Sec. 12. (a) A board of county commissioners, a county assessor, or a township assessor (if any) may enter into a contract for the discovery of property that has been undervalued or omitted from assessment. The contract must prohibit payment to the contractor for discovery of undervaluation or omission with respect to a parcel or personal property return before all appeals of the assessment of the parcel or the assessment under the return have been finalized. The contract may require the contractor to:

(1) examine and verify the accuracy of a personal property return filed by a taxpayer with the county assessor or a township assessor of a township in the county, if the contractor considers the examination and verification of that personal property return to be useful to the accuracy of the assessment process; and

(2) compare a return with the books of the taxpayer and with personal property owned, held, possessed, controlled, or occupied by the taxpayer, if the contractor considers the comparison to be useful to the accuracy of the assessment process.

     (b) This subsection applies if funds are not appropriated for payment of services performed under a contract described in subsection (a). The county auditor may create a special nonreverting fund in which the county treasurer shall deposit the amount of taxes, including penalties and interest, that result from additional assessments on undervalued or omitted property collected from all taxing jurisdictions in the county after deducting the amount of any property tax credits that reduce the owner’s property tax liability for the undervalued or omitted property. The fund remains in existence during the term of the contract. Distributions shall be made from the fund without appropriation only for the following purposes:

(1) All contract fees and other costs related to the contract.

(2) Except as provided in subdivision (3), for a contract for services entered into after June 30, 2017, including any extensions, the contract must specify a monetary threshold set by the county assessor and that when the money in the fund exceeds the threshold then the county auditor shall distribute the money in excess of the threshold to the appropriate taxing units in the county using the property tax rates of each taxing unit in effect at the time of the distribution.

(3) After the payments required by subdivision (1) have been made and the contract has expired, the county auditor shall distribute all money remaining in the fund to the appropriate taxing units in the county using the property tax rates of each taxing unit in effect at the time of the distribution.

     (c) A board of county commissioners, a county assessor, or a township assessor may not contract for services under subsection (a) on a percentage basis or otherwise provide for payments under the contract that are based in any way on increases of assessed value or property tax revenue that are attributable to the discovery of property that has been undervalued or omitted from assessment.

     (d) The term of a contract for services under subsection (a) that is entered into after June 30, 2017, may not exceed three (3) years, including any extensions.

[Pre-1975 Property Tax Recodification Citation: 6-1-63-1.]

Formerly: Acts 1975, P.L.47, SEC.1. As amended by P.L.178-2002, SEC.39; P.L.154-2006, SEC.54; P.L.146-2008, SEC.289; P.L.180-2016, SEC.13; P.L.119-2017, SEC.1.