Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 42 > Chapter 11 - Property Tax

• Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Afflicted: means persons who, because of a mental or physical condition, illness or condition of distress, adversity or harassment, or imminent risk of such condition, are unable to reasonably take care of themselves or their families or to properly function in society without periodic or continuous assistance. See Arizona Laws 42-11101
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Articles of incorporation: means the original or restated articles of incorporation or articles of merger and all amendments to the articles of incorporation or merger and includes amended and restated articles of incorporation and articles of amendment and merger. See Arizona Laws 10-140
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Benefit corporation: means a corporation that both:

  (a) Has elected to become subject to this chapter. See Arizona Laws 10-2402

• Board of directors: means the group of persons vested with the management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name by which the group is designated and includes the governing body or bodies of a water users' association if the articles of incorporation of the water users' association provide for a governing body or bodies denominated other than as a board of directors. See Arizona Laws 10-140
• Bylaws: means the code of rules adopted for the regulation or management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name by which those rules are designated. See Arizona Laws 10-140
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County board: means the county board of supervisors sitting as the county board of equalization. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Current usage: means the use to which property is put at the time of valuation by the assessor or the department. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of revenue. See Arizona Laws 42-1001
• Director: means the director of the department. See Arizona Laws 42-1001
• Due date: means the next business day if a due date of any report, claim, return, statement, payment, deposit, petition, notice or other document or filing falls on Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• General public benefit: means a material positive impact on society and the environment, taken as a whole, assessed against a third-party standard, from the business and operations of a benefit corporation. See Arizona Laws 10-2402
• including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Indigent: means a person who is without sufficient means or ability to provide themselves with adequate food, shelter or social necessaries. See Arizona Laws 42-11101
• Individual: includes the estate of an incompetent or deceased individual. See Arizona Laws 10-140
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Internal revenue code: means the United States internal revenue code of 1986, as amended and in effect as of January 1, 2023, including those provisions that became effective during 2022 with the specific adoption of their retroactive effective dates but excluding all changes to the code enacted after January 1, 2023. See Arizona Laws 42-1001
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Limited property value: means the value determined pursuant to section 42-13301. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• mining claim: means a mine or mining claim from which coal or any other mineral or mineral substance, except for clay, sand, gravel, building stone or a mineral or mineral substance that is normally processed into artificial stone, has been extracted for commercial purposes at any time during a period of one year before the first Monday in January of the valuation year. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means a natural person, individual, proprietor, proprietorship, company, corporation, organization, association, joint venture, partner, partnership, trust, estate or limited liability company, the federal or state government, a political subdivision of a state or any other legal entity or combination of entities that owns, controls or has possession of real or personal property. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Person: includes an individual and entity. See Arizona Laws 10-140
• Personal property: includes property of every kind, both tangible and intangible, that is not included as real estate. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Population: means the population according to the most recent United States decennial census. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Real estate: includes the ownership of, claim to, possession of or right of possession to lands or patented mines. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Residential treatment and education facility: means any residential facility that is subject to Title 15, Chapter 10, Article 6. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Roll: means the assessment and tax roll. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Secondary property taxes: means :

  (a) Ad valorem taxes or special property assessments that are used to pay the principal of and the interest and redemption charges on bonded indebtedness or other lawful long-term obligations that are issued or incurred for a specific capital purpose by a municipality, county or taxing district. See Arizona Laws 42-11001

• Specific public benefit: includes :

  (a) Providing low-income or underserved individuals or communities with beneficial products or services. See Arizona Laws 10-2402

• state board: means either the state board of tax appeals or the state board of equalization, as applicable. See Arizona Laws 42-1001
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Valuation: means the full cash value or limited property value that is determined for real or personal property, as applicable. See Arizona Laws 42-11001
• Valuation year: means :

  (a) For real property and property valued by the department, the calendar year preceding the year in which the taxes are levied. See Arizona Laws 42-11001

• Vote: includes authorization by written ballot and written consent. See Arizona Laws 10-3140
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ: means an order or precept in writing issued in the name of the state or by a court or judicial officer. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215