Frequently Asked Questions

Defining Business

 Do you expect to profit from your activities in Oregon? If so, you are probably doing business in Oregon. A taxpayer having one or more of the following in Oregon is clearly doing business in this state:

• A stock of goods.
• An office.
• A place of business, other than an office, where affairs of the corporation are regularly conducted.
• Employees or representatives providing services, such as accounting or personal services, to customers as the primary business activity.
• Employees or representatives providing services incidental to the sale of tangible or intangible personal property, such as installation, inspection, maintenance, warranty, or repair of a product.
• An economic presence through which the taxpayer regularly takes advantage of Oregon's economy to produce income.

 Personal Property is the assets of the business.   Desks, chairs, file cabinets, computers, printers, copiers, phones, fire extinguishers, shelving, trash cans, cleaning supplies, décor, hand trucks, forklifts, and other machinery and equipment are all personal property assets and must be reported per ORS.308.290 and 308.285.  

Different industries will have different assets; a winery reports tanks, hoses, clamps, and bottling equipment, but a mechanic would report tools, hoists, gauges, diagnostic tools, etc. No matter the industry, ALL businesses are required to report the assets they own.  

For more information, review the Personal Property Presentation located on the main Business Property website, it will further discuss what you need to do to ensure your business is in compliance with Oregon state law and guide you through reporting your assets to the county.

Oregon's First taxes were collected in 1844 by Joseph L. Meek, sheriff of the provisional government, 'in the sum of $353.811. In addition to a poll tax of 50 Cents for each male adult, a levy of 1/8 of 1% was collected on a property valuation of $218,0042, all south of the Columbia River, mostly in Willamette Valley. This was the beginning of American taxes on the Pacific coast. The legislative committee of the provisional government enacted the tax June 25, 1844, on "all merchandise brought into this country for sale, improvements on farm lots, mills, pleasure carriages, clocks, watches, horses, mules, cattle and hogs; "3 but no tax on farmlands, or on merchandise previously brought in. The act included a poll tax of 50 cents on "all male citizens over the age of 21 years, being a descendant of a white man." No penalty was provided for refusal or neglect to pay, but "any person refusing to pay a tax as in this act required shall have no benefit of the laws of Oregon and shall be disqualified from voting at any election in this country." Specie was scarce, and payments were made chiefly in orders on solvent persons and merchandise firms, such as the Hudson's Bay Company, the Methodist mission, and merchants, George Abernethy, John H. Couch, John McLoughlin, and F. W Pettygrove. 1Oregon Historical Quarterly, volume VII, page 414; Brown, Political History of Oregon, page 156; Oregon Archives, page 61; Bancroft, History of Oregon, page 443, There is diversity of records as to the exact sum; the figure here given is taken from the researches made by Frederic G. Young, late editor of the Oregon Historical Quarterly. For a reproduction of the tax roll of 1844, see pages 12-24, of this issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly.

For personal property purposes, all businesses are required to file each year in the county in which their business is located. A business having a 501(c)(3) status is NOT exempt from this requirement. Exemptions are only made through application to our office and is a completely separate process than applying for 501(c)(3)through the state. To become exempt from personal property tax, you MUST have applied directly through our office.

Upon receipt of your application, our exemptions specialist will review your application. If your business meets the strict criteria for exemption, the specialist will notify you; until then, you are responsible and obligated to complete a personal property return each year you are in business to remain in compliance.

For further information regarding exemption of personal property tax, please see the Property Exemptions page.

Have you contacted our office to see if taxes are owed?

Have you conducted a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) search on the Secretary of State's website to check for existing liens that the equipment may have? If there is a lien- that means the entity that executed the warrant has a vested interest in the equipment you are considering buying!

Do you fully understand the personal property timeline, the assessment date, and the tax year and how they relate to a tax bill?

If a business owner owes tax and a warrant is issued, then that business owner sells those assets to another entity, the new entity is also purchasing the tax owed and all the interest and penalties associated with that equipment.

If a business owner leaves their assets behind and a landlord or other business assumes the equipment, then they also assume any tax owed and liens associated with the equipment.

Remember, a tax lien or warrant means we (or another entity) has a vested interest in the equipment and until the tax, fees, and interest is paid in full, we will continue to have an interest.

