Deed-fraud victims would keep property-tax caps if companion legislation becomes law

Certain fraudulent or corrective property transfers would not trigger a reset of the value used to calculate property taxes. The protection covers unauthorized transfers of real property and transfers that correct earlier deed fraud. Owners must file a sworn form with the local assessing office within 30 days of discovering the fraud and attach available supporting documents. For a fraudulent transfer, owners must already have filed the required county deed-record affidavit or intend to file it within 30 days after filing the local tax affidavit. The bill would take effect only if HB 6433 or the identified Senate companion becomes law. An affidavit claiming a fraudulent transfer could not be filed for more than three subsequent tax years for the same transfer.

Assessors would immediately correct a tax-value reset covered by the deed-fraud exception. This applies when property meets the deed-fraud exception but its taxable value was reset as though ownership had changed. Owners who file a deed-fraud affidavit must notify the local assessing office of a final circuit court decision about the same transfer. If a final circuit court order under the referenced deed-fraud procedure finds that the same transfer was not fraudulent, officials must reset the taxable value as of December 31 of the transfer year and issue a corrected tax bill. The bill would take effect only if HB 6433 or the identified Senate companion becomes law. The immediate correction is required when the assessor learns that the deed-fraud exception applies.