Standards of Acceptance

35.VI.02.06 Mississippi Administrative Code
Part VI, Sub-part 02, Chapter 6

35.VI.2.06 updated effective January 1, 2007

The following standards of performance will be used by the State Tax Commission in determining the acceptability of the real and personal property rolls in each county: 

1. Minimum Requirements for Aerial Photography

2. Minimum Requirements for Mapping

3. Personal Property Standards Coming to Standard

4. Maintenance

After a county has come into compliance, the maintenance program shall begin and the following shall be done:

5. Real Property Minimum Requirements and Standards for Appraisal Updating

6. Real Property Minimum Requirements and Standards for Appraisal

Maintenance

7. Ratio Studies

Any county whose next update year for real property as of January 1, 2007 is tax year 2007, 2008 or 2009 shall be regulated by the provisions of Title 35, Part VI, Subpart 02, Chapter 06, Section 100 of the Mississippi Administrative Code, including all subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs and clauses of that section, as set above, until the year succeeding this next real property update year. For all years succeeding the next real property update year for those counties whose next update year for real property as of December 31, 2006 is tax year 2007, 2008 or 2009, the county shall be regulated by the provisions of Title 35, Part VI, Subpart 02, Chapter 06, Sections 300 through 604 of the Mississippi Administrative Code, including all subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs and clauses of those sections, as set out below. Any county whose update year for real property is 2006 shall be regulated by the provisions of Title 35, Part VI, Subpart 02, Chapter 06, Sections 300 through 604 of the Mississippi Administrative Code, including all subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs and clauses of those sections, as set out below, for tax year 2007 and all succeeding tax years.

(Reserved)

Title 35, Part VI, Subpart 02, Chapter 06 of the Mississippi Administrative Code is promulgated to establish performance standards and acceptable parameters for evaluation of the accuracy of property tax assessments and to insure equalization of property values by class throughout the State of Mississippi. The standards of performance included in this chapter will be used by the State Tax Commission in determining the acceptability of the real and personal rolls of each county.

For the purposes of this rule, being Title 35, Part VI, Subpart 02, Chapter 06, Sections 300 through 604 of Mississippi Administrative Code and all subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs and clauses thereof, the following definitions shall apply:

(Reserved)

Real Property Update Process:

Every county is required to update parcel values a minimum of once every four years. To achieve such update, each county must have its values in accord with the values produced by applying the procedures in the then current version of the appraisal manual, and insure that the property values fall within established tolerances of market value. Counties will closely inspect approximately 25 percent (25%) of total real property parcels each year unless a county has written approval from the property tax office to do otherwise. Where it is impractical to closely view a given parcel, the county appraiser should indicate on the property record card why the parcel was not closely inspected. An error will not be noted when the county appraiser fails to closely view the parcel because of taxpayer objections, dangerous animals, high fences or other legitimate obstacles unless the changes to the parcel can be observed from the front of the structure.

At the end of the update cycle, the county must have equalized values within the county so that similar properties have been assigned similar values, and that the relationships among all property values are correct. Counties must have completed an index study as provided in the appraisal manual and submitted it to the property tax office by April 1 of the update year providing adequate sales exist. If the study indicates a new index is justified, it must be implemented during the update year. If any county does not have adequate sales to complete the index study, the county must implement the state index. Property values on the tax roll must reflect the updated values shown on the property record cards. Additionally, counties must complete sales ratio studies, and the ratios must fall within accepted parameters as shown elsewhere in this rule. Counties must also physically observe all parcels on the 25 percent (including all real property which is required to be on the roll as of January 1st) list to insure correct depreciation, and such observed depreciation must be used on structures with an age of twenty (20) years or more. The tax roll must include all real property which is required to be on the roll as of January 1st.

Guidelines for appraising differing types of property for the purpose of updating values are as follows:

1. Land – All land must be valued using the procedures set forth in the appraisal manual.

2. Agricultural Use Land - Land deemed to be used for agricultural purposes shall be 

classified by soil type and use (cultivatable or un-cultivatable). It shall be valued 

annually using the then current agricultural use values provided by the property tax office.

