October 22, 2020 – Advocacy News
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of the equipment that a business would normally have on-site has been relocated to an employee’s home or other alternative location. Since this equipment is taxed based on its location, many businesses could find it very difficult to track down each piece of business equipment and file a personal property tax statement in that alternative location.
For example, the sophisticated computer equipment used by a graphic designer who works for a business in Lansing moved their equipment to their home in Grand Ledge. Normally, the personal property taxes on this equipment would be paid to Lansing but since the equipment has been located in Grand Ledge for almost the entire year, the taxes must be paid to Grand Ledge. This holds true for all the equipment owned by that business that has been relocated out of its traditional location in Lansing.
SB 1203 (Runestad) has been introduced to help alleviate this confusion. The legislation provides that, for the 2021 tax year, personal property located on tax day in an alternative location must not be assessed in that alternative location but instead be assessed in the location the property would have been normally located but for the need to move it to an alternative location due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Michigan Chamber supports the legislation and hopes it resolves a lot of filing complexities created by work from home requirements. For more information on this legislation, please contact Dan Papineau at dpapineau@michamber.com