We are in the process of distributing updates for Avitar Assessing and Tax Collect that, among other things, enable proper calculation and presentation of property tax bills for municipalities that have adopted the RSA 72:81 Commercial & Industrial Construction Exemption. If…

1. Your municipality has adopted the RSA 72:81 Commercial & Industrial Construction Exemption,
2. And your municipality has granted one of these exemptions,
3. And, your municipality does not use Avitar Tax Collect

… then you and your tax collections software vendor need to be aware of a few things so keep reading. If all three of the above statements do not apply to you then you can stop reading — enjoy the rest of your day.

What is the RSA 72:81 Commercial & Industrial Construction Exemption?

With the most recent update of Avitar Assessing, we have added the ability to maintain the Commercial and Industrial Construction Exemption authorized by RSA 72:81. The intent of the exemption is to provide incentives to businesses to build, rebuild, modernize, or enlarge within the municipality. Qualifying parcels will receive the exemption for a specified percentage of the increase in assessment which results from the new construction for a maximum period of ten years.

Why Is This Exemption Any Different Than Other Exemptions? (i.e. Who Cares?)

The 72:81 exemption applies only to municipal and local school property taxes assessed by the municipality — i.e. the state and county still want their money for the State Education and County components of your total tax rate, regardless of any breaks you’ve granted to local businesses. As such, these 72:81 exemptions need to be applied selectively when calculating property tax bills for any parcel receiving one.

So Why Did Avitar Single Out Those of Us *NOT* Using Avitar Tax Collect?

As noted above, we are in the process of distributing updates for Avitar Assessing and Tax Collect. The Assessing update will enable Avitar Assessing to both maintain these 72:81 exemptions and calculate the corresponding tax bills properly. The Avitar Tax Collect update will enable property tax bills calculated in Avitar Assessing with 72:81 exemptions to be displayed and printed properly.

However, if you are using Avitar Assessing and not using Avitar Tax Collect then chances are that your tax collect system is calculating its own tax bills based on assessment and exemption amounts exported from Avitar Assessing. In which case we can’t guarantee your tax collect system will read, interpret, and/or apply these 72:81 exemptions properly. So you should check with your tax collect software provider to verify any 72:81 exemptions applied in Avitar Assessing will be handled properly. Depending how/where they are getting the exemption records, they should be looking for any exemptions labeled as “CICE” (i.e. Commercial/Industrial Construction Exemption) or it may actually get exported labeled “7281”. If they have any questions they can contact Avitar.