The departments of Revenue and the Secretary of State have provided detailed information, step-by-step guides, and various other helpful tools on their websites to get you on the right track to starting your business.  We have provided their links on the Business Property website under the heading Helpful Links on the left-hand side of the page.

• Have you watched the Personal Property Power Point on our site?  It details your tax obligations to the county when operating a business.
• Did you know you can call us and request to be placed on our New Business List to help ensure you get the tax information you will need?
• When in doubt, reach out!  If you are unsure about something, let us know.  We will do our best to get you on the right track for any of your county tax related questions.

In regards to tax, there can be some confusion regarding business owner’s obligations.  Everyone seems to understand that there is Federal tax and State tax, but many new business owners do not know about personal property tax.    

You want to make sure you utilize good business practices regarding bookkeeping.  The business personal property tax form you are required to report to our office each year is a listing of all tangible items used in your business.  This means everything from the fire extinguishers, floor mats, and trash cans to large equipment like forklifts, tanks and vats, and fixed load equipment.   Having good records will make this process much more simplified.

For more information on personal property, refer to our Personal Property Presentation.  This is an all-in-one guide to everything personal property and will help guide you in your first year reporting or your 25^th year reporting.  It was created using feedback from business owners like you and may have the answers you are looking for.

Take the time to familiarize yourself with our site, and never hesitate to reach out to us directly; we are here to help answer your county tax related questions!

Helpful Note!  You can download an Excel copy of the main schedules used in personal property reporting from our site.  Keeping a copy of this form on your computer and using it when you make purchases will help simplify reporting!  The document is called Addendum Excel Version and is available on the Business Property website by clicking on the Forms & Manuals link on the left-hand side of the webpage.

There are two potential answers, so let me answer these using scenarios:

1. I just opened a second location in YAMHILL County.
   • Two businesses in the same county mean two different returns.
   • The reason you need two returns is that depending on the location in the county, the levy code may be different at each location. (Levy code is a number that is assigned to specific areas throughout our county, and each levy code will have a different tax rate associated with it.   (See the Consolidated Rates through the main Assessment & Tax website.)
   • Call us and let us know about your second location.   We will guide you through your next steps.
   • Returns can be found on our Business Property website by clicking the Forms and Manuals link on the left-hand side of the webspage.

2. I just opened up a second location in a different county.
   • Having one business in Yamhill County means you will file one return with our office.
   • Having a business in a different county means you will ALSO file a return with that county.  Contact that county’s Assessment & Tax office for instruction, while the statutes guide all of our offices, each office may handle their processes slightly different.

ORS 308.296 

Penalty for failure to file return reporting only personal property 

1. Each person, business, firm, corporation or association required by ORS 308.290 (Returns) to file a return reporting only taxable personal property, that has not filed a return within the time fixed in ORS 308.290 (Returns), shall be subject to a penalty as provided in this section. 

2. A taxpayer who files a return to which this section applies after March 15, but on or before June 1, is subject to a penalty equal to five percent of the tax attributable to the taxable personal property of the taxpayer. 

3. A taxpayer who files a return to which this section applies after June 1, but on or before August 1, is subject to a penalty equal to 25 percent of the tax attributable to the taxable personal property of the taxpayer. 

4. A taxpayer who files a return to which this section applies after August 1, or who fails to file a return, shall be subject to a penalty equal to 50 percent of the tax attributable to the taxable personal property of the taxpayer. 

5. If a delinquency penalty provided in this section is imposed, the tax statement for the year in which the penalty is imposed shall reflect the amount of the penalty and shall constitute notice to the taxpayer. 

(6)(a) Unless the penalty is the subject of an appeal under ORS 311.223 (Correction of rolls), the county board of property tax appeals, upon application of the taxpayer, may waive the liability: 

(A) For all or a portion of the penalty upon a proper showing of good and sufficient cause; or 

(B) For all of the penalty if the year for which the return was filed was both the first year that a return was required to be filed by the taxpayer and the first year for which the taxpayer filed a return. 

(b) Unless the taxpayer files a timely application in the same manner as an appeal under ORS 309.100 (Petitions), the board may not consider an application made under this subsection. 

(c) An appeal may not be taken from the determination of the board under this subsection. 

6. If the board waives all or a portion of a penalty already imposed and entered on the roll, the person in charge of the roll shall cancel the waived penalty and enter the cancellation on the roll as an error correction under ORS 311.205 (Correcting errors or omissions in rolls) and, if the waived penalty has been paid, it shall be refunded without interest under ORS 311.806 (Refund of taxes on real and personal property).

