Property Tax in Florida

Subsequent to my earlier blog post on The New Reduced Burden of Proof in Florida Property Tax Appeals, the Florida Department of Revenue has revised its VAB training materials and issued its DOR VAB Training Revision – September 18 2009, which reflects a significant change in how it is interpreting the new burden of proof  statute.

Page 8 of the new training materials indicates that the Property Appraiser has the initial burden of coming forward with evidence that the assessment complied with section 193.011, Fla. Stat. and professionally accepted appraisal practices.   They also indicate that if the Property Appraiser does not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the assessment met those requirements, the assessment will be overturned and the VAB must either set the value or remand to the Property  Appraiser for a reassessment.

This represents a dramatic change from the training materials released on September 1, 2009, which continued to place the burden of proof on the taxpayer, consistent with the statutory language that states that the party bringing the action has the burden of proof.  I will be reviewing the  revised training materials in more depth and will let you know if there are any additional significant changes.