Article 5. Property Statements of California Revenue And Taxation Code >> Division 1. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 5.

Upon request of the board, a person shall submit a property statement pertaining to any state-assessed property owned, claimed, possessed, used, controlled, or managed by him, in the form prescribed by the board.
  (a) The statement shall be made under oath and filed with the board.
  (b) In the case of a corporation, the property statement shall be signed either by an officer of the corporation or an employee or agent who has been designated in writing by the board of directors to sign such statement on behalf of the corporation.

The statement shall show specifically any information required by the board in order to assess State assessed property.

Any person with knowledge or records pertinent to the appraisal of state-assessed property shall make them available to the board on request. The person shall make available at his principal place of business, principal location, or principal address in California, or at a place mutually agreeable to the board and the person, a true copy of business records relevant to the amount, cost, and value of all property that he owns, claims, possesses, or controls within the state.

Failure of the board to demand or secure the property statement does not render any assessment invalid.

(a) If the request of the board is mailed before the lien date as defined in Section 722, the property statement shall be filed with the board by March 1, and shall be in such detail as the board may prescribe.
  (b) If the request of the board is mailed on or after the first day of January following the lien date, the property statement shall be filed with the board within 60 days after the request is mailed.
  (c) Except as hereinafter provided, if any person fails to file the property statement, in whole or in part, by March 1, or by that later date to which the filing period is extended pursuant to subdivision (b) or Section 830.1, a penalty shall be added to the full value of the assessment of so much of the property as is not timely reported as follows:
  (1) For any part of the property statement relating to the development of the unit value of operating property, the penalty shall be 10 percent of the unit value.
  (2) For any part of the property statement, not relating to the development of the unit value of operating property, that lists or describes specific operating property, the penalty shall be 10 percent of the allocated value of the property, which penalty shall be added to the unit value.
  (3) For any part of the property statement that lists or describes specific nonunitary property, the penalty shall be 10 percent of the value of the property.
  (4) If the failure to timely file a property statement is due to a fraudulent or willful attempt to evade the tax, a penalty of 25 percent of the assessed value of the estimated assessment shall be added to the assessment. A willful failure to file a property statement as required by Article 5 (commencing with Section 826) shall be deemed to be a willful attempt to evade the tax.
  (5) No penalty added pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) may exceed twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) of full value. In addition, if a penalty has been added pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), or (3), if a claim for refund seeking the recovery of that penalty has been filed by the state assessee contesting the penalty within three months of the due date of the second installment, and the state assessee initiates an action in the superior court within one year of the filing of the claim for refund, the state assessee is not subject to any further penalties on subsequent assessments for failure to comply with any subsequent request seeking information or data with respect to the same issue as set forth in the claim for refund filed within the time limits set forth above, until the assessment year after a final decision of the court, and then only with respect to a failure to comply with a request for information with respect to assessments after a final decision of the court. For purposes of this paragraph, "same issue" means the type of information that is the subject of the disputed request for information.
  (d) Any person who subscribes to the board's tax rate area change service and who receives a change mailed between April 1 and May 1, shall file a corrected statement no later than May 30 with respect to those parts of the property statement that are affected by the change. If that person receives a change mailed after May 1, a corrected statement shall be filed no later than the 60th day following the mailing of that change.
  (e) Penalties incurred for filings received after June 30 may be included with the assessments for the succeeding fiscal year.
  (f) If the assessee establishes to the satisfaction of the board that the failure to file the property statement or any of its parts within the time required by this section was due to reasonable cause and occurred notwithstanding the exercise of ordinary care and the absence of willful neglect, the board shall order the penalty abated, in whole or in part, provided the assessee has filed with the board written application for abatement of the penalty within the time prescribed by law for the filing of applications for assessment reductions.

Notwithstanding Section 15620 of the Government Code, the board, by order entered upon its minutes and for good cause shown, may extend the time fixed for filing portions of the property statement as follows:
  (a) For any part of the property statement relating to the development of the unit value of operating property, an extension not exceeding 45 days may be granted.
  (b) For any part of the property statement, not relating to the development of the unit value of operating property, that lists or describes specific operating property, an extension not exceeding 30 days may be granted.
  (c) For any part of the property statement that lists or describes specific nonunitary property, an extension not exceeding 30 days may be granted.
  (d) If an extension is granted pursuant to subdivision (a), (b), or (c), an additional 15-day extension may be granted upon the showing of extraordinary circumstances which prevent the filing of the statement within the first extension.

On forms and at times prescribed by the board, it may require the assessor of any county or city to report any information in his possession concerning the value of State assessed property.

The board may call on any State department, board, bureau, or commission for any assistance it can render.

(a) Except as provided herein, all information required by the board or furnished in the property statement shall be held secret by the board and by any person or entity acquiring this information pursuant to subdivision (c). Information and records in the board's office which are not required to be kept or prepared by the board are not public documents and are not open to public inspection.
  (b) This section shall not apply to maps filed pursuant to Section 326.
  (c) Except as provided in Section 38706, the board may provide any assessment data in its possession to the assessor of any county. When requested by resolution of the board of supervisors of any county, or the city council of any city which prepares its own local roll, the board shall permit the auditor or the assessor of the county or city, or any duly authorized deputy or employee of that officer, to examine any and all records of the board.
  (d) The board shall disclose information, furnish abstracts or permit access to any and all of its records to or by law enforcement agencies, grand juries, and other duly authorized legislative or administrative officials of the state pursuant to their authorization to examine these records.
  (e) The board also may disclose information, records, and appraisal data relating to state assessment of companies engaged in interstate commerce to tax officials of other states having duties corresponding to those described by this chapter. This disclosure shall be limited to instances in which there is a reciprocal exchange of information by the states in which the interstate companies operate, and shall be made only pursuant to a written agreement between the agencies involved. This agreement shall provide that any request for information be in writing, shall specify the information to be exchanged, and shall require that any information furnished be used solely for tax administration purposes and otherwise shall be held secret. This agreement shall also provide that any information furnished be disclosed only to those persons whose duties or responsibilities require access and shall require that necessary safeguards be implemented to protect the confidentiality of the information. The request for information and any written material furnished pursuant to the request shall be open to inspection by the person to whom the information relates at the office of the board in Sacramento.
  (f) Upon receiving any request for confidential information from any person or entity described in subdivision (c) or (e), the board shall promptly notify the state assessee to which the request relates of the identity of the person or entity requesting the information and a description of the information sought. Upon sending any information in response to the request, the board shall simultaneously provide to the state assessee to which the request relates notification describing the information so transmitted and the identity of the person or entity to whom the information was transmitted.

The board may destroy any documents containing information obtained from taxpayers when six years have elapsed since the lien date for the taxes for which that information was obtained. Those documents may be destroyed when three years have elapsed since the lien date if the documents have been microfilmed, microfiched, imaged, or otherwise preserved on a medium that provides access to the documents.