Opinion ID: 6045101
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Self-executing;

Text: 2. Do not depend upon §§ 58-12(1) through 58-12(4); and 3. Must be strictly construed, even as to the property of governments and churches. Id. at  (emphasis added). The second opinion, issued in 1993, addressed whether a city’s delay in recognizing the tax-exempt status of property acquired by a religious organization was legally proper. 1993 Op. Atty. Gen. 244, 1993 WL 494573 (Oct. 20, 1993). The Attorney General opined that Section 6(a)(2) provided for an “automatic exemption of ‘real estate and personal property owned and exclusively occupied or used by churches or religious bodies for religious worship or for the residences of their ministers.’” Id. at  (emphasis added). Although property owned by a religious organization for worship is exempt from taxation by localities, localities are required to maintain an inventory of all tax-exempt property and keep a record of such information, along with the fair market value of such property. Code § 58.1- 3604. Further, Code § 58.1-3605 authorizes localities to “require by local ordinance any entity, except the Commonwealth, any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or the United States, which owns real and personal property exempt pursuant to this chapter to file triennially an application with the appropriate assessing officer as a requirement for retention of the exempt status of the property.” These authorities establish that the tax exemption for property owned by religious organizations is “automatic” or “self-executing,” unless a locality chooses to exercise its 7 authority under Code § 58.1-3605 to pass an ordinance requiring such entities to file an application every three years to retain the property’s exempt status. During the years in question, however, the City did not have such an ordinance.  Therefore, the self-executing provision of Article X, Section 6(a)(2) of the Constitution of Virginia governed. Any properties used for “religious worship” in the City that qualified for tax-exempt status under Article X, Section 6(a)(2), as defined by Code § 58.1-3606, were automatically exempt from taxation during the years in question. EWC asserts that its property, which it refers to as a “learning annex,” qualified for this automatic exemption. During oral argument the City disagreed, arguing the exemption only applies to property used for “worship and housing.” We disagree with the City’s narrow interpretation of the exemption. As explained above, Code § 58.1-3606 contains an expansive definition of religious worship that, in addition to “worship and housing” includes “property used for outdoor worship activities,” “property used for ancillary and accessory purposes” that “support[s] or augment[s] the principal religious worship use”, and “property used as required by federal, state, or local law.” Code § 58.1-3606(A)(2). Based upon the record before us, we are unable to determine whether EWC’s property in question would qualify for this exemption. We note that it appears EWC attempted to proffer evidence of its use that would qualify for tax-exempt status, but the circuit court never gave EWC an opportunity to present that evidence. Instead, the circuit court agreed with the City’s