The Department of Revenue must issue reasonable tax-assessment rules, and several local tax officials must follow them.
195.027 Rules and regulations.—(1) The Department of Revenue shall prescribe reasonable rules and regulations for the assessing and collecting of taxes, and such rules and regulations shall be followed by the property appraisers, tax collectors, clerks of the circuit court, and value adjustment boards. It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that the department shall formulate such rules and regulations that property will be assessed, taxes will be collected, and the administration will be uniform, just, and otherwise in compliance with the requirements of the general law and the constitution. (2) It is the legislative intent that all counties operate on computer programs that are substantially similar and produce data which are directly comparable. The rules and regulations shall prescribe uniform standards and procedures for computer programs and operations for all programs installed in any property appraiser’s office. It is the legislative intent that the department shall require a high degree of uniformity so that data will be comparable among counties and that a single audit procedure will be practical for all property appraisers’ offices. (3) The rules and regulations shall provide procedures whereby the property appraiser, the Department of Revenue, and the Auditor General shall be able to obtain access, where necessary, to financial records relating to nonhomestead property which records are required to make a determination of the proper assessment as to the particular property in question. Access to a taxpayer’s records shall be provided only in those instances in which it is determined that such records are necessary to determine either the classification or the value of the taxable nonhomestead property. Access shall be provided only to those records which pertain to the property physically located in the taxing county as of January 1 of each year and to the income from such property generated in the taxing county for the year in which a proper assessment is made. All records produced by the taxpayer under this subsection shall be deemed to be confidential in the hands of the property appraiser, the department, the tax collector, and the Auditor General and shall not be divulged to any person, firm, or corporation, except upon court order or order of an administrative body having quasi-judicial powers in ad valorem tax matters, and such records are exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). (4)(a) The rules and regulations prescribed by the department shall require a return of tangible personal property which shall include:1. A general identification and description of the property or, when more than one item constitutes a class of similar items, a description of the class. 2. The location of such property. 3. The original cost of such property and, in the case of a class of similar items, the average cost. 4. The age of such property and, in the case of a class of similar items, the average age. 5. The condition, including functional and economic depreciation or obsolescence. 6. The taxpayer’s estimate of fair market value. (b) For purposes of this subsection, a class of property shall include only those items which are substantially similar in function and use. Nothing in this chapter shall authorize the department to prescribe a return requiring information other than that contained in this subsection; nor shall the department issue or promulgate any rule or regulation directing the assessment of property by the consideration of factors other than those enumerated in s. 193.011. (5) The rules and regulations shall require that the property appraiser deliver copies of all pleadings in court proceedings in which his or her office is involved to the Department of Revenue. (6) The fees and costs of the sale or purchase and terms of financing shall be presumed to be usual unless the buyer or seller or agent thereof files a form which discloses the unusual fees, costs, and terms of financing. Such form shall be filed with the clerk of the circuit court at the time of recording. The rules and regulations shall prescribe an information form to be used for this purpose. Either the buyer or the seller or the agent of either shall complete the information form and certify that the form is accurate to the best of his or her knowledge and belief. The information form shall be confidential in the hands of all persons after delivery to the clerk, except that the Department of Revenue and the Auditor General shall have access to it in the execution of their official duties, and such form is exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). The information form may be used in any judicial proceeding, upon a motion to produce duly made by any party to such proceedings. Failure of the clerk to obtain an information form with the recording shall not impair the validity of the recording or the conveyance. The form shall provide for a notation by the clerk indicating the book and page number of the conveyance in the official record books of the county. The clerk shall promptly deliver all information forms received to the property appraiser for his or her custody and use.