3. Small Tracts and Urban Land - Small tract land and urban land must be revalued during the update year if warranted. Counties must monitor sales activities, creating schedules to determine values. Counties having insufficient sales of raw land may use sales of improved parcels abstracting the improvement value.

4. Improvements - Improvements shall be valued according to procedures set forth in the appraisal manual. The county index shall be applied to improvements as required by the appraisal manual. All improvements to parcels or removal of structures from parcels shall be recorded correctly on the property record card. The value of such parcels must be changed on the tax roll where appropriate.

5. Real Property Maintenance - Counties are required to annually locate, list and value all new properties including additions to existing properties. Likewise, all properties which have been altered or removed shall have such changes noted on the property record cards and the values adjusted accordingly. All new properties must be measured on site. Changes to parcels shall be noted on the property record card and reflected on the land roll values. While parcels subject to maintenance only are not on the 25 percent (25%) list, and will not be audited as such, errors resulting from failure to value new improvements larger than 600 square feet will be counted as errors when found. The property tax office will verify that new houses, buildings and other large improvements have been added to the roll.

The property tax office shall use sales ratio studies and other means to determine whether the counties are in compliance with this rule. During the county audit, the property tax office will review at least two hundred fifty (250) closely inspected real property parcels with improvements or 15 percent (15%) of the improved parcels on the 25 percent (25%) list, whichever is fewer. Additional parcels will be inspected if deemed appropriate by the property tax office. No more than ten percent (10%) or 25 parcels with mobile homes will be considered as part of the real property audit. Upon completion of the audit and prior to finalization, a listing of any errors, as denoted below, will be given to the tax assessor for review. The property tax office will consider any objections of the tax assessor. If after meeting with the property tax office, agreement is not reached, the board of supervisors may petition the commission for a hearing on the matter. Counties that fail audits will face sanctions as provided by Mississippi statutes. 

Counties will be deemed to have failed the county audit and/or the update if:

1. The county does not pass the assessment level test;

2. The county does not pass the assessment uniformity test;

3. The county does not pass the assessment equity test;

4. The county audit performed by the property tax office indicates errors that exceed twenty-five (25) points; provided however, if on parcels with errors, the calculation of value by the county does not exceed 15 percent (15%) from the value calculated by the property tax office, the county will be deemed to have passed the audit irrespective of the number of error points;

5. The county does not value agricultural lands using the current rates provided by the property tax office;

6. The county does not provide the real property 25 percent (25%) list by the first Monday in July or extension due date: or

7. The county does not complete an index study and submit it to the property tax office by the First Monday in July or the extension due date, if applicable, of the update year.

The property tax office shall either, perform ratio studies during the update year on county sales, or use the county ratio studies to determine whether the county has equaled or exceeded the standards for the assessment level test, the assessment uniformity test, and the assessment equity test. The studies will be performed as provided in the appraisal manual.

The standard for passing the assessment level test for Class I properties is a median  ratio of 85 percent (85%) to 115 percent (115%) of market value. A median for Class II properties of 75 percent (75%) to 125 percent (125%) of market value is deemed passing. 

The standard for passing the assessment uniformity test is a coefficient of dispersion about the median of 20 percent (20%) or less. 

Counties not meeting or exceeding the standards shown above will be deemed to have failed the tests.

Category I errors include:

1. Failure to assess or delete major improvements, such as, but not limited to, residences or other buildings larger than 600 square feet in size and which have an improvement true value greater than $50,000.

2. Incorrect construction units totaling 25 units or greater on one building. Additional special use units will not be considered an error if their use is pre-approved by the property tax office.

3. Data entry errors which are greater than $50,000 in true value.

4. Failure during the update year to perform sales ratio studies as provided in the appraisal manual, providing that twelve or more arm’s length sales occurred during the previous two year period. 

5. Failure to maintain an adequate sales file as set forth in the appraisal manual

6. Failure to implement a building index during the update cycle within a 10 percent (10%) variance of the state index as calculated by the property tax office, unless otherwise approved in writing by the property tax office.

