Council resolution did not waive requirements for tax deduction

The Indiana Board of Tax Review’s final determination that the city of Bluffton’s Common Council waived a company’s compliance with certain statutory requirements for its 2013 personal property tax abatement deduction is contrary to law, Indiana Tax Judge Martha Wentworth ruled Thursday.

Alexin LLC operates an aluminum production and manufacturing business in a part of Wells County designated as an economic revitalization area. The Common Council granted it a 10-year abatement of taxes on its personal property. But due to an administrative oversight, Alexin did not timely file any of its tax abatement forms for the 2013 tax year with the Wells County Assessor’s Office. The assessor disallowed the abatement deduction, which led to Alexin successfully requesting an ordinance from the Common Council to waive the late filing of the forms.

“Upon review of Resolution 2013-9, the Court finds (the ordinance) never refers to Alexin’s personal property tax return, but specifically waives only the untimeliness of Alexin’s Forms CF-1,” Wentworth wrote.

“The parties do not dispute that Alexin’s personal property tax return, its Forms CF-1, and its Form 103-ERA are separate and distinct documents. Furthermore, each document must be timely filed to obtain a personal property tax abatement deduction.

“While the Court is sympathetic to Alexin’s misfortune, the record evidence, the parties’ arguments, and the applicable rules of construction require the Court to find that the Council’s Resolution 2013-9 did not waive the non-compliance of Alexin’s personal property tax return. The Council’s Resolution waived only the non-compliance of Alexin’s Forms CF-1 and, therefore, the Indiana Board’s final determination is contrary to law on this basis,” Wentworth wrote in reversing the final determination in Wells County Assessor v. Alexin, LLC, 49T10-1501-TA-3.