MICHAEL A. HAGAN, )
)
Complainant, )
)
v. ) Appeal Number 02-73001
)
ROBERT RAINES, ASSESSOR, )
MORGAN COUNTY, MISSOURI, )
)
Respondent. )
DECISION AND ORDER
HOLDING
Decision of the Assessor, setting the assessed value for the subject personal property at $17,770, AFFIRMED.
Case decided by Chief Hearing Officer, W. B. Tichenor.
ISSUES
The Commission takes this appeal to determine whether a boat with a hailing port in another state, but registered and docked in Missouri, can be assessed as personal property in the Missouri County where it is docked and where the owner owns a vacation residence.
SUMMARY
Complainant appeals the assessment of 26.7 foot boat in Morgan County, Missouri, based on the hailing port for the boat being Boerne, Texas.
Parties were given opportunity to request an evidentiary hearing, no such request was received.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. Jurisdiction over this appeal is proper. Complainant timely appealed to the State Tax Commission the assessment of his personal property.
2. The subject property is a 2001 Cobalt, fiberglass, 26.7 foot boat named The Windy Dawn, manufacturer’s hull identification number FGE68195A101. Under a United State Coast Guard Certificate of Documentation, issued on July 31, 2002, the hailing port for the vessel is Boerne, Texas. Complainant is a resident of Texas. The boat is titled in Missouri and was located in Missouri during part of 2001 and all of 2002. Although the boat was temporarily stored during the winter months in Miller County, Missouri, it is docked and used by Complainant from his lake residence in Morgan County. The boat is not assessed as personal property in any other county in Missouri or Texas.
3. Respondent properly assessed the subject property in Morgan County, Missouri.
4. Valuation of the property was not raised as an issue by Complainant.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Jurisdiction
The Commission has jurisdiction to hear this appeal and correct any assessment which is shown to be unlawful, unfair, arbitrary or capricious. Article X, section 14, Mo. Const. of 1945; Sections 138.430, 138.431, RSMo. The hearing officer shall issue a decision and order affirming, modifying or reversing the determination of the board of equalization, and correcting any assessment which is unlawful, unfair, improper, arbitrary, or capricious. Section 138.431.4, RSMo.
DECISION
Complainant appealed the assessment of his boat in Morgan County, Missouri on the ground that the boat has a hailing port under a U. S. Coast Guard Certificate in Texas. Complainant failed to establish that under any federal statute or state statute of Missouri that a boat with a hailing port in another state, but registered and docket in Missouri cannot be assessed by the county wherein the boat is docked. The Hearing Officer knows of no such statute. Accordingly, the assessment of the boat in the County of Morgan by Respondent was proper.
ORDER
The assessment by the Assessor of the subject personal property in Morgan County is AFFIRMED.
The assessed value for the subject property for tax year 2002 is set at $17,770.
Complainant may file with the Commission an application for review of this decision within thirty (30) days of the mailing of such decision. The application shall contain specific grounds upon which it is claimed the decision is erroneous. Failure to state specific facts or law upon which the appeal is based will result in summary denial. Section 138.432, RSMo 1994.
If an application for review of this decision is made to the Commission, any protested taxes presently in an escrow account in accordance with this appeal shall be held pending the final decision of the Commission. If no application for review is received by the Commission within thirty (30) days, this decision and order is deemed final and the Collector of Morgan County, as well as the collectors of all affected political subdivisions therein, shall disburse the protested taxes presently in an escrow account in accord with the decision on the underlying assessment in this appeal. If any or all protested taxes have been disbursed pursuant to Section 139.031(8), RSMo, either party may apply to the circuit court having jurisdiction of the cause for disposition of the protested taxes held by the taxing authority.
Any Finding of Fact which is a Conclusion of Law or Decision shall be so deemed. Any Decision which is a Finding of Fact or Conclusion of Law shall be so deemed.
SO ORDERED March 20, 2003.
STATE TAX COMMISSION OF MISSOURI
W. B. Tichenor
Chief Hearing Officer