Personal Property Assessment

• Assessment is the process of assigning value to the property for the purpose of property taxation. In the case of personal property most people think of this in terms of automobiles and other licensed vehicles. However, personal property is more than cars and trucks. Personal property also includes things like livestock, farm machinery, business equipment, manufactured homes, and planes, to list a few.
• The assessed value of the personal property depends on the type of and use of the personal property and is arrived at by applying the correct assessment percentage to the value of the property. Farm equipment and livestock would be assessed at 12%. Other property like cars, trucks, trailers, recreational vehicles and equipment, heavy equipment and business equipment, just to mention a few, would be assessed at 33-1/3%.
• In Missouri, it is the taxpayer's responsibility to file their personal property declaration in the county where they lived on January 1 and to list what they owned as of January 1. In January, the assessor mails assessment forms to those who are on the assessment rolls at that time. It is the responsibility of people moving into the county who have eligible personal property to notify the assessor's office they are here so they can be added to the assessment rolls for the year they first live here January 1. It is important to have filed a form by March 1, since penalties for late assessment may be applied to the account. Each year in January, assessment forms are computer generated and mailed to all the accounts on file at that time. Each form has a barcode on it that helps us to speedily process the forms as they are returned. Scanning that barcode tells the computer we have received a response from the property owner and then we are able to alphabetize and file the forms so they can be retrieved easily and quickly. Since the property that was owned the prior year is still listed on the computer we can tell at a glance if there are any changes. After all the updates are made and the vehicle value tables have been updated, we then run a program that assigns values to all the vehicle and adds up the other valuation components to determine the final assessed value for each account. Assessment lists and tax books are all computer generated.

New Residents and Personal Property

• New residents to the State of Missouri or Livingston County must establish an account with the Assessor's office for the upcoming tax year. The Assessor's/Collector's office issues statements of no personal property tax due (waiver's) to those individuals who qualify for them.

Missouri Residents and Personal Property

• To license your vehicles with new tags you need proof that you paid personal property taxes for the prior year. This is done with either a paid tax receipt or a waiver (certificate of no tax due or a statement of non-assessment) stating the exemption.
• The paid tax receipt indicates that you were assessed (RSMo137.075 and 137.080) in the county that you resided in January 1 of that year and that you paid on the vehicles that you owned January 1 of that year. Each county's receipts are valid at any licensing bureau or DMV agency throughout Missouri.
• Every individual owning a vehicle on January 1 with Missouri license plates should see to it that they get assessed in their county (RSMo137.090 and 137.280) during January or February of each year.
• If you have moved here from another country in the State of Missouri, you will need to obtain proper tax papers from THAT County for those years that you lived there January 1.

Where Military Personal Property is Taxed

The assessment of military personnel continues to be an area of confusion, judging from the number of calls we receive on this subject. The law in this area is controlled by the federal Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act of 1940 and the Military Spouses Relief Act. The United States Supreme Court has stated that military personnel shall not lose their residence or domicile in their home state solely because they are absent from the state in compliance with military or naval orders. However, military personnel (and/or their spouses) stationed away from Missouri still must pay personal property taxes in Missouri assuming they retain Missouri as their State Home of Record (HOR) or have Missouri as their State of Legal Residence (SLR).

The military personnel (and/or their spouses) are treated as though they never left their homer state of county. Consequently, assessors should treat the tangible personal property or Missouri personnel (and/or their spouse) stationed in other states or countries the same as if the taxpayer is living in the county and the personal property in the state. The other side of the matter, is that the personal property of any [non-resident] individuals residing in your county by means of military orders are not taxable in your jurisdiction, with the exception of business personal property located in Missouri and owned by non-resident military personnel.