7. Failure to provide the real property 25 percent (25%) list to the property tax office by April 1st of the base year. 

8. Failure during the update cycle to update all land values, using urban land pricing and small tract schedules.

9. The above mentioned errors 4-8 are not parcel specific, thus, they will be assigned 4 error points each.

Category II errors include:

1. Failure to assess or delete garages totaling 400 square feet or larger, and/or upper floors and rooms in residences or other buildings with true values ranging from $5,000 to $50,000.

2. Failure to assess or delete utility buildings or other detached buildings larger than 400 square feet in size, excluding prefabricated type buildings.

3. Failure to measure any dimension of an improvement within 2 feet.

4. Failure to classify any building within one full class (building classification as set forth in the appraisal manual). An incorrect classification of one full class or more is considered an error.

5. Decimal areas as set forth in the appraisal manual which are incorrect by .5 or greater.

6. Failure to list depreciation of a given improvement within 10 percent (10%) of the depreciation for the actual or effective age as shown in the appraisal manual. Improvements where the county appraiser has noted observed depreciation will not be considered an error unless the observed depreciation has a variance within 20 percent (20%) of actual depreciation. Observed condition shall be used to depreciate buildings with an effective age twenty (20) years and older.

7. Failure to use the correct base rate table (high or low table) when valuing improvements.

8. Incorrect construction units totaling six (6) to twenty-four (24) units on one building.

9. Failure to correctly assess garages or other non-living areas that have been changed to base area.

10. Failure to remove improvements that no longer exist and that were on the land roll with values of $5,000 or more.

11. Failure to correctly calculate the base and/or adjusted areas of a structure.

12. Data entry errors which fall within a range of $5,001 to $50,000 in true value.

13. Failure to correctly value land within a tolerance of 20 percent (20%) of market value unless documented on the property record card

Failure to correctly assess any improvement or extra features, not otherwise listed in the error portion of this rule, for which costs or costs schedules exist in the appraisal manual, providing that the cost of the individual improvement or feature exceeds $5,000.

Category III errors include:

1. Failure to correctly assess wood decks, patios, prefabricated utility buildings and all other attached or detached buildings not included under Category I or II above.

2. Incorrect construction units totaling 2-5 units or less on an individual building.

3. Decimal areas as set forth in the appraisal manual which are incorrect within a range of .2 to .5.

4. Data entry errors which fall within a range of $1,000 to $5,000 in true value.

5. Failure to assess additions to improvements, including, but not limited to rooms and/or garages, totaling 400 square feet or less.

6. Failure to correctly assess any improvement or extra features, not otherwise listed in the error portion of this rule, for which costs or costs schedules exist in the appraisal manual, providing that the cost of the individual improvement or feature is $5,000 or less.

Standards for Real Property Audits

1. Category I: Each 1 percent (1%) of audited parcels with category I errors yields 10 error points.

2. Non-Parcel specific category I errors yield four error points each. 

3. Category II: Each 1% of audited parcels with category II errors yields 2 error points

4. Category III: Each 1% of audited parcels with category III errors yields .5 error points

5. Example: 250 parcels audited

2 parcels with category I errors = 8.0 error points

6 parcels with category II errors = 4.8 error points

10 parcels with category III errors = 2.0 error points

Total Error Points 14.8

County passes audit

6. Implementation: Counties shall fall under the provisions of this rule commencing with their next base year after December 31, 2006.

(Reserved)

Personal Property

Update Process

The County shall annually comply with the provisions of Title 35, Part VI, Subpart 02, Chapter 08 of the Mississippi Administrative Code.

