Senate Bill No. 292 Summary

• Allows churches owning at least 10 acres of real property in St. Joseph County that missed the deadline to file a late property tax exemption application for the March 1, 2011 assessment date, with a new filing deadline of September 1, 2017.

• Property tax exemption applications filed under this provision are automatically approved without further action by the county assessor or property tax assessment board of appeals, and this approval is final and cannot be appealed.

• County auditors must remove all penalties and interest assigned to the property and must refund any property taxes, penalties, or interest previously paid by the taxpayer, with refunds paid in two equal installments by January 1, 2018 and January 1, 2019.

• The county auditor is not required to pay accrued interest on refunds, and refund claims filed before September 1, 2017 are considered timely despite normal filing deadlines in Indiana Code 6-1.1-26.

• This provision expires January 1, 2020.