Personal Property
Tami Brown
Personal Property Director
As your Knox County Personal Property Director, I have been working in property assessments for the past 39 years. I began my career in 1985 with the State of Tennessee Division of Property Assessments where I transitioned to a position with the Blount County Property Assessor’s Office. I spent the next 25 years serving the citizens of Blount County, where I filled many different roles of the office, which included Personal Property Supervisor. After a fulfilling career in Blount County Government, I found a new home with the Knox County Property Assessor’s Office, where I have spent the past 12 years working with Tangible Business Personal Property.
In addition to my role as Personal Property Director, I have been gaining skills through additional training with IAAO and new areas of specialization. I currently assist many other teams in the office, including documentation and completion of County & State level appeals for any real and/or personal property. Outside of work, I spend time with my husband, 2 children and 3 grandsons.
All About Personal Property
What is Personal Property?
From Tennessee State Comptroller of the Treasury, Division of Property Assessments & State Board of Equalization:
Tangible Personal Property is filed by "(a) All partnerships, corporations, other business associations not issuing stock and individuals operating for profit as a business or profession, including manufacturers, except those whose property is entirely assessable by the Comptroller of the Treasury" per Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 67-5-903. The ten groups, and the leasing and nonstandard sections of the tangible personal property schedule and the depreciation for these groups are shown in TCA 67-5-903. The property owner is required to report the total acquisition cost for each asset for the year the property was new (typically the year made). Per State Board of Equalization (SBOE) Rule 0600-05-.01(15), total acquisition cost is defined as the full acquisition cost new of personal property and includes freight, installation, set-up, and sales tax. For property purchased as used, if the cost new or year the property was new is not known and cannot reasonably be determined, you may report the actual acquisition cost to you for the year you acquired the property.
Personal Property Schedules
The tangible personal property schedules are mailed by February 1 by the county assessor to each business operating in the county. The schedules are to be completed and returned by the business owner or the business owner's representative by March 1 to the county assessor. If the business owner does not receive a schedule (s)he should call the local assessor's office for a schedule. All businesses that do not return a schedule will be assigned a forced assessment by the county assessor's office.
If the business owner timely files (on or before March 1) a schedule and determines later that an error occurred on the schedule, the business owner will have until September 1 the following year to amend the schedule. Forced assessments do not have the right of amendment.
Each May the property owner who has a forced assessment and those whose assessments changed in value will receive an assessment change notice. The assessment value will be thirty percent of the forced assessment or thirty percent of the depreciated value filed on the schedule. If you do not agree with this value, you may appeal to the county board that meets the first Monday in June. The tax bills generated from the assessments will be mailed each fall.
Some tangible personal property owners may take a credit against their business license for tangible personal property taxes paid in the county and city. You may not take a credit for special district taxes paid for tangible personal property.