The California Court of Appeal held that the Los Angeles County Assessor erred by failing to remove the value of certain nontaxable intangible assets when valuing a hotel for property tax purposes. Intangible assets are generally exempt from property tax in California. In valuing the hotel, the Assessor used the income valuation approach, which looks

On January 6, 2021, the Court of Appeals of New Mexico held that a power purchase agreement (PPA), entered into by a wholesale electricity generator to secure compensation in exchange for providing electricity, constituted intangible property that is not subject to property taxation and cannot be included in the value of the wholesaler’s electric plant

In a pending precedential decision, the California Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) held that the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) is bound to follow its own regulation and could not rely on its audit manual to disregard that regulatory authority.  Regulation 1595 provides that the agency will use “book value” as the

By Zachary Atkins and Prentiss Willson

The Colorado Supreme Court held that the Colorado Division of Property Taxation did not violate a public utility’s equal protection and uniformity rights by valuing and taxing its property differently than cable companies’ property. The public utility, Qwest Corporation, is a telecommunications service provider that competes with cable companies for