H-3687              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 2824

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Representatives Fraser, Belcher, Silver, Wang and Winsley

Read first time 1/22/90 and referred to Committee on Local Government.

AN ACT Relating to property omitted from assessor rolls; and amending RCW 84.40.080.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 84.40.080, chapter 15, Laws of 1961 as amended by section 1, chapter 8, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. and RCW 84.40.080 are each amended to read as follows:

          The assessor, upon his or her own motion, or upon the application of any taxpayer, shall enter in the detail and assessment list of the current year any property shown to have been omitted from the assessment list of any preceding year, at the valuation of that year, or if not then valued, at such valuation as the assessor shall determine from the preceding year, and such valuation shall be stated in a separate line from the valuation of the current year.  Where improvements have not been valued and assessed as a part of the real estate upon which the same may be located, as evidenced by the assessment rolls, they may be separately valued and assessed as omitted property under this section((:  PROVIDED,)) except that no such assessment shall be made in any case where a bona fide purchaser, encumbrancer, or contract buyer has acquired any interest in said property prior to the time such improvements are assessed.  When ((such)) an omitted assessment is made, and the omission is due to an error of the taxing district, the taxes levied thereon may be paid within three years of the due date of the taxes for the year in which the assessment is made, and the taxing district shall pay the penalties and interest.  When the omitted assessment is due to an act or omission of the taxpayer, the taxes levied thereon may be paid within one year of the due date of the taxes for the year in which the assessment is made without penalty or interest:  AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That in the assessment of personal property, the assessor shall assess the omitted value not reported by the taxpayer as evidenced by an inspection of either the property or the books and records of said taxpayer by the assessor.