Texas Tax Code 312.402 – County Tax Abatement Agreement
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(a) The commissioners court may execute a tax abatement agreement with the owner of taxable real property located in a reinvestment zone designated under this subchapter or with the owner of tangible personal property located on real property in a reinvestment zone to exempt from taxation all or a portion of the value of the real property, all or a portion of the value of the tangible personal property located on the real property, or all or a portion of the value of both.
(a-1) The commissioners court may execute a tax abatement agreement with the owner of a leasehold interest in tax-exempt real property located in a reinvestment zone designated under this subchapter to exempt all or a portion of the value of the leasehold interest in the real property. The court may execute a tax abatement agreement with the owner of tangible personal property or an improvement located on tax-exempt real property that is located in a designated reinvestment zone to exempt all or a portion of the value of the tangible personal property or improvement located on the real property.
Terms Used In Texas Tax Code 312.402
- Improvement: means :
(A) a building, structure, fixture, or fence erected on or affixed to land;
(B) a transportable structure that is designed to be occupied for residential or business purposes, whether or not it is affixed to land, if the owner of the structure owns the land on which it is located, unless the structure is unoccupied and held for sale or normally is located at a particular place only temporarily; or
(C) for purposes of an entity created under § 52, Article III, or § 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, the:
(i) subdivision of land by plat;
(ii) installation of water, sewer, or drainage lines; or
(iii) paving of undeveloped land. See Texas Tax Code 1.04 - Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Personal property: means property that is not real property. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Real property: means :
(A) land;
(B) an improvement;
(C) a mine or quarry;
(D) a mineral in place;
(E) standing timber; or
(F) an estate or interest, other than a mortgage or deed of trust creating a lien on property or an interest securing payment or performance of an obligation, in a property enumerated in Paragraphs (A) through (E) of this subdivision. See Texas Tax Code 1.04 - Tangible personal property: means personal property that can be seen, weighed, measured, felt, or otherwise perceived by the senses, but does not include a document or other perceptible object that constitutes evidence of a valuable interest, claim, or right and has negligible or no intrinsic value. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
- Taxing unit: means a county, an incorporated city or town (including a home-rule city), a school district, a special district or authority (including a junior college district, a hospital district, a district created by or pursuant to the Water Code, a mosquito control district, a fire prevention district, or a noxious weed control district), or any other political unit of this state, whether created by or pursuant to the constitution or a local, special, or general law, that is authorized to impose and is imposing ad valorem taxes on property even if the governing body of another political unit determines the tax rate for the unit or otherwise governs its affairs. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
- Year: means 12 consecutive months. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(a-2) The execution, duration, and other terms of an agreement entered into under this section are governed by the provisions of Sections 312.204, 312.205, and 312.211 applicable to a municipality. § 312.2041 applies to an agreement entered into under this section in the same manner as that section applies to an agreement entered into under § 312.204 or 312.211.
(a-3) The commissioners court may execute a tax abatement agreement with a lessee of taxable real property located in a reinvestment zone designated under this subchapter to exempt from taxation all or a portion of the value of the fixtures, improvements, or other real property owned by the lessee and located on the property that is subject to the lease, all or a portion of the value of tangible personal property owned by the lessee and located on the real property that is the subject of the lease, or all or a portion of the value of both the fixtures, improvements, or other real property and the tangible personal property described by this subsection.
(b) A tax abatement agreement made by a county has the same effect on the school districts and other taxing units in which the property subject to the agreement is located as is provided by Sections 312.206(a) and (b) for an agreement made by a municipality to abate taxes on property located in the taxing jurisdiction of the municipality.
(c) If on or after September 1, 1989, property subject to an agreement with a county under this section is annexed by a municipality during the existence of the agreement, the terms of the county agreement regarding the share of the property to be exempt in each year of the agreement apply to the taxation of the property by the municipality if before the annexation the governing body of the municipality by official action expresses an intent to enter into an agreement with the owner of the property to abate taxes on the property if it is annexed or to be bound by the terms of the county agreement after annexation, even if that official action of the governing body of the municipality expressing that intent occurs before September 1, 1989.
(d) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, property that is located in a reinvestment zone designated by a county under this subchapter and that is owned or leased by a person who is a member of the commissioners court may not be subject to a tax abatement agreement made under this section. Property that is subject to a tax abatement agreement under this section in effect when the person becomes a member of the commissioners court does not cease to be eligible for property tax abatement under that agreement because of the person’s membership on the commissioners court.
(e) An agreement made under this section by a county or other taxing unit may be modified or terminated in the same manner and subject to the same limitations as provided by § 312.208 for an agreement made under Subchapter B.
(f) The Texas Department of Economic Development or its successor may recommend that a taxing unit enter into a tax abatement agreement with a person under this chapter. In determining whether to enter into a tax abatement agreement under this section, the commissioners court of a county shall consider any recommendation made by the Texas Department of Economic Development or its successor.