Each business located in Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) is required to file the rendition of business personal property (RBPP) to HCAD by April 15 every year (with extension to May 15), unless the total value of personal property is less than $500.
However, from time to time you may inadvertently file the RBPP even though you do not have any property or the value of your property is less than $500. Upon receipt of your RBPP, HCAD will create an account to keep track of your reported property. In many cases when you report zero taxable property, HCAD will assign a value to your property and levy property tax based on the assigned value. In this case, upon receipt of the tax statements from HCAD, you should immediately do the followings:
– File protest with HCAD
– Request HCAD to close your RBPP account
You can file a protest online or through paper-file. There are protest procedures that you should follow in order to win the protest. Therefore, it is a good idea to employ a good CPA to file the protest on your behalf.
If you believe that you do not need to file RBPP anymore in the future, you should contact HCAD and request them to close your RBPP account or make your account inactive. Normally HCAD can only close your account if your business was closed, moved, or sold. However, if you can explain your situation and prove that your business has less-than-$500-valued business personal property, HCAD will close your account. This often requires several types of supporting documents and many hours talking with HCAD agents through telephone, which may greatly discourage you. Therefore, a CPA can help you during this process.
For more information and detailed procedures, please visit HCAD website at hcad.org or contact our CPAs at CMCD LLC.
Comments are closed