AL Code § 40-2-18 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 40 - Revenue and Taxation.|Chapter 2 - Department of Revenue.|Article 1 - General Provisions.|Section 40-2-18 - Procedure After Revaluation and Equalization.

Section 40-2-18Procedure after revaluation and equalization. Whenever the work of revaluing and equalizing any class or classes of property has been completed by order of the Department of Revenue, as provided herein, and the revised valuation has been entered on the tax return list, the county board of equalization shall certify over their signatures to the correctness thereof and shall deliver the tax return list showing the assessment and revaluation to the assessing official of the county as their report, and the assessing official shall hold them in his or her office subject to public inspection. The assessing official shall then give notice by publication once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county, if any are published in the county and, if no newspaper is published in the county, by posting notices in at least three public places in the county that the county board of equalization has returned its report and that the same is open to public inspection and that the board will convene at the courthouse in the county on a day to be named and fixed in the notice to correct any errors in the valuations. In the event the property of any taxpayer is increased by the county board of equalization when revaluing and equalizing assessments as provided in this section over the assessed value as originally fixed by the board, the taxpayer shall be furnished by mail or in person, with a statement showing separately the revised value of his or her personal property and his or her real property and also that the taxpayer may file in writing with the secretary of the county board of equalization, within 30 calendar days from the date of the notice, objections, if any are made, to the revaluation made as herein provided, and that the county board of equalization will sit on a day to be named and fixed in the notice, when the complaining taxpayer, his or her agent or attorney may appear and produce evidence in support of any objection as filed. Notwithstanding the foregoing, failure to give or receive the notice shall not invalidate any assessment and the taxpayer shall have the right at any time before the taxes become delinquent to appear before the county board of equalization and have the assessment of his or her property reopened, if satisfactory proof is made that the taxpayer or his or her agent did not receive notice of the increase. It shall be the duty of the county board of equalization to convene and sit at the courthouse in its respective county on the day named and fixed in the notices and to remain in session as long as may be necessary for the purpose of hearing objections, if any, that have been filed in writing against the revaluation or equalization so fixed by the board; and at the sitting the complaining property owner may appear in person or by agent or attorney and produce evidence in support of objections to assessment valuations as fixed on his or her property. Furthermore, it shall be the duty of the county board of equalization to examine the complainant under oath and to examine any other witnesses under oath, as to the fair and reasonable market value of the property of the owner, and, if it finds from the evidence the revaluation placed by it on the property was not the amount specified by law on the fair and reasonable market value of the property, then it shall correct the valuations and enter the corrected value upon the tax return on which the property is listed for taxation, so that the return will show the amount specified by law on the fair and reasonable market value, and the corrected amount so entered by the board shall constitute the taxable value of the property. If the board shall find from all the evidence that the revaluations placed by it on the property were the amount specified by law on the fair and reasonable market value, then the valuation thus made shall remain and stand as the assessable value for taxation of the property. The revised and corrected property valuation thus made shall be fixed as the legal valuation of the property for the payment of the taxes, and it shall be the duty of the taxpayer to pay his or her taxes thereon accordingly. In the event the revaluation and equalization provided for herein is made by the Department of Revenue, the Department of Revenue shall certify to the correctness of the revised tax assessments, and the newspaper publication shall be made and notices given as when the board of equalization revalues and equalizes property, that the Department of Revenue will sit on the date fixed in the notices to hear evidence in support of objections, if any, filed in writing with the assessing official to revaluations and equalizations made by it. At the sitting, the complaining property owner may appear in person or by agent or attorney and produce evidence in support of objections filed by him or her in writing to any revaluation of his or her property. And it shall be the duty of the Department of Revenue to examine any other witnesses under oath as to the fair and reasonable market value of the property of the owner and if it finds from the evidence that the readjusted value placed by it on the property was not the amount specified by law on the fair and reasonable market value of the property, then it shall correct the valuations and enter the corrected value upon the tax return on which the property is listed, so that the return will show the amount specified by law on the fair and reasonable market value, and the corrected amount so entered by the Department of Revenue shall constitute the taxable value of the property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Department of Revenue finds from all the evidence that the valuation placed by it on the property was the amount specified by law on the reasonable market value, then the valuations thus made shall remain and stand as the assessable value for taxation of the property. From the revaluation and equalization made as herein provided, the taxpayer may appeal to the circuit court in the manner as provided for appeal from the county board of equalization. (Acts 1935, No. 194, p. 256; Code 1940, T. 51, §135; Act 2007-381, p. 757, §1.)