p. 3321, § 1, effective August 7. Editor's note: (1) Subsection (7)(c) provided for the repeal of subsection (7), effective July 1, 2023. (See L. 2022, p. 3070.) (2) Subsection (8)(c) provided for the repeal of subsection (8), effective July 1, 2025. (See L. 2024, p. 3321.)