reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 21d - Calculation of Total Limit; Adjustment of Limit; Certification of Amount of Limit; Approval

Section 21D. The commissioner of revenue shall calculate the total limit applicable pursuant to sections twenty A and twenty-one C and section thirty-four of chapter seventy-one; provided, however, that he may adjust any such limit upon written application and pursuant to written guidelines issued by him in order to counterbalance the effects of extraordinary, non-recurring events which occurred during the base year, which were not within the purview of normal municipal financial practices, and would otherwise cause a limit to be set which would be inconsistent with that intended by said sections; and provided, further, that any such adjustment shall be explained in detail and in writing.
For the purposes of this section, the ordinary use of free cash to reduce the gross amount of revenue to be raised shall be considered as within the purview of normal municipal practices. The commissioner may require the presentation of such books, records or other information by any official of the commonwealth or any official of a city, town, district, county, governing body or regional governmental unit as he deems necessary. He shall certify the amount of each limit to the proper governing body or local appropriating authority. If any such limit is increased or decreased in accordance with the provisions of this section, the commissioner shall redetermine the limit accordingly and shall forthwith certify such increased or decreased limit to the proper governing body or local appropriating authority.
No tax rate shall be fixed in any city or town until such rate has been approved by the commissioner of revenue, and the commissioner shall not approve a rate for any city or town which fails to report any increase in assessed valuation as described in paragraph (f) of section twenty-one C or which would allow the amount of property taxes levied to exceed the limit or adjusted limit determined by said commissioner.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 23a - Notice to Municipal Finance Officers

Section 23A. The assessors, as soon as the tax rates are fixed for a fiscal year, shall notify the auditor or similar officer in cities and towns, the town accountant, if any, otherwise the town treasurer, of the amount to be raised for state, county, and city or town purposes, and for overlay, specifying the amounts, as determined by percentages provided to them by section fifty-six of chapter forty, if applicable, to be levied on each class of real and personal property, and to accrue from estimated receipts.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 24 - Railroad Subscriptions; Interest on Debts

Section 24. The assessors of a town owing debts incurred to obtain funds for subscriptions for the capital stock and securities of a railroad corporation shall annually assess, in addition to the other amounts required by law, an amount sufficient to pay the excess of such interest payable by such town over any income received from such stock or securities.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 25 - Additional Assessments

Section 25. The assessors of each city or town shall raise by taxation each year a reasonable amount of overlay as the commissioner may approve. The overlay account may be used only for avoiding fractional divisions of the amount to be assessed, for abatements granted on account of property assessed for any fiscal year and for any interest payable on such abatements under section 64 or 69. Any balance in the overlay account in excess of the amount of the warrants remaining to be collected or abated, as certified by the board of assessors, shall be transferred by the board of assessors upon their own initiative or within 10 days of a written request by the chief executive officer, with written notice to the chief executive officer, to a reserve fund to be appropriated for any lawful purpose. Any balance in a reserve fund at the end of the fiscal year shall be closed out to surplus revenue. This section shall apply to fire, water and improvement districts.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 28 - Unpaid Taxes; Collection

Section 28. If a state or county tax is not assessed, and paid by the town, within the time prescribed, and remains unpaid at the expiration of five months after the receipt of a warrant from the state treasurer or of a certificate from the county commissioners requiring its assessment, the amount of the tax may be recovered of the town in contract by the state treasurer or the treasurer of the county respectively.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 29 - Notice of Assessments; Lists

Section 29. Assessors before making an assessment shall give seasonable notice thereof to all persons subject to taxation in their respective towns. Such notice shall be posted in one or more public places in each town, or shall be given in some other sufficient manner, and shall require the said persons to bring into the assessors, before a date therein specified, in case of residents a true list, containing the items required by the commissioner in the form prescribed by him under section five of chapter fifty-eight of all their personal estate not exempt from taxation, except intangible property the income of which is included in a return filed the same year in accordance with sections twenty-two to twenty-five, inclusive, of chapter sixty-two, and in case of non-residents and foreign corporations such a true list of all their personal estate in that town not exempt from taxation, and may or may not require such list to include their real estate subject to taxation in that town. It shall also require all persons, except corporations making returns to the commissioner of insurance as required by section thirty-eight of chapter one hundred and seventy-six, to bring in to the assessors before a date therein specified, which shall not be later than March first following, unless the assessors for cause shown extend the time to a reasonable later time but in no event later than the last day for filing an application for abatement of the tax for the fiscal year to which the filing relates, true lists, similarly itemized, of all real and personal estate held by them respectively for literary, educational, temperance, benevolent, charitable or scientific purposes on January first preceding, or at the election of any such corporation on the last day of its fiscal year preceding said January first, together with such information as may be required to comply with regulations promulgated by the commission pursuant to section three of chapter fifty-eight and the amount of receipts and expenditures for said purposes during the year together with copies of federal tax returns containing unrelated business income taxable under section five hundred and eleven of the Internal Revenue Code. The assessors may require from any person claiming under the Seventeenth, Eighteenth or Twenty-second clause of section five an exemption from taxation, a full list of all such person's taxable property, both real and personal.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 31 - Verification of Lists; Oaths

Section 31. The assessors shall in all cases require a person bringing in a list to make oath that it is true. The oath may be administered by any of the assessors or by their secretary or head clerk, or by any notary public, whose jurat shall be duly authenticated by his seal, or, in this commonwealth, by a justice of the peace. So much of this section as relates to administering the oath shall not apply to Boston.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 31a - Examination of Records to Verify Completeness and Accuracy of Accounting of Taxable Personal Property Required to Be Filed Under Sec. 29

Section 31A. For the purpose of verifying that a person required to file a true list of taxable personal property under section 29 has made a complete and accurate accounting of that property, the assessors may at any time within 3 years after the date the list was due, or within 3 years after the date the list was filed, whichever is later, examine the books, papers, records and other data of the person required to file the list. The assessors may compel production of books, papers, records and other data of the person through issuance of a summons served in the same manner as summonses for witnesses in criminal cases issued on behalf of the commonwealth, and all provisions of law relative to summonses in such cases shall, so far as applicable, apply to summonses issued under this section. A justice of the supreme judicial court or of the superior court may, upon the application of the assessors, compel the production of books, papers, records and other data in the same manner and to the same extent as before those courts.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 32 - Inspection of Lists

Section 32. Lists filed under section 29 and books, papers, records and other data obtained under section 31A shall be open to the inspection of the assessors, the commissioner, the deputies, clerks and assistants of either the assessors or the commissioner and any designated private auditor of the commissioner or the assessors as may have occasion to inspect the lists, books, papers, records and other data in the performance of their official, contractual or designated duties, but so much of the lists, books, papers, records and other data as shows the details of the personal estate shall not be open to any other person except by order of a court. For purposes of this section, a ''designated private auditor'' shall be an individual, corporation or other legal entity selected by the commissioner or a city or town to value personal property or perform an audit which includes the assessing department of a city or town under any legal authority, including the examination of records under said section 31A, an audit under sections 40 or 42A of chapter 44 or an investigation under section 46A of said chapter 44 but only if the individual, corporation or other legal entity shall be compensated for the audit work pursuant to an arrangement under which neither the payment nor the amount of their fees and expenses for the work are contingent on either the results of the audit or whether the results withstand any appeal by a taxpayer. The lists shall be preserved by the assessors until the commissioner orders them destroyed. Nothing in this section shall prevent a person who submitted that information, or his designated representative, from inspecting or being provided a copy of the submission upon request.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 33 - Storage Warehouses; Information Regarding Customers

Section 33. All persons engaged in the business of storing or keeping merchandise in storage warehouses shall, within ten days after request therefor by the assessors of the town where said property is so stored or kept, permit said assessors to copy from their records a list of the names and addresses of all persons who appear, on January first in such year, to have any such property stored or kept in any such warehouse, except business corporations subject to tax under section 39 of chapter 63; but such persons shall not be required to furnish lists of persons having property stored in warehouses which is composed of imported goods in the original packages owned by the importer, or of goods that have been received for export trade or of property which is deemed to be in transit under section two. Failure to comply with this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than ninety days.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 34 - Mortgagors and Mortgagees; Statements

Section 34. A mortgagor or mortgagee of real estate may bring in to the assessors of the town where it lies, within the time prescribed by the notice under section twenty-nine, a sworn statement of the amount secured thereon or on each separate parcel thereof, with the name and residence of every holder of an interest therein as mortgagor or mortgagee. If such property is situated in two or more places, or if a recorded mortgage includes two or more estates or parts of an estate as security for one sum, such statement shall include an estimate of the interest of the mortgagee in each estate or part thereof. The assessors shall, from such statement or otherwise, ascertain the proportionate interests of the mortgagor or mortgagee respectively in said estates, and shall assess the same accordingly. If, in any year, such statement is not brought in, the tax for that year on such real estate shall not be invalid merely for the reason that the interest of the mortgagee therein has not been assessed to him.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 36 - Failure to Furnish Lists; Estimating Value

Section 36. Assessors shall ascertain as nearly as possible the particulars of the personal estate, and of the real estate in possession or occupation, as owner or otherwise, of any person not bringing in such list, and shall estimate its just value, according to their best information and belief.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 38 - Fair Cash Valuation; Classification of Assessed Valuation; Taxable Valuation

Section 38. The assessors of each city and town shall at the time appointed therefor make a fair cash valuation of all the estate, real and personal, subject to taxation therein, and such determination shall be the assessed valuation of such estate. In cities, the assessors may, in any year, divide the city into convenient assessment districts.
The assessed valuation of real property subject to taxation under this chapter shall be classified as follows:—
Class one, residential;
Class two, open;
Class three, commercial, and
Class four, industrial.
The resulting amount shall be the taxable valuation of each class of property to which the assessors shall apply the tax rates applicable to each class as determined under section twenty-three A of chapter fifty-nine of the city or town, to determine the tax due and payable on such property.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 38d - Written Return of Information to Determine Valuation of Real Property

Section 38D. A board of assessors may request the owner or lessee of any real property to make a written return under oath within sixty days containing such information as may reasonably be required by it to determine the actual fair cash valuation of such property.
Failure of an owner or lessee of real property to comply with such request within 60 days after it has been made by the board of assessors shall be automatic grounds for dismissal of a filing at the appellate tax board. The appellate tax board and the county commissioners shall not grant extensions for the purposes of extending the filing requirements unless the applicant was unable to comply with such request for reasons beyond his control or unless he attempted to comply in good faith. If any owner or lessee of real property in a return made under this section makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular, such false statement shall bar him from any statutory appeal under this chapter.
If an owner or lessee of Class one, residential property fails to submit the information within the time and in the form prescribed, the owner shall be assessed an additional penalty for the next ensuing tax year in the amount of $50 but only if the board of assessors informed the owner or lessee that failure to submit such information would result in the penalty.
If an owner or lessee of Class three, commercial or Class four, industrial property fails to submit the information within the time and in the form prescribed, the owner or lessee shall be assessed an additional penalty for the next ensuing tax year in the amount of $250 but only if the board of assessors informed the owner or lessee that failure to so submit such information would result in the penalty.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 38e - Testimony Under Oath Concerning Written Return Filed Under Sec. 38d or Application for Abatement

Section 38E. A board of assessors may require testimony under oath of a taxpayer relative to his written return filed under section thirty-eight D and may also require testimony under oath of any applicant for abatement under section fifty-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 38f - Written Return of Information to Determine Valuation of Personal Property

Section 38F. A board of assessors may request the owner or lessee of any personal property to make a written return under oath within sixty days containing such information as may reasonably be required by it to determine the actual fair cash valuation of such property.
Failure of an owner or lessee of personal property to comply with such request within sixty days after it has been made shall bar him from any statutory appeal under this chapter, unless such owner or lessee was unable to comply with such request for reasons beyond his control. If any owner or lessee of personal property in a return made under this section makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular, such false statement shall bar him from any statutory appeal under this chapter.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 38g - Testimony Under Oath Concerning Written Return Filed Under Sec. 38f

Section 38G. A board of assessors may require testimony under oath of a taxpayer relative to his written return filed under section thirty-eight F and may also require testimony under oath of any applicant for abatement under section fifty-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 40 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies; Assessors; Informing Commissioners

Section 40. Every board of assessors shall, as and when required by the commissioner, furnish him with any and all information in its knowledge or possession relating to any property, the value of which he is required to determine by the preceding section.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 41 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies; Returns

Section 41. Every telephone company owning any property required to be valued by the commissioner under section 39 shall annually, on or before March 1, make a return to the commissioner signed and sworn to by its treasurer. The commissioner may, for cause shown, authorize a later filing, but in no case later than April 1. This return shall be in the form and detail prescribed by the commissioner and shall contain all information which he shall consider necessary to enable him to make the valuations required by section thirty-nine, and shall relate, so far as is possible, to the situation of the company and its property on January first of the year when made. Property returned to the commissioner as herein provided need not be included in the list required to be filed by a telephone or telegraph company under section twenty-nine. Failure to make the return required by this section shall bar the company from any appeal of the commissioner's determination of value under section thirty-nine, unless such company was unable to comply with such request for reasons beyond such company's control. If any company, or any treasurer thereof, in a return made under this section makes any statement which is known to be false in a material particular, such false statement shall bar it from any appeal under section thirty-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 42a - Amended Valuation of Property Held by Pipeline or Telephone or Telegraph Company; Collection of Additional Assessment; Appeals

Section 42A. For the purpose of verifying that an owner of a pipeline or a telephone or telegraph company required to make a return under section 38A or section 41 has made a complete and accurate accounting of the property required to be returned, the commissioner shall have all the powers and remedies provided by said section 31A to assessors of cities and towns. If the commissioner reasonably believes, as a result of an examination of the books, papers, records and other data or otherwise, that taxable personal property for a fiscal year was not valued or was incorrectly valued, the commissioner may, not later than 3 years and 6 months after the date the return was due or 3 years and 6 months after the date the return was filed, whichever is later, certify an amended valuation to the owner of the pipeline or telephone or telegraph company and to the boards of assessors of the cities and towns wherein the property was subject to taxation for that year. Not later than 2 months after the date of the amended certification, the assessors shall assess and commit to the collector with their warrant for collection an additional tax to the owner of the pipeline or telephone or telegraph company. An owner or company aggrieved by the assessment of the additional tax may, within 1 month after the bill or notice of the additional assessment is first sent, appeal the valuation to the appellate tax board. The appeal shall name as appellees the commissioner and the board of assessors. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the hearing and appeal before the appellate tax board shall proceed in the same manner as an appeal of the valuations originally certified by the commissioner.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 43 - Valuation and Assessment Books; Public Inspection

Section 43. The assessors shall make, on the books furnished as provided in section forty-five, a list of the valuation and the assessment thereon, in the following manner: In each column provided in the book or books so furnished shall be entered the valuation of that portion, if any, of the personal property of each person and corporation, indicated by the heading thereof. The total amount of the taxable personal property shall be shown, but without other detail or specification than is provided for herein. Before the taxes are committed for collection they shall deposit the books, or an attested copy thereof, in their office or, if there is no office, with their chairman, for public inspection.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 44 - Lists; Contents

Section 44. The list shall exhibit the valuation, classification and assessment of the estates of the inhabitants assessed; and the valuation, classification and assessment of the estates of nonresident owners, and shall contain the names of the nonresident owners of the property assessed, or such description of them as can be given, their places of abode, if known, the description of their estate, and the tax thereon.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 45 - Books and Records of Assessors Furnished by Municipalities; Electronic Format

Section 45. Each city or town shall provide, on or before January first, annually, suitable books for the use of its assessors in the assessment of taxes, which shall contain blank columns with uniform headings for a valuation list, in the form the commissioner shall, from time to time, determine.
Any books or records required to be furnished to the assessors, or to be kept or maintained by them, under this section, or any section of chapters 59 to 60B, inclusive, may be created, completed or maintained electronically.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 46 - Entries in Books

Section 46. The assessors shall enter in the books so furnished the valuation, classification and assessment of the estates of the persons assessed, as directed in the headings of the various columns and shall state the value of each building described, including therein water wheels but excluding land and water power and machinery used in the building. Such valuation book shall contain at the end thereof a summary listing the total valuation for each classification of property as prescribed by the commissioner.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 50 - Required Books or Records of Assessors; Explanatory Notes

Section 50. The books or records required by section 45 shall contain a copy of this section, sections 43, 44, 45 and 46, and the certificates required by law to be signed by the assessors, with any explanatory notes as the commissioner considers necessary to secure uniformity of returns under the several headings.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 51 - Exempted Property; Entries on Valuation Lists

Section 51. The assessors shall enter upon the valuation list, in the appropriate columns after the enumeration of the persons and estates liable to taxation therein contained, a statement and description of all the property and estate, with the fair cash value thereof, which is exempted from taxation in their respective towns pursuant to the provisions of the first fifteen clauses of section five, or for the reason that it is owned by a county, city, town or district and put to a public use, with the names of the persons or corporations owning the same and the purpose for which it is used, and with a reference to the law, if any, by which such exemption is allowed.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 52 - Valuation Lists; Statement of Assessors; Penalties

Section 52. The assessors, or other persons authorized to assess taxes, shall, at the end of said valuation list, subscribe the following statement:
We, the assessors (or other persons so authorized, as the case may be,) of , do severally state, that the foregoing list is a full and true list of the names of all persons known to us, who are liable to taxation in , (here insert the name of the city or town,) during the present year, and that the real and personal estate contained in said list, and assessed upon each person in said list, is a full and accurate assessment upon all the property of each person, liable to taxation, at its full and fair cash value, according to our best knowledge and belief. This statement is made under the penalties of perjury.
Failure to subscribe the foregoing statement shall not invalidate a tax otherwise legally assessed; but whoever assesses taxes in a town without having subscribed the same shall be punished by a fine of ten dollars.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 52a - Plans Showing Boundaries in City or Town; Delivery to Court

Section 52A. The assessors, upon receiving for their general use, newly completed or revised plans showing locations of boundaries of real property in the city or town, shall deliver copies of such plans to the land court department of the trial court.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 52b - Official Inspection of Valuation Information, Release of Comparable Sales Data

Section 52B. All information collected pursuant to section 8A of chapter 58A and sections 38D, 38E, 57D and 61A of this chapter shall be open to the inspection of the assessors, the commissioner, the deputies, clerks and assistants of either the assessors or the commissioner and such other officials of the commonwealth or of its political subdivisions who have occasion to inspect such information in the performance of their official duties, but to no other person except by order of the appellate tax board or a court, except that if the assessor bases a valuation of an assessed owner's real or personal property, in whole or in part, on a comparable sale, or sales, the assessor shall provide any market data relating to such comparable sale or sales to the assessed owner of the property or his designated representative upon request. Nothing in this section shall prevent a person who submitted that information, or his designated representative, from inspecting or being provided a copy of the submission upon request.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 52c - Public Access to Terminals or Other Data Processing Equipment

Section 52C. The provisions of section ten of chapter sixty-six shall not be deemed to authorize public access to terminals or other data processing equipment for the purpose of copying, reading, collecting, printing, analyzing or manipulating any data or other information collected under any provision of this chapter and stored in data processing or computing equipment or to authorize the release of the original or copies of tapes, cards, disc files or other methods of electronic storage of such data or information, unless authorized by the commissioner of revenue.
Nothing contained in this section shall restrict the right of a person assessed or his designated representative to inspect at the assessor's office information and records relating to the valuation and assessment of his property or to receive copies of this information.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 53 - Tax Lists; Commitment; Warrants; Collector of Taxes

Section 53. The assessors shall, within a reasonable time, commit the tax list with their warrant to the collector of taxes, and, if there is a fire, water, light or improvement district in the town, they shall commit to him a separate list and warrant for the district taxes. If no collector has been chosen, they shall commit such list with their warrants, to a constable; or, if there is no constable, to the sheriff or his deputy; but the assessors of a town shall not commit a tax list to the collector until the bonds of such collector and of the town treasurer have been given and approved as required by law.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 57a - Unpaid Taxes Not in Excess of One Hundred Dollars; Interest

[Text of section effective for taxes or excises assessed for fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2017. See 2016, 218, Sec. 248.]
Section 57A. In any city or town that accepts this section, notwithstanding sections 23D, 57 or 57C, a notice of preliminary tax or actual tax bill for real estate or personal property taxes, in an amount not in excess of $100, shall be due and payable in 1 installment and if unpaid after the day the first installment of the notice of preliminary tax or actual tax bill for the year is due, shall be subject to interest at the same rate and from the same date as any delinquent preliminary or actual tax first installment.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 58 - Discounts on Taxes

Section 58. In any city or town that accepts the provisions of this section, on all property taxes assessed in a city or town and collected by a city or town tax collector, discounts for the early and full payment thereof shall be three percent if the taxpayer pays the entire tax bill for the fiscal year in which said tax is due by November first or within thirty days if the bill for such tax was mailed later than October first.
In any city or town that accepts the provisions of this section and that has adopted the provisions of section fifty-seven C, the discount for early and full payment of the tax bill shall be three percent if the taxpayer pays the entire tax bill for the fiscal year in which said tax is due, notwithstanding any provisions of said section fifty-seven C, by August first or within thirty days if the tax bill was mailed later than July first. In the event it is determined at the end of a fiscal year that a taxpayer, who has exercised this option, has overpaid his tax for said fiscal year, the tax bill for the next fiscal year for said taxpayer shall be reduced by the amount that was determined to have been overpaid in the previous fiscal year.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 59a - Abatements for Purpose of Continuing Environmental Cleanup on Sites Zoned for Commercial or Industrial Use Where There Has Been a Release of Oil or Hazardous Material

Section 59A. Municipalities may establish, relative to sites or portions of sites from or at which there has been a release of oil or hazardous material, an agreement between the city or town and any eligible person, as defined in section 2 of chapter 21E, regarding the abatement of outstanding real estate tax obligations, interest and costs on said sites or portions of sites; provided, however, that said sites or portions of sites are zoned for commercial or industrial uses by the municipality in which said sites or portions of sites exist. Such agreement, for the purpose of continuing environmental cleanup on such sites and redevelopment in such communities, shall include, but shall not be limited to, the amount outstanding, the per cent of interest to accrue if determined applicable by the parties, the description of quantifiable monthly payments, the inception date of such payments, the date of the final payment, late penalties, and any other contractual obligations arranged between the parties. The terms of repayment shall be set at the discretion of the municipality and shall be included in the agreement between the parties. A city or town that accepts this section shall adopt an ordinance or by-law specifying the method for negotiating and approving agreements under this section. Copies of each such agreement shall be signed by the municipal officer required by the ordinance or by-law and by the owner of the property in question, notarized, attested to by the city or town clerk, and provided to the department of environmental protection, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the city council or board of selectmen, and the owners of the property in question. This section shall take effect in any city or town only upon its acceptance by such city or town.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 60 - Records of Abatements

Section 60. Every board of assessors shall record all abatements of taxes. The record of abatement of the whole or any part of any tax shall be signed by a majority of the board and shall show plainly the following details:
First, The name or title in which the tax stands assessed.
Second, The year in which the tax was assessed.
Third, The total amount of the tax.
Fourth, The date when the abatement was made.
[There is no Fifth.]
Sixth, The sum abated on personal estate.
Seventh, The sum abated on real estate.
Eighth, The total sum abated.
Ninth, In case of an abatement to put into effect a statutory exemption, exact reference to the statutory provision under which the exemption is granted.
The assessors shall forthwith upon making an abatement furnish the tax collector with a copy thereof.
The records which boards of assessors are required to keep pursuant to this section shall be kept, in the order in which such abatements of taxes are granted, in a book or set of books provided for the purpose and in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Such book or books, or copies thereof, shall be open to public inspection. Every board of assessors shall at the request of any person furnish one or more copies of any record required by this section to be kept, upon the payment in advance of a fee approximating the cost of such copy or copies.
Applications for abatement or exemption under this chapter shall, except in proceedings before the county commissioners, the appellate tax board or a court of the commonwealth, be open only to the inspection of the assessors, the commissioner, the deputies, clerks and assistants of either the assessors or the commissioner and such other officials or designated private auditors of the commonwealth or of its political subdivisions as may have occasion to inspect such applications in the performance of their official, contractual or designated duties; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall prevent a person who submitted that information, or his designated representative, from inspecting or being provided a copy of the submission upon request. For purposes of this section, a designated private auditor shall be an individual, corporation or other legal entity proficient in auditing selected by the director of accounts or any city or town to perform an audit which includes the assessing department of a city or town under any legal authority, including an audit under sections forty or forty-two of chapter forty-four, or an investigation under section forty-six A of chapter forty-four.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 61 - Conditions of Abatement

Section 61. A person shall not have an abatement of a tax imposed upon his personal property subject to taxation, except as otherwise provided, unless he has brought in to the assessors a list of his personal estate as required by section 29 and complied with any requests by the assessors to examine books, papers, records and other data under section 31A. If such a list of his personal estate is not filed within the time specified in the notice required by said section 29 or the person has not complied with any requests by the assessors to examine books, papers, records and other data under said section 31A, no part of the tax assessed on the personal estate shall be abated unless the applicant shows to the assessors a reasonable excuse for the delay, or unless such tax exceeds by fifty per cent the amount which would have been assessed on such estate, if the list had been seasonably brought in, and in such case only the excess over such fifty per cent shall be abated. A person applying for an abatement of a tax on real estate may have an abatement although no list of the owner's estate was brought in as required by the said notice; provided, that in any application for an abatement of such a tax the applicant shall include a sufficient description in writing of the particular real estate as to which an abatement is requested.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 61a - Discovery; Failure to Comply

Section 61A. A person applying for an abatement of a tax on real estate or personal property shall, upon request, exhibit to the assessors the property to which the application for abatement relates and if required by said assessors, shall exhibit and identify such property, and further, shall, upon request, furnish under oath such written information as may be reasonably required by the board of assessors to determine the actual fair cash valuation of the property to which the application for abatement relates including, but not limited to, income and rents received, and the expenses of maintaining such property. Failure of the applicant to comply with the provisions of this section within thirty days after such request shall bar him from any statutory appeal under this chapter unless the applicant was unable to comply with such request for reasons beyond his control or unless he attempted to comply in good faith.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 63 - Notice of Decision

Section 63. Assessors shall, within ten days after their decision on an application for an abatement, send written notice thereof to the applicant. If the assessors fail to take action on such application for a period of three months following the filing thereof, they shall, within ten days after such period, send the applicant written notice of such inaction. Said notice shall indicate the date of the decision or the date the application is deemed denied as provided in section sixty-four, and shall further state that appeal from such decision or inaction may be taken as provided in sections sixty-four to sixty-five B, inclusive.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 65 - Appeals; Appellate Tax Board

Section 65. A person aggrieved as aforesaid with respect to a tax on property in any municipality may, subject to the same conditions provided for an appeal under section sixty-four, appeal to the appellate tax board by filing a petition with such board within three months after the date of the assessors' decision on an application for abatement as provided in section sixty-three, or within three months after the time when the application for abatement is deemed to be denied as provided in section sixty-four. Such appeal shall be heard and determined by said board in the manner provided by chapter fifty-eight A. The board may enter such order as justice may require in the manner provided in the preceding section with respect to complaints removed from the county commissioners. The remedy provided by this section shall be in the alternative for that provided by section sixty-four in case of a tax on property in any municipality other than Revere or Winthrop.
If any such petition is, after the period or date prescribed by this section, delivered by United States mail, or by such alternative private delivery service as the appellate tax board may by rule permit, to such board, the date of the United States postmark, or other substantiating date mark permitted by rule of such board, affixed on the envelope or other appropriate wrapper in which such petition is mailed or delivered shall be deemed to be the date of delivery, if such petition was mailed in the United States in an envelope or other appropriate wrapper, first class postage prepaid, or delivered to such alternative private delivery service, properly addressed to the board. As used in this section, ''United States postmark'' shall mean only a postmark made by the United States post office.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes › Section 65a - Sale or Taking Real Property for Taxes; Effect Upon Abatement

Section 65A. No sale or taking of real property for non-payment of taxes shall affect the hearing of any application for abatement of such taxes duly made under any provision of this chapter prior to the institution of proceedings for such sale or taking, or the institution, hearing or disposition of any proceeding arising from such application, nor shall the addition of any subsequent taxes to a tax title account affect the hearing of any application for abatement of such subsequent taxes duly made under any provision of this chapter prior to such addition being made, or the institution, hearing or disposition of any proceeding arising from such application. If a final finding be made that the person aggrieved by the assessment of such taxes is entitled to an abatement, he shall be granted such reasonable abatement as justice may require. In case the purchaser of the property is other than the town, the person so aggrieved shall be entitled to relief in the same manner and in the same amount, including interest and charges, as if the payment made to the town for the purchase of the property had been made as a direct payment of the taxes, interest and charges for the non-payment of which the property was sold. In case the property is taken or purchased by the town, the person so aggrieved shall be entitled to have the amount to be paid or tendered in redemption under the provisions of section sixty-two of chapter sixty reduced to the amount which would have been required to have been so paid or tendered if the abatement or abatements had become effective before the taking or purchase or addition to the tax title account.