Appeals Process

Note: Property owners may appeal the value on their property only once during the tax year.

Personal Property

The Morton County Appraiser mails a valuation notice on May 1st to all personal property owners in the county notifying them of the appraised value of their personal property as of January 1st.

Real Estate

The Morton County Appraiser mails a valuation notice to all property owners on or before March 1st.

The valuation notice identifies the property, the classification of the property, the appraised value and the assessed value for the current and the previous year and instructions on how to appeal the appraisal.

Appealing Your Personal Property Appraisal

If you feel the classification or appraised value of your personal property is inaccurate, you may appeal on or before May 15th. There can be two successive levels of appeals if an agreement is not reached at a previous level. Each appeal level must be completed before proceeding to the next level.

  1. Informal Appeal: The first step in the appeal process is to file with the county appraiser's office. You will be notified of a time and date for the informal meeting with the appraiser. If you are not satisfied with the results of this meeting, you may appeal to the State Board of Tax Appeals.

    It is not required that property owners be represented by an agent or attorney, owners may represent themselves. Any property owner who intends to be represented by an agent (any person other than the owner of the property, their family members or their attorney) should notify the appraiser's office prior to the date of the hearing so notification will be sent to the proper person.

  2. State Board of Tax Appeals: The instructions and forms are available from the appraiser's office. This hearing is similar to a courtroom setting where the property owner and the appraiser present their case to members of the Board of Tax Appeals (BOTA) will issue an order to the property owner and county appraiser of their decision. If either party is aggrieved by the BOTA order they may pursue their case at District Court.

Penalty Schedule (Except Oil & Gas) 

As required by K.S.A. 79-1422 and K.S.A. 79-1427a.

*Oil and Gas penalty schedule is moved back 15 days for each component of the schedule.

Penalty

DatePercentage
January 1st to March 1stNone
March 16th to April 15th5%
April 16th to May 15th10%
May 16th to June 15th15%
June 16th to July 15th20%
July 16th to March 14th (Next Year)25%
March 15th of Next Year50%


Royalty Tax Explanation

Factors considered when determining market value of oil and gas leasehold properties include past and present production history, current oil and gas prices, and remaining reserves. The State of Kansas publishes a guide that is followed to help in the determination of the market value of oil and gas. The formula is used to "determine today's benefit for future revenues discounted to present value".

The ad valorem tax (local personal property tax) that you are billed for on your royalty tax statement is based upon value; therefore, there are some years in which the taxes may appear high and way out of line when your income is down. Personal property taxes are always for the prior year so the prior year's production is used in the formula. A loss in one year's income does not eradicate value. An example of this would be a farmer who is hailed out one year, but does not see a decrease in the market value of his farm ground.

Gas wells may be shut in during the current year, but still have large reserves and are capable of producing a lot of gas, causing taxes to remain high with income down for the year. The values placed on these royalty interests are supported by offers from several investors to purchase these properties.

The Taxpayer's Role

View the Taxpayer's Role page

Classification Chart

View the Classification Chart page

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