Request By:
Robert J. Butler, Jr.
Jefferson County Property
Valuation Administrator
504 Fiscal Court Building
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By William S. Riley, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter to the Attorney General it is stated that a legal question concerning ownership of motor vehicles has arisen in Jefferson County. Two documents are involved in the sale of a licensed vehicle, the bill of sale and the certificate of registration.
Quite often upon the sale of a motor vehicle it is not transferred in the county clerk's office in the same year which it is sold. The Property Valuation Administrator has the responsibility of assessing the owner of record as of January 1 of each year. The assessments are based upon the certificate of registration received from the county clerk's office. After making the assessments, an owner or car dealer will bring in copies of the bill of sale showing the vehicle was sold prior to January 1 even though the transfer was not made until after January 1 of the following year.
The question is what document is the Property Valuation Administrator's Office required to accept as to the taxable owner on January 1.
Your attention is directed to KRS 132.485, which requires the county clerk to furnish to the PVA weekly, copies of the registration certificate for each motor vehicle and housetrailer registered in the county. The registration of a motor vehicle or housetrailer shall be deemed consent by the registrant for the assessment by the Property Valuation Administrator at a valuation determined from a standard manual prescribed by the Department of Revenue. The registration of a motor vehicle on or before the date that the registration of such vehicle is required is prima facie evidence of ownership on January 1.
The answer to your question would be that if the registration certificate is received from the county clerk prior to January 1, the vehicle is considered to be owned as of January 1. A registration certificate received subsequent to that date would not be assessed until the next January 1.