South Carolina Code 12-60-2560. Filing claim for refund; contents
The assessor, upon receipt of a claim for refund, shall immediately notify the county treasurer and the county auditor for the county from which the refund is sought. The majority of these three officials shall determine the taxpayer’s refund, if any, and shall notify the taxpayer in writing of their decision.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 12-60-2560
- Administrative Law Court: means the Administrative Law Court created by § 1-23-500. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Assessment: means the department's recording the liability of the taxpayer in the office of the department, subject to the restrictions in § 12-60-440. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- assessor: means a county officer or official who issues an official property tax assessment for real property. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- auditor: means a county officer or official who issues an official property tax assessment for personal property. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- county board: means the board of assessment appeals which considers appeals of property tax assessments issued by the property tax assessor for the county and which also hears appeals of refund claims of property as determined by the majority of the county assessor, county auditor, and county treasurer. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Property tax: means ad valorem taxes on real and personal property. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Property tax assessment: means a valuation or determination of property value for annual property tax purposes arrived at by multiplying the fair market value or special use value of the property by the appropriate assessment ratio for the taxable property's classification. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Property taxpayer: means a person who is liable for, or whose property or interest in property, is subject to, or liable for, a property tax imposed by this title. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Protest: means a written appeal of a proposed assessment or a division decision made in accordance with this chapter. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
- Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
- taxes: means taxes, licenses, permits, fees, or other amounts, including interest, regulatory and other penalties, and civil fines, imposed by this title, or subject to assessment or collection by the department. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Taxpayer: includes a licensee and an applicant for a license, issued by or administered by the department. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
(B) Within thirty days after the decision is mailed to the taxpayer on the claim for refund, a property taxpayer may appeal the decision to the county board of assessment appeals. The board may rule on any timely refund appeal relating to the correctness of the property tax assessment. Conferences conducted by the board are pursuant to the same rules and procedures provided in § 12-60-2530 except that a taxpayer’s denied claim for refund is considered the assessor’s response to a protest of property tax assessment.
(C) Within thirty days after the board’s decision is mailed to the taxpayer, a property taxpayer or county assessor may appeal the decision issued by the board by requesting a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court. Requests for a hearing before the Administrative Law Court must be made in accordance with its rules.
If a taxpayer requests a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court without exhausting his prehearing remedy because he failed to file a claim for refund or attend the conference with the county board of assessment appeals, the administrative law judge shall dismiss the action without prejudice. If the taxpayer failed to provide the county board with the facts, law, and other authority supporting his position, he shall provide the representative of the county at the hearing with the facts, law, and other authority he failed to present to the county board earlier. The administrative law judge shall then remand the case to the county board for reconsideration in light of the new facts or issues unless the representative of the county at the hearing elects to forego the remand.
Upon remand the county board has thirty days, or a longer period ordered by the administrative law judge, to consider the new facts and issues and amend its decision. The county board shall issue its amended decision in the same manner as the original. The taxpayer has thirty days after the date the county board’s decision was mailed or delivered to the taxpayer to again request a contested case hearing. Requests for a hearing before the Administrative Law Court must be made in accordance with its rules. If the county board fails to issue its amended decision within thirty days of the date of the remand, or a longer period ordered by the administrative law judge, the taxpayer can again request a contested case hearing. At the new hearing the facts, law, and other authority presented at the original hearing must be deemed to have been presented in a timely manner for purposes of exhausting the taxpayer’s prehearing remedy. The statute of limitations remains suspended by § 12-54-85(G) during this process.