501.02

All Counties will develop and use an update cycle of four (4) years. The base year will be the year immediately succeeding the real property update year. This process will result in the physical reviewing of 100 percent (100%) of all personal property accounts every four years. Each county is required to perform a close inspection and re-value approximately percent (25%) of all personal property parcels annually. In each subsequent year, an additional 25 percent (25%) of personal property parcels shall be physically reviewed and re-valued. The base year will be used to determine the minimum number of parcels that must be physically reviewed and verified each year during the update cycle. During the base year, the county must supply a list of the parcels to be closely inspected and re-valued during each of the four (4) years of the cycle. Counties should complete all the appraisals annually by June 30 or extension due date. Failure to provide the 25 percent (25%) personal property list by the first Monday in July or extension due date will constitute automatic failure of the audit. Any county failing to list 80 percent (80%) of all items found on the parcels reviewed in the random sample, will constitute failure of the personal property portion of the audit.

Maintenance

Counties must be in compliance with all provisions of Title 35, Part VI, Subpart 02, Chapter 08 of the Mississippi Administrative Code.

Inventory - All inventories shall be valued annually. The true value of current inventory will be appraised as of January 1st or an average of inventory of the previous twelve (12) months.

Leased property - Leased property shall be valued annually. The business where the leased property is physically located shall identify said property on its Personal Property Rendition Form. However, the property shall be assessed to the lessor. The lessor shall actually render the property. The assessor shall have a master property record card which shall locate and identify all leased property of the lessor. In the event the lessee does not adequately identify the lessor, the lessee will be taxed on the leased property.

All new businesses, additions, and deletions shall be captured annually and the values reflected on the tax roll. 

It is the responsibility of the county to use the most recent schedules for depreciation and trending factors (multipliers) supplied by the property tax office.

Prior to the first Monday in July or extension due date, the assessor must produce a list of all new parcels added during the prior roll year.

The original rendition for each personal property parcel must be available to the property tax office upon request.

The property tax office will do sample verification to determine if mobile homes are on the tax roll and are valued according to the property tax office guidelines.

Personal Property Audits

Personal property audits will be conducted on an annual basis. The audit will consist of, but not be limited to, a minimum of thirty (30) randomly selected parcels or the total number of parcels on the 25 percent (25%) list whichever is less. The total number of mobile homes considered as part of the personal property audit will be a maximum of 10 percent (10%) of the randomly selected parcels. The property tax office reserves the right to look at any and all information relating to personal property during the audit process. The final audit findings will be reported using the error classifications listed below. Multiple instances of the same error within a parcel will be counted only once. The most serious error in each parcel will be counted.

Counties will be deemed to have failed the county personal property audit and/or the update if:

1. Failure to provide the 25 percent (25%) list by the first Monday in July or as required by the roll extension due date.

2. Failure to physically review and value at least 80 percent (80%) of the total true value of the personal property belonging to the businesses on the random sample;

3. The county audit performed by the property tax office indicates errors that exceed twenty five (25) points

Category I

1. Failure to assess or delete a new business whose true value equals or exceeds $50,000.

2. Failure to list or assess individual items of any business whose true value equals or exceeds $20,000. 

3. Data entry errors that equal or exceed $25,000 true value per parcel.

4. Failure to assess a 10 percent (10%) penalty to any business that fails to file a proper rendition. 

5. Failure to list items in a business totaling 30 percent (30%) or more of true value providing the business’ true value equals or exceeds $50,000.

6. Failure to value a taxable inventory equal to or exceeding $100,000 of true value.

7. Failure to physically review and re-value the assets of a business on the 25 percent (25%) list.

8. Failure to provide the personal property 25 percent (25%) list to the property tax office by April 1st of the base year.

9. Failure to routinely use the most current depreciation tables or multiplier tables supplied by the property tax office.

10. Failure to routinely assess 10 percent (10%) penalty for renditions filed after

April 1.

11. Failure to submit renditions or copies of renditions to the property tax office upon written request.

12. Failure to use the current pricing information supplied by the property tax office for other approved pricing.

13. The above mentioned category I errors 8-12 are not parcel specific, thus, they will be assigned 4 error points each.

Category II

Data entry errors between $5,000 and $25,000 of true value per parcel.

Failure to compare renditions to the property record cards and make needed adjustments. 

