Oregon Business Owners Tax Time Reminder: Personal Property May be Taxed

If a business owner files late there is a penalty that varies from 5 percent to 50 percent of the taxes due.

(SALEM) - The Department of Revenue wants to remind business owners that personal property used in their businesses may be subject to property taxation. Oregon law requires that all business owners-even owners of home-based businesses-file a return with their county assessor that lists all business-related personal property.

They must also include purchase and lease dates and amounts. County assessors mail personal property return forms to business owners each December. Returns are due to the assessor by March 1st.

Personal property is included as part of the business owner's property tax statement. The tax is due each November 15th. Personal property may include office furniture, personal computers, easily moved machinery, and even off-road vehicles and display cases if they are used for business purposes. It also includes leased equipment such as copiers and power washers. The county assessor calculates the tax due each year based on the business owner's personal property return.

The assessor may cancel the tax if total personal property is valued under $14,000. “Even if a business owner's personal property value falls below $14,000, they are still required by law to file a return,” said Syndi Gates, a department tax analyst. Gates said that when an assessor becomes aware of a business that has not reported personal property, the assessor will calculate the tax on that property for up to the previous five years.

The assessor will also assess penalty and interest. Business owners must file a return each year even if:

They did not receive a tax return form from the county in which their property is located, the tax was cancelled in prior years, the business owner sold or closed the business during the year, or the business owner sold or disposed of the personal property.

“If a business owner files late,” Gates said, “there is a penalty that varies from 5 percent to 50 percent of the taxes due, depending how late the return is filed.” For more information, including forms and a complete list of items considered taxable personal property, visit www.oregon.gov/DOR/PTD/ValFact.shtml You may also contact your county assessor's office or call the Oregon Department of Revenue, (503) 378-4988 (Salem or out of state); or toll-free from an Oregon prefix, (800)356-4222 (Spanish and English).

For TTY (hearing or speech impaired), call (800) 886-7204; Salem, (503) 945-8617

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Albert Marnell January 11, 2007 3:01 pm (Pacific time)

Correction on a name: It was Senator Nelson Aldrich that participated in the creation of our present day legal counterfeit system. Good to hear from you Henry!

Henry Ruark January 11, 2007 1:56 pm (Pacific time)

Al: Can hardly tell you've been gone for a short while... Let me know if you get better response than mine now in play... Anons are killing media's free ride by same perversions and distortions you and I know about, in many fields...they don't know a good thing for free when they see it, which is why so many investors get hooked, too. Regards and keep yelling...

Albert Marnell January 11, 2007 3:50 am (Pacific time)

Look at the fiat junk in the picture. The Federal Reserve is not federal and there is no reserve.....only a printing press. The Federal Reserve is not part of the government. Look at one of many Google documentaries, "The truth about the Federal Reserve System". The I.R.S. is just a government arm of a private banking cabal. Prior to 1913 there were no income taxes and no Federal Reserve. Abolish the Fed and go back to the gold standard! The only reason that we ever went off of the gold standard was because there was not enough gold to finance wars and other government folly designed to benefit the global banking elite and top industrialists. FDR did an evil thing when he took away gold from the American people in 1933. While so many people are wondering about this or that trivial story (even Iraq), the big story is that they are still being robbed daily by global bankers through the use of fiat and the hidden tax of debaseing that fiat. The biggest crime is that your federal taxes go to pay off the interest on money creating out of nothing to the descendants of the Rothchilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, Aldridges, Warburgs etc. Americans are very smart people but are endlessly ignorant about the history and the truth about THEIR money (the global bankers work very hard for you to stay ignorant about this). Until you abolish the Fed and have the People and our Government in charge of our medium of exchange (paper money is just a receipt and is supposed to be a receipt for gold or another commodity) our standard of living will continue to go down and your savings will continue to be worth less and less. Since the Federal Reserve was created less than 100 years ago, a dollar is now worth about 3 cents. WAKE UP AMERICA! GET AWAY FROM THE TUBE AND OTHER MEDIA AND DO SOME READING! Forget about the chit-chat about the weather or your money will continue to come and go like the weather.

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