Request By:
Mr. Jerry K. Blanton
Property Valuation Administrator
Box 209
Harlan, Kentucky 40831
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Joseph R. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter to the Attorney General you state that a man maintains an office in Harlan County but owns no real estate in the county. He actually lives in Bell County. You ask whether the books, furnishings and fixtures of his office are taxable for ad valorem tax purposes in Harlan County. The answer is yes, if this property is permanently located in Harlan County. One case dealing with the taxation of tangible personal property is
Ashland Oil & Refining Company v. Department of Revenue, Ky., 256 S.W.2d 359, 360 (1953) where the Kentucky Supreme Court stated:
Following the Wren and Langdon-Creasy cases, the General Assembly, in order to correct the inequitable situation then existing, provided by Acts of 1906, page 90, Chapter 22, that tangible personal property should be listed and the tax paid thereon in the county, municipality, and taxing district, where the same had established a taxable situs "based on the actual situation of the property." The 1906 statutes was similar to our present KRS 132.220(1), which requires the listing of property in the county "where it is located." In construing the statute, this Court has consistently held that in order for tangible personal property to have a taxable situs in a county different from the domicile of its owner, such property must be permanently located at the place where it is sought to be taxed.
Hill v. Caldwell, 134 Ky. 99, 119 S.W. 749;
Semple v. Commonwealth, 181 Ky. 675, 205 S.W. 789;
Cumberland Pipe Line Co. v. Commonwealth, 258 Ky. 90, 79 S.W.2d 366. (Emphasis added)
See also
Union Refrigerator Transit Company v. Kentucky, 199 U.S. 194, 26 S. Ct. 36, 50 L. Ed. 150 (1905).
Thus, the general rule is that tangible personal property is taxable at the domicile of the owner unless it has acquired a permanent situs away from the owner's domicile and then it is taxable at the place of actual situs. If the property is away from the owner's domicile only temporarily, the place of taxation of the property is the owner's domicile.
In conclusion, if the books, furnishings and fixtures are permanently, as opposed to temporarily, located in Harlan County, they are subject to tax in Harlan County.