Posted July 22, 2015
The Ohio
Supreme Court ruled that grain storage bins are personal property pursuant to
state law and may not be taxed as real property, according to a Court News Ohio
article available here.
Toledo Blade also published an article here.
The
court’s unanimous decision confirmed a ruling of the Board of Tax Appeals
(BTA), which determined that the actual value of property owned by Metamora
Elevator Company in Fulton County was $738,240 instead of the auditor’s
assessed value of more than $1.8 million that included the storage bins.
The court
observed that historically the distinction between fixtures that were real
property and those that were personal property was elusive. But, in 1992, the
General Assembly clarified that storage bins are personal property.
Justice
O’Donnell wrote that the General Assembly amended the definitions of “real
property” and “personal property.”
“In
promulgating R.C. 5701.03, the General Assembly has expressly defined the term
‘business fixture’ to include storage bins, and therefore, they are personal
property not subject to real property tax,” Justice O’Donnell explained.
Metamora
Elevator Company successfully argued that the bins were temporary business
fixtures and not part of the permanent property subject to local real estate
taxation, according to Toledo
Blade.
How the
county taxes the bins has historically been a minor issue, but in 2005, the
state began to phase out its tangible personal property tax, an unpopular tax
that targeted business equipment, inventory and fixtures. That tax is now gone
for nearly all businesses in the state.
For more information on agricultural finance and credit, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