Failure to value a taxable inventory which equals or exceeds $4,000 but is less than $100,000 of true value.

Failure to list items in a business totaling 30 percent (30%) of actual true value where the true value of the business ranges from $25,000 to $50,000.

Category III

Failure to list items in a business totaling 30% of true value in any given business providing the value of the business ranges from $4,000 to $25,000 of true value.

Data entry errors relating to a particular parcel between $1,000 and $5,000 of true value. 

Failure to value a taxable inventory having a true value of less than $4000. 

Failure to note the appraiser’s initials and dates of each inspection on the property record card or enter such data into the computer system.

Appraising individual pieces of furniture and/or fixtures using an arbitrary value, rather than using the appraisal manual or other acceptable pricing method.

Failure to properly assess the 10 percent (10%) penalty relating to individual renditions.

Failure to assess a mobile home.

Personal Property Audit Standards

1. Category I: Each 1 percent (1%) of audited parcels with category I errors yields

error point

2. Category II: Each 1 percent (1%) of audited parcels with category II errors yields

error points

3. Category III: Each 1 percent (1%) of audited parcels with category III errors yields

25 error points

4. Non-Parcel specific category I errors yield 4 error points each. 

(Reserved)

Mapping Requirements

 Minimum Requirements for Aerial Photography

1. Aerial photography covering the entire county will be flown periodically and accepted by the county using the minimum scale requirements shown below. The time interval for flying aerial photography will be determined on a parcel count basis as follows:

 

The county may appeal to the property tax office for an extension of the time period based on the lack of growth in assessed value, the lack of growth in number of parcels, the lack of change in agricultural use coverage or in the case of natural disaster. Requests for such extensions must be made one (1) year prior to the set time period intervals as described above. The property tax office shall accept or reject in writing the request within ninety (90) calendar days. If the Mississippi Remote Sensing /Geographic Information Systems Coordinating Council furnishes free aerial photography, all digital counties must use such new photography unless prior photography plans have been approved. All photography must meet property tax office standards.

2. Within two (2) years after acceptance of aerial photography, the county will re-classify or verify all agricultural property according to its current use (cultivatable or uncultivatable). Counties shall use the most recent soil survey available. Counties flying multiple times within the designated time frame may request that additional verification of cultivatable or uncultivatable lands not be required.

3. Prior to flying new aerial photography the county will contact the property tax office in writing. If the original ownership base mapping has been approved by the property tax office, minimum photography accuracy will be considered by the property tax office. Written approval from the property tax office must be submitted to the county within ninety (90) calendar days after the county notifies the property tax office of its intent to fly new aerial photography. 

4. Photography will be flown at such times as deciduous trees are free from foliage, vegetation is minimal, and the rivers, streams and lakes are within the normal boundaries. No vertical photographs will be made when the sun is more than thirty degrees from vertical.

Minimum scale requirements: Negative scale for all rural areas shall be one inch equals two thousand feet (1 "=2000') flown from an altitude of 12,000 feet; all designated urban areas shall be one inch equals five hundred feet (1"=500’) flown at an altitude of 3000 feet. Any areas requiring enlargements to one inch equals two hundred feet (1"=200') shall be enlarged from the one inch equals two thousand feet (1 "=2000') negative. If using the orthophoto approach, the minimum resolution accepted will be 0.5’ pixels for 1=100’ areas and 2.0’ pixels for 1=400’ areas. Alternate scales may be approved with property tax office approval. All scale requirements must be coordinated with the property tax office prior to flying aerial photography.

Minimum Requirements for Mapping

There will not be an update cycle for mapping. This rule contains time frames for performing the functions necessary for mapping.

1. Counties shall acquire and maintain a proper ownership mapping system using an appropriate aerial photography base. Ownership maps and aerial photos will be maintained as separate products but will be required to overlay and correlate. Once aerial photography is flown and accepted, the county must submit a plan acceptable to the property tax office to complete ownership map revisions. The plan must include who will perform the mapping, time requirements, and detail work to be performed.