ORS 308.290(6)

(6) A return is not in any respect controlling on the county assessor or on the Department of Revenue in the assessment of any property. On any failure to file the required return, the property shall be listed and assessed from the best information obtainable from other sources.

Failure to file will result in valuation in lieu of a return, meaning we will value the property with the best information obtainable from other sources.  

The account will receive the statutory penalty.

These values are reflected on your October statement; if you disagree with the value, you may submit a Confidential Personal Property Tax Return before December 31^st and we will review the account.  If the return is complete, we will update the values, however; the late penalty stays on the account. 

You may submit a petition to waive the late penalty if you meet the following criteria:

1. You have never filed a personal property tax return in this state;  
2. You failed to file a property tax return for one or more consecutive years; and 
3. You have not previously received relief from property tax late filing penalties under ORS 308.295(7) or 308.296(8).

Reach out to our office for more information on late penalty waivers.

There is nothing in statute that allows a business owner to skip filing.   

ORS 308.290 (6)

(6) A return is not in any respect controlling on the county assessor or on the Department of Revenue in the assessment of any property. On any failure to file the required return, the property shall be listed and assessed from the best information obtainable from other sources.

Essentially this states that the Assessor’s office is not required to mail forms out to you.  Our program went paperless in 2017. You can download a form from our website or from the Oregon Dept. Of Revenue’s website, you may be able to file online, or you can come in our office and pick up a form. We DO NOT mail forms.  The form can be found on the Business Property website by licking the link for Forms and Manuals.

Upon receipt of your return, we begin a tracking process so we know your return arrived. After that, returns are processed in the order they were received. I code your assets per the depreciation tables provided by the Department of Revenue and then enter that information in to our system asset by asset. Once completed, your return is scanned into an archive and the hard copy is filed away for proper disposal at a later date.

If your return is going to generate tax, that will occur in the following October.

Call us!  There are several things to be addressed with your account before we can close it.  No one at the government level is reaching out to us on your behalf. If you never let us know you are selling/sold, we may not find out on our own meaning your account could be generating tax or warrants even after you have closed due to the lack of communication.

• Contact our office.
  1. Have you asked for an advanced demand? Is there any more tax owing on your account? We provide a form called an advanced demand for people selling from one entity to another.  It helps sort out the tax either currently owed or tax that will come on the account during processing. Depending on the time of year; this is a VITAL form.
  2. We need to know what happened to the assets; we have a statutory obligation to follow assets.
     • Did you sell them?  
       • If so, to who? We need their information to get a return to them.
       • Does the new owner have access to your confidential asset list we have on record? 
       • If you allow the transfer, it helps the new owner get situated; the transition for them is much more simplified considering they will now have access to the historical information on your account.   When they go to report, they will be able to use your purchase years and original costs.
       • If you do not allow the transfer, we want to make sure we get the assets off of your account.  
     • In either case, we need to know one way or the other.

Typically, after a short phone call, we can either change the ownership on the account or inactivate the account.  

When in doubt, reach out!  We are here to help you and want to make sure that this process is as easy for you as possible, do not hesitate to contact us.

Call me! I may not find out you closed on my own, meaning your account will remain active. It is your responsibility to reach out to our office to let us know you have closed. The process will not take long, but we do need to close the account properly to ensure you do not receive any more correspondence that no longer applies, but more importantly, that no tax is attached to the account. We will assess accounts that we have not received a current tax return for. Failure to send in a return could result in fees and penalties; so without your communication, your account could be accruing a tax bill.

I can generally close an account within about five minutes. The information I will need is laid out:

• Date of closure.
• What happened to the assets? Did you sell them, if so, to whom?
• If they went to another entity, do they have authorization to see your asset list?
• Is there any tax currently owed on the account?

Once we can record the information, I will inactivate the account.

Personal property is self-reporting, so disputes regarding value are not overly common, but they can happen. In most cases, the Assessor's Office and the citizen are able to work together when there is a dispute of value; however, if you are not able to work with the Assessor's Office to reach a value we both agree with, you may appeal to the Property Value Appeals Board.

