Per Chapter 22 of the Texas Property Tax Code, all tangible taxable personal property used for the production of income (i.e., business personal property, or BPP) that a company owns or manages and controls as a fiduciary on January 1 must be “rendered” for taxation.

A property tax rendition is simply a listing of information about property that you own, such as description, location, historical or acquisition cost, and age of each item. This is a legally confidential document, not subject to Open Records requests, that appraisal districts need and use in their discovery and appraisal procedures so that all tangible taxable personal property is appraised fairly, efficiently, and as accurately as possible.

BPP acquires taxable situs in a taxing unit (county, school, hospital district, etc.) when:

         a) located in the unit on January 1 for more than a temporary period;
         b) normally located in the unit, even though it is outside the unit on January 1, if it is outside the unit only temporarily;
         c) normally returned to the unit between uses elsewhere and is not located in any one place for more than a temporary period; or
         d) the owner resides (for property not used for business purposes) or maintains the owner’s principal place of business in this state
            (for property used for business purposes) in the unit and the property is taxable in this state but does not have a taxable
            situs pursuant to any of the first three provisions above.

BPP renditions in Texas are due on April 15, with the following exceptions:

         • A 30-day extension to May 15 is automatically available upon request to the chief appraiser.
         • The deadline for rendering property regulated by the PUC, RRC, FERC, or STB is April 30, although a 15-day extension to May 15
            is automatically available upon request to the chief appraiser.
         • In both cases above, another 15-day extension to May 30 can be granted by the chief appraiser if the owner shows “good cause”
            (intended to be a high hurdle for the owner to prove).

PLEASE NOTE: Per Property Tax Code Sec. 22.01(i), a property owner whose property is being appraised by a third-party vendor retained by the appraisal district (like Pritchard & Abbott!) can choose, in lieu of renditions, to provide information substantially equivalent to that required to be on a rendition directly to the third-party appraisal company. We highly encourage property owners to take advantage of this option when available, as it greatly helps us perform more accurate and complete appraisals prior to mailing the Notices of Appraised Value. Otherwise, we must wait for our appraisal district clients to forward us renditions. 

All the deadlines discussed above apply equally to renditions or 22.01(h) or (i) property reports provided to either appraisal districts or their contracted appraisal firms in lieu of renditions.

Each year the comptroller and each chief appraiser shall publicize in a manner reasonably designed to notify all property owners the requirements of the law relating to filing rendition statements and property reports and of the availability of forms. A person required to render property or to file a report as provided by this chapter shall use a form that substantially complies with the appropriate form prescribed or approved by the comptroller.

Appraisal districts are not obligated to mail rendition forms to property owners, although many do only as a courtesy. Property owners can find and print approved rendition forms directly from the Comptroller’s website:

https://www.comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/forms/

Which form to use depends on the type of property being rendered. Each form requires a property owner to furnish the information necessary to identify the property and to determine its ownership, taxability, and situs. A property owner can (but is not required to) furnish additional information on the form, including a good faith estimate of value. A tax agent (but not the property owner) is required to swear that the information provided in the rendition is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and belief.

Substantial tax penalties can accrue for failure to timely file a rendition or if the property owner or agent is found to have committed fraudulent conduct in an inspection, determination, or other proceeding before the appraisal district.

More information is available in the Texas Property Tax Code, Chapter 22 (Renditions and Other Reports), such as what persons and which property is covered by this business personal property rendition law.