2. Originals or copies of current ownership maps and aerial photography must be housed in the Assessor’s office.

3. Upon flying new photography, the accepted map scales for ownership mapping are as follows:

 

Minimum scales required

Alternate scales accepted

4. Mapping maintenance is to be performed in a timely manner on an annual basis. Maintenance shall include working all recorded vesting instruments including but not limited to:

5. The following documents should be considered when making mapping changes:

6. All parcels with agricultural use acreage changes shall be recalculated annually to reflect the correct acreages based on the soil productivity and current lad use. The most recent published soil survey shall be utilized.

7. All deed changes affecting the roll will be completed on or before June 30. Any changes to be completed after the first Monday in July or roll extension due date must be approved in writing by the property tax office.

8. A deed log containing a record of all mapping changes shall be maintained. The minimum contents of the log shall be parcel number, deed book/page, instrument date, grantor, grantee, and type of change (name change, new parcel, type of reference). The deed log shall be submitted to the property tax office in hard copy, CD or by e-mail on or before June 30 each year. Failure to submit a deed log will result in failure of the mapping audit. The deed log for the tax year 2010 and after must be received on CD or by e-mail. The hard copy version of the deed log will no longer be accepted after 2010. Excel is the preferred format for the deed log.

9. All parcels on the land roll will be reconciled against the parcels on maps to ensure that all parcels are on the land roll. Counties with manually-drafted maps shall perform this reconciliation, at a minimum, every four (4) years to coincide with the appraisal update year. Counties with digital maps shall reconcile annually. Failure to perform the reconciliation will result in failure of the mapping audit.

10. Assessors shall have the capability to produce or reproduce within 10 working days for the property tax office all documents, maps, photographs, copies, aerial photo or imagery composites, and materials described in these minimum requirements at the prescribed sizes, scales, and formats, and on the prescribed mediums (paper, mylar, etc.).

11. Only references to real property parcels shall be placed on the maps and carried to the land roll. References to non-parcels such as road right-of-way, railroad right-of-way, dummy numbers for entire subdivisions and whole sections may be used, at the assessor’s discretion, on the maps and land roll. All parcels on the land roll shall be designated as such on the ownership maps including homestead splits and “improvement only” parcels. Any parcels not appearing on the ownership maps must be documented by the assessor’s office. Dimension or acreage information must appear on the ownership maps or be available through other means.

12. All counties must have a set of maps or computerized format of same stored off-site.

 Mapping Audit Process

The mapping audit will consist of, but not be limited to, a minimum of twenty (20) new parcel splits selected from the deed log or the total number of parcels on the deed log whichever is less. When available, some deeds will be selected from each month of the deed log. The mapping audit will include rural as well urban properties. The

property tax office reserves the right to look at any and all information relating to mapping during the audit process. 

Mapping Audit Errors

The final audit findings will be reported using the error classifications listed below. Parcels containing multiple instances of the same error will be counted as 1 error. The most serious error on each parcel will be counted. Errors will generate points based on the following schedule:

 

Category I

1. Parcel is not mapped

2. Parcel is mapped but not on land roll

3. Failure to deliver the deed log by June 30

4. The above category I error 3 is not parcel specific, thus, it will be assigned 4 error points.

Category II 

1. Soils are not recalculated correctly

2. The parcel is mapped in the wrong location

3. Incorrect soil class applied to a given parcel

Category III 

1. Lines scale is outside the tolerance of 10 percent (10%)

2. A parcel is mapped but not inked

3. Acreage computed is outside the tolerance of 10 percent (10%)

4. Dimension is missing, incorrect, or outside the 10 percent (10%) tolerance

Mapping Audit Standards

1. Category I: Each 1 percent (1%) of audited parcels with category I errors yields 2 error points 

2. Category II: Each 1 percent (1%) of audited parcels with category II errors yields 1 error point 

3. Category III: Each 1 percent (1%) of audited parcels with category III errors yields .5 error points

4. Non-Parcel specific category I errors yield 4 error points each.

5. The mapping audit shall he deemed as failed under any one of the following criteria: