2023 New Hampshire Revised Statutes › Title V - Taxation › Chapter 76 - Apportionment, Assessment and Abatement of Taxes › Section 76:16-a - By Board of Tax and Land Appeals.

76:16-a By Board of Tax and Land Appeals. –
I. If the selectmen neglect or refuse to so abate, in accordance with RSA 76:16, I(b), any person aggrieved, having complied with the requirements of RSA 74, upon payment of a $65 filing fee, may apply in writing to the board of tax and land appeals. The appeal shall be filed on or before September 1 after the date of notice of tax under RSA 76:1-a, and not afterwards. The board, after inquiry and investigation, shall hold a hearing if requested as provided in this section and shall make such order thereon as justice requires; and such order shall be enforceable as provided hereafter. If the appeal is filed before July 1 the person aggrieved shall state in the appeal to the board the date of the municipality's decision on the RSA 76:16, I(b) application.
II. Upon receipt of an application under the provisions of paragraph I, the board of tax and land appeals shall give notice in writing to the affected town or city of the receipt of the application by mailing such notice to the town or city clerk thereof by certified mail. Such town or city may request in writing a hearing on such application within 30 days after the mailing of such notice and not thereafter. If a hearing is requested by a town or city, the board of tax and land appeals shall, not less than 30 days prior to the date of hearing upon such application, give notice of the time and place of such hearing to the applicant and to the town or city in writing. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed to limit the rights of taxpayers to a hearing before the board of tax and land appeals.
III. The applicant and the town or city shall be entitled to appear by counsel, may present evidence to the board of tax and land appeals and may subpoena witnesses. Either party may request that a stenographic record be kept of the hearing. Any investigative report filed by the staff of the board of tax and land appeals shall be made a part of such record.
IV. In such hearing, the board of tax and land appeals shall not be bound by the technical rules of evidence.
V. Either party aggrieved by the decision of the board of tax and land appeals may appeal pursuant to RSA 71-B:12. For the purposes of such appeal, the findings of fact by the board shall be final. Any such appeal shall be limited to questions of law.
VI. A copy of an order of abatement ordered by the board of tax and land appeals, attested as such by the chairman of the board, if no appeal is taken hereunder, may be filed in the superior court for the county or in the Merrimack county superior court at the option of the board; and, thereafter, such order may be enforced as any final judgment of the superior court.
VII. (a) The board may establish, by rules adopted under RSA 541-A, a small claims procedure to hear property tax appeals under this section as an alternative to full hearings. The rules may modify the procedural, hearing, and decision requirements of RSA 71-B, RSA 541-A, and paragraphs I-VI of this section.
(b) After filing the appeal pursuant to RSA 76:16-a, the taxpayer shall have the option of electing the small claims procedure. If the taxpayer elects the small claims procedure, the appeal shall be heard as a small claim unless the municipality, within 30 days of the board's notice of the taxpayer's election, requests a full hearing.
(c) The quorum for small claims hearings, decisions, and rehearing orders shall be one board member.
(d) The board retains the authority to require small claims to be heard by full hearing.
Source.
1955, 162:1. 1965, 29:1. 1969, 246:1. 1973, 121:1; 544:3. 1977, 563:39. 1982, 42:77. 1988, 1:7, 8. 1989, 408:9. 1991, 386:4, 6. 1992, 175:2; 285:2. 1994, 393:4, 5. 1995, 265:17. 2002, 217:2, eff. May 16, 2002. 2014, 175:2, eff. Sept. 9, 2014.