Section 458-14-127. Reconvened boards—Authority.

(1) Boards of equalization may reconvene on their own authority to hear requests concerning the current assessment year when the request is filed with the board by April 30 of the tax year immediately following the board's regularly convened session and at least one of the following conditions is met:

(a) A taxpayer requests the board reconvene and submits to the board an affidavit stating that notice of change of value for the assessment year was not received by the taxpayer at least fifteen calendar days prior to the deadline for filing the petition, and can show proof that the value was actually changed.

(b) An assessor submits an affidavit to the board stating that the assessor was unaware of facts which were discoverable at the time of appraisal and that such lack of facts caused the valuation of property to be materially affected. Submitting such an affidavit to the board is for the purpose of correcting latent defects in the assessment process that become apparent only after the normal appeal process has expired, and is wholly within the assessor's discretion. In the affidavit, the assessor must state the facts which affected the value and also state both the incorrect value and the true and fair market value of the property and must mail a copy of the affidavit to the taxpayer. If the board decides to reconvene to consider the valuation, it must notify both the taxpayer and assessor of its decision in writing.

(c) In an arm's length transaction, a bona fide purchaser or contract buyer of record has acquired an interest in real property subsequent to the first day of July and on or before December 31 of the assessment year and the sale price was less than ninety percent of the assessed value.

(2) Upon request of either the taxpayer or the assessor, boards may reconvene on their own authority to hear appeals with respect to property or value that was omitted from the assessment rolls. No request shall be accepted if it is made concerning an assessment year that is more than three years prior to the year the omitted property or value was discovered. The request itself must be received by the board no later than thirty calendar days, or up to sixty days if a longer time period is adopted by the county legislative authority under RCW 84.40.038, after the mailing of the notification of the discovery of the omitted property or value. For example, if omitted property is discovered in September 2005, and the property was omitted since 2000, the board may only reconvene to hear an appeal for assessment year 2002, and subsequent years. If the taxpayer is notified by mail of the discovery of the omitted property or value on October 14, 2005, for example, any request with respect to the omitted property or value must be made no later than thirty calendar days after October 14, 2005, or up to sixty days if a longer time period is adopted by the county legislative authority under RCW 84.40.038.

(3) Upon request of either the taxpayer or the assessor, a board may reconvene on its own authority to hear an appeal under the following circumstances:

(a) A taxpayer, who owns property in a county that revalues real property on an annual basis, had a timely appeal pending with the board when the same property was valued by the assessor in at least one intervening assessment year, between the filing of the appeal and the issuance of the board's written decision;

(b) The assessed value of the property under appeal did not change during the intervening assessment year or years;

(c) No appeal was filed by the taxpayer regarding the same property during the intervening assessment year or years when the assessed value did not change; and

(d) The request to reconvene is filed with the board no later than thirty calendar days after mailing of the board's decision.

(4) Requests for reconvening boards concerning prior year's assessments or for an extension of the annual regularly convened session to enable the board to complete its annual equalization duties must be submitted to the clerk of the board who must submit the request to the department for determination.

(5) The department may require any board to reconvene at any time for the purpose of performing or completing any duty or taking any action the board might lawfully have performed or taken at any of its previous meetings, or for any other purpose allowed by law. This statutory authority is reserved for those instances when an error has occurred and where the regular remedial procedures do not apply. These instances include significant valuation errors that become apparent only after the normal appeal process has expired.

(6) The department must reconvene a board upon request of a taxpayer when the taxpayer makes a prima facie showing of actual fraud on the part of taxing officials, or makes a prima facie showing that the taxpayer's property is overvalued by at least double the true and fair value. The department must reconvene a board upon request of an assessor when the assessor makes a prima facie showing of actual or constructive fraud on the part of a taxpayer.

(7) All reconvening requests must:

(a) Specify the assessment year(s) that is the subject of the request; and

(b) State the specific grounds upon which the request is based; and

(c) If the taxpayer is the party requesting the reconvening, state that he or she is the owner or duly authorized agent, personal representative or guardian, of the property or is a lessee responsible for the payment of the property taxes.

(8) No board shall reconvene later than three years after the adjournment of its regularly convened session, except in the case of omitted property or value, as noted in subsection (2) of this section. The three years is determined by the date of adjournment of the board's regularly convened session, which is four weeks after July 15th, or four weeks after the first business day after July 15th, if July 15th falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. For example, for a timely request to reconvene regarding the 2006 assessment roll, the allowable time period in which to receive the request would be from August 14, 2006 through August 13, 2009.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 84.08.010, 84.08.070, and 84.48.200. WSR 06-13-034, § 458-14-127, filed 6/14/06, effective 7/15/06; WSR 95-17-099, § 458-14-127, filed 8/23/95, effective 9/23/95; WSR 93-08-050, § 458-14-127, filed 4/2/93, effective 5/3/93; WSR 90-23-097, § 458-14-127, filed 11/21/90, effective 12/22/90.]

RCW 84.08.010, 84.08.070, and 84.48.200. WSR 06-13-034, § 458-14-127, filed 6/14/06, effective 7/15/06; WSR 95-17-099, § 458-14-127, filed 8/23/95, effective 9/23/95; WSR 93-08-050, § 458-14-127, filed 4/2/93, effective 5/3/93; WSR 90-23-097, § 458-14-127, filed 11/21/90, effective 12/22/90.