All counties shall have a full-time assessor, whose responsibility is appraising and listing all real property, whether exempted or not, except real property required by law to be assessed by the department and property owned by the federal government, state government, county government, or any of its political subdivisions and which is exempt from property taxation. If the assessor discovers that any real property required by law to be assessed by the department has been omitted, he shall notify the department that the property has been omitted and the department is required to appraise and assess the omitted property.

The assessor is responsible for the operations of his office and shall:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 12-37-90

  • 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.
  • Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • 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.
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • person: includes any individual, trust, estate, partnership, receiver, association, company, limited liability company, corporation, or other entity or group; and

    (2) "individual" means a human being. See South Carolina Code 12-2-20
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Real property: shall mean not only land, city, town and village lots but also all structures and other things therein contained or annexed or attached thereto which pass to the vendee by the conveyance of the land or lot;

    (2) "Personal property" shall mean all things, other than real estate, which have any pecuniary value, and moneys, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint-stock companies or otherwise;

    (3) "Moneys" or "money" shall mean gold, silver and other coin, bank bills and other bills or notes authorized to be circulated as money, whether in possession or on deposit subject to the draft of the depositor or person having the beneficial interest therein on demand;

    (4) "Credits" shall mean the remainder due, or to become due, to a person, after deducting from the amount of all legal debts, claims and demands in his favor the amount of all legal debts and demands against him, whether such demands be payable in money, labor or other valuable things, but, in ascertaining such remainder, no deduction shall be made for any (a) obligation to any mutual insurance company given for insurance, (b) subscription to the capital stock of any joint-stock company, (c) taxes assessed against the person, (d) subscription to any religious, scientific, literary or charitable purpose, (e) acknowledgment of a liability not founded on a legal and valuable consideration, (f) more of any joint liability with others than the person honestly believes he will be compelled to pay, (g) contingent liability or (h) acknowledgment of a debt or liability made for the purpose of diminishing the amount of credit to be returned for taxation. See South Carolina Code 12-37-10
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.

(a) maintain a continuous record of recorded deed sales transactions, building permits, tax maps, and other records necessary for a continuing reassessment program;

(b) diligently search for and discover all real property not previously returned by the owners or their agents or not listed for taxation by the county auditor, and list such property for taxation in the name of the owner or person to whom it is taxable;

(c) when values change, reappraise and reassess real property so as to reflect its proper valuation in light of changed conditions, except for exempt property and real property required by law to be appraised and assessed by the department, and furnish a list of these assessments to the county auditor;

(d) determine assessments and reassessments of real property in a manner that the ratio of assessed value to fair market value is uniform throughout the county;

(e) appear as necessary before an appellate board to give testimony and present evidence as to the justification of an appraisal;

(f) have the right of appeal from a disapproval of or modification of an appraisal made by him;

(g) perform duties relating to the office of tax assessor required by the laws of this State;

(h) be the sole person responsible for the valuation of real property, except that required by law to be appraised and assessed by the department, and the values set by the assessor may be altered only by the assessor or by legally constituted appellate boards, the department, or the courts;

(i) have the right to enter and examine all new nonresidential buildings and structures and those portions of an existing nonresidential building or structure covered by a building permit for renovations or additions.

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