Property Tax on gliders in California?

Have received a letter from the tax assessor requesting location and value info
on my glider for the purpose of property tax assessment. I am curious, why
now? Since I have owned the glider almost 5 years already, I wonder if it took
that long for the County/State to catch up on the paperwork.
The letter refers to California revenue and tax code section 5362, and I have
reviewed the entire section 53xx and found no specific inclusion or exclusion
of gliders or sailplanes. I will of course be bringing this up with my tax
accountant, but wondered if any other glider owners have experienced a similar
situation?
-
Mark Navarre
2/5 black ace
LoCal, USA
-

Mark:

It just took them 5 years to catch up with you. With any luck, they
won't assess taxes and penalties for the last 5 years.

Greg (paying property tax on his glider in Santa Barbara County)



Mark Navarre wrote:

Have received a letter from the tax assessor requesting location and value info
on my glider for the purpose of property tax assessment. I am curious, why
now? Since I have owned the glider almost 5 years already, I wonder if it took
that long for the County/State to catch up on the paperwork.
The letter refers to California revenue and tax code section 5362, and I have
reviewed the entire section 53xx and found no specific inclusion or exclusion
of gliders or sailplanes. I will of course be bringing this up with my tax
accountant, but wondered if any other glider owners have experienced a similar
situation?
-
Mark Navarre
2/5 black ace
LoCal, USA
-

if the tax law says ... personal property.. it's taxable
if it specifies.. "aircraft".. it's taxable..

In this era of tight budgets, many state and county/local governments are
realizing that there are taxes out there they have not collected that they
legally could. Our local county assessor did a search on all aircraft in the
FAA data base based on zip code registrations and then mailed out "tax
forms" to the registered owner.

Our club even received forms on aircraft that had long since been destroyed
and the owner did not "un register" it. They were kind enough to ask when it
entered the county and value at that time, then they "depreciated" the value
to current year and sent a tax bill.

Many "gliders" don't get "caught" because they are always in the trailer and
not kept at the airport so the local airport watch dogs don't see the
N-number to "run it". But then the assessor's office gets smart that they
can do a FAA data base search based on locality of registration, and they
"gotcha".

A $100K value aircraft pays the same tax rate as a $100K house, in this
state/county anyway. But the aircraft "depreciates" on the tax rolls, and
the house "appreciates".

BT

"Mark Navarre" wrote in message
...
Have received a letter from the tax assessor requesting location and value
info
on my glider for the purpose of property tax assessment. I am curious,
why
now? Since I have owned the glider almost 5 years already, I wonder if it
took
that long for the County/State to catch up on the paperwork.
The letter refers to California revenue and tax code section 5362, and I
have
reviewed the entire section 53xx and found no specific inclusion or
exclusion
of gliders or sailplanes. I will of course be bringing this up with my
tax
accountant, but wondered if any other glider owners have experienced a
similar
situation?
-
Mark Navarre
2/5 black ace
LoCal, USA
-

When we purchased our sailplane, L.A. County caught on to it, and we began to
receive our bills regularly right away, and have been paying yearly ever since.

Cheers anyhow,

Charles

"Vorsanger1" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
When we purchased our sailplane, L.A. County caught on to it, and we began
to
receive our bills regularly right away, and have been paying yearly ever
since.

in Italy everything is taxed (we say that soon it will be taxed also the air
that we breathe), but luckily the property tax on aircrafts and gliders has
been being abolished for a few years...

Paolo

C'mon Paolo,

any Italian worth his salt wouldn't pay the tax anyway!

:-)

Ian

"Paolo" wrote in message
...
"Vorsanger1" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
When we purchased our sailplane, L.A. County caught on to it, and we
began
to
receive our bills regularly right away, and have been paying yearly ever
since.

in Italy everything is taxed (we say that soon it will be taxed also the
air
that we breathe), but luckily the property tax on aircrafts and gliders
has
been being abolished for a few years...

Paolo

Please don't give our government any ideas in Australia.

(Mark Navarre) wrote:

Have received a letter from the tax assessor requesting location and value info
on my glider for the purpose of property tax assessment. I am curious,

I am curious too! would you please like to specify the amount?
I understand it is related to the value of the glider (without trailer
and instruments I guess), but how is the tax calculated?

thank you very much

Aldo Cernezzi

I am curious too! would you please like to specify the amount?
I understand it is related to the value of the glider (without trailer
and instruments I guess), but how is the tax calculated?

thank you very much

Aldo Cernezzi


Aldo, I don't know the amount yet, but a friend in another county tells me that
his rate was 1.240802% of the value of the glider.
-
Mark Navarre
2/5 black ace
LoCal, USA
-

"Mark Navarre" wrote in message
...
Have received a letter from the tax assessor requesting location and value
info
on my glider for the purpose of property tax assessment.

There is apparently some limited exclusion for classic aircraft, according
to this missive from AOPA lifted from another newsgroup:

AOPA GETS HISTORICAL AIRCRAFT CLARIFICATION FROM BOE
At the request of AOPA, the California Board of Equalization (BOE)
has clarified recent changes to the property tax exemption for
historical aircraft. This exemption is available to an original,
restored, or replica aircraft that is 35 years or older. The
confusion arose from changes that went into effect on January 1,
requiring aircraft owners to submit certificates of attendance
from events where the aircraft were on display. Now, in a letter
to assessors, the BOE recommends waiving the requirement for 2004.
Download the letter
( http://www.boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/pdf/lta04012.pdf ).