Three Opportunities for Review

Meet with the Assessor's Office The Yamhill County Assessor's Office has a solid track record of working with citizens to adjust property real market values where appropriate. The first step you should take is to talk directly with their office to see if you are able to reach an agreeable value. You may reach them at:

Yamhill County Assessor
535 NE 5th Street, Room 42 (downstairs in the Courthouse)
McMinnville, OR 97128
Phone: 503-434-7521
Personal Property Phone: 503-474-5083
Fax: 503-434-7352

• PVAB Hearing: If you are not able to reach a compromise with the Assessor's Office, then be certain to pick up, fill out, and turn in your PVAB Petition to the Yamhill County Clerk's Office before the end of business on the last day of the year. Hearings will then begin in February and the process is completed before April 15th.
• Appealing to Magistrate: If a petitioner wishes to appeal the decision of the Property Value Appeals Board, the petitioner may file an appeal with the Magistrate Division of the Oregon Tax Court. The petitioner appeals by filing a written complaint. The complaint must be filed within 30 days after the order of PVAB is mailed.
• Consult with the Oregon Tax Court for current filing fees.

The Property Value Appeals Board does not have the authority to grant an exemption. A petition requesting an exemption or partial exemption should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. If the Assessor has disqualified the property from exempt status, the owner must appeal to the Magistrate Division.

Information provided on Yamhill County Clerks website.

Any taxes or liens carry over to the person who assumes the equipment.  See the examples below:

Example LHI/TI: A retail business moves into a new indoor mall in 2015. The mall space is leased to the tenant as a shell. It is the tenant's responsibility, and expense to finish the space to his or her specifications. The retail business spends $20,000 to install leasehold improvements. The leasehold improvements, improvements paid for by the lessee, include structure items (dropped ceiling, finished walls, lighting fixtures, and carpet) and fixtures (burglar alarm system, and permanent partitions- less than floor to ceiling). After two years at this location, the retail business moves out of the space to another mall. The leasehold improvements installed two years earlier are abandoned and the space is left vacant on the assessment date, January I. 2017.

Because the tenant has abandoned the improvements and the leased space in the scenario above, any improvements left behind revert to the owner of the mall; therefore, the mall owner is the assessee. The structure items and fixtures are assessable to the mall owner on the assessment date.

The improvements may or may not continue to have value. Professional judgment is needed to determine whether the abandoned improvements have the same value, lower value, or no value.

Example Personal Property Abandoned:

A tenant has abandoned their equipment in your building. They may owe you for back rent or expenses and tell you to sell the equipment to make up the difference. 

WARNING! They may also owe the county for back taxes meaning there are liens on the equipment! When you take possession of that equipment and attempt to sell it without checking with our office first, you are selling equipment the county has a vested interest in. 

As a landlord, if this happens to you, contact our office!  Communication with us is key to ensuring you are not assuming someone else’s debt uninformed!  We will ask a few questions to gauge how to move forward with the equipment, but assuming the equipment and even leasing it out to a new tenant will most definitely mean you are now the new owner therefore responsible for reporting on a personal property tax return and responsible for any back tax, interest, or penalties that may be on the account.

Professional libraries; reference manuals, CDs, and books; technical documents and manuals; federal, state, and local law libraries, etc., are to be reported by the taxpayer along with acquisition dates and costs. Law libraries may be valued by the taxpayer using the market data provided in the Oregon Bar Bulletin. Data provided on compact disc (CD) such as law libraries, graphics files, clip art, photographs, and music are all assessable as library data and should be valued and reported on Schedule 4 of the business personal property return.

The following directions are available on the instruction page included with your return

Report all professional libraries in this schedule format. All items should be listed on a separate page. Libraries include, but are not limited to, those held by accountants, architects, attorneys, consultants, doctors, health science professionals, other science professionals, surveyors, and title companies. Electronic, mechanical, and other technical professionals should also use this schedule.

• Enter type of library media (books, electronic media, compact discs, tapes, videos, etc. If "None," explain).
• Enter the title of the reported book or set.
• If the item reported is a multiple-volume set, check the yes or no column to indicate if the set is complete or not.
• Enter the number of volumes. If a set, enter the number you have, not the number in the original set.
• Enter cost when purchased.
• Enter the best estimate of the real market value for each item as of January 1. Reporters of law books report the value shown on the schedule published by the Oregon Department of Revenue in cooperation with the Oregon State Bar Association.
• Leave blank.