Ind. Code § 6-1.1-37-7 – Personal property return; various violations and penalties

(a) If a person fails to file a required personal property return on or before the due date, the county auditor shall add a penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25) to the person's next property tax installment. The county auditor shall also add an additional penalty to the taxes payable by the person if the person fails to file the personal property return within thirty (30) days after the due date. The amount of the additional penalty is:
1. (1) the lesser of ten percent (10%) of the taxes finally determined to be due with respect to the personal property which should have been reported on the return or ten thousand dollars ($10,000) if the return is filed on or before November 15 of a year; or
2. (2) the lesser of twenty percent (20%) of the taxes finally determined to be due with respect to the personal property which should have been reported on the return or fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) if the return is filed after November 15 of a year.
(b) For purposes of this section, a personal property return is not due until the expiration of any extension period granted by the township or county assessor under IC 6-1.1-3-7 (b).
(c) The penalties prescribed under this section do not apply to an individual or the individual's dependents if the individual:
1. (1) is in the military or naval forces of the United States on the assessment date; and
2. (2) is covered by the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 501 et seq.) or IC 10-16-20 .
(d) If a person subject to IC 6-1.1-3-7 (c) fails to include on a personal property return the information, if any, that the department of local government finance requires under IC 6-1.1-3-9 or IC 6-1.1-5-13 , the county auditor shall add a penalty to the property tax installment next due for the return. The amount of the penalty is twenty-five dollars ($25).
(e) If the total assessed value that a person reports on a personal property return is less than the total assessed value that the person is required by law to report and if the amount of the undervaluation exceeds five percent (5%) of the value that should have been reported on the return, then the county auditor shall add a penalty of twenty percent (20%) of the additional taxes finally determined to be due as a result of the undervaluation. The penalty shall be added to the property tax installment next due for the return on which the property was undervalued. If a person has complied with all of the requirements for claiming a deduction, an exemption, or an adjustment for abnormal obsolescence, then the increase in assessed value that results from a denial of the deduction, exemption, or adjustment for abnormal obsolescence is not considered to result from an undervaluation for purposes of this subsection.
(f) If a person required by IC 6-1.1-3-7.2 (e) to declare on the taxpayer's personal property tax return that the taxpayer's business personal property is exempt fails to timely file the taxpayer's personal property tax return with the declaration, the county auditor shall impose a penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25) that must be paid by the person with the next property tax installment that is collected. A county shall include the penalty on a property tax bill associated with the tax district in which the majority value of the taxpayer's business personal property within the county is located, as determined by the county assessor.
(g) A penalty is due with an installment under subsection (a), (d), (e), or (f) whether or not an appeal is filed under IC 6-1.1-15-5 with respect to the tax due on that installment.
[Pre-1975 Property Tax Recodification Citation: 6-1-32-3.]
Formerly: Acts 1975, P.L.47, SEC.1. As amended by P.L.69-1983, SEC.10; P.L.71-1985, SEC.1; P.L.2-1998, SEC.22; P.L.90-2002, SEC.261; P.L.146-2008, SEC.292; P.L.80-2014, SEC.7; P.L.156-2015, SEC.1; P.L.249-2015, SEC.18; P.L.199-2016, SEC.3; P.L.273-2019, SEC.5; P.L.257-2019, SEC.66; P.L.153-2021, SEC.2; P.L.156-2024, SEC.22.