(A) Within thirty days after the date of the county auditor‘s response provided in § 12-60-2910, a taxpayer may appeal a personal property tax assessment, or denial of a homestead exemption, by requesting a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court in accordance with its rules.

(B) If a taxpayer requests a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court without exhausting his prehearing remedy because he failed to file a protest or meet with the auditor, the administrative law judge shall dismiss the action without prejudice. If the taxpayer failed to provide the auditor with the facts, law, and other authority supporting his position, he shall provide the representative of the county at the hearing with the facts, law, and other authority he failed to present to the auditor earlier. The administrative law judge shall then remand the case to the auditor for reconsideration in light of the new facts or issues unless the representative of the county at the hearing elects to forego the remand.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 12-60-2920

  • Administrative Law Court: means the Administrative Law Court created by § 1-23-500. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
  • 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.
  • Assessment: means the department's recording the liability of the taxpayer in the office of the department, subject to the restrictions in § 12-60-440. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
  • auditor: means a county officer or official who issues an official property tax assessment for personal property. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Protest: means a written appeal of a proposed assessment or a division decision made in accordance with this chapter. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
  • Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
  • Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
  • Taxpayer: includes a licensee and an applicant for a license, issued by or administered by the department. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30

Upon remand the auditor has thirty days, or a longer period ordered by the administrative law judge, to consider the new facts and issues and amend its decision. The auditor shall issue his amended decision in the same manner as the original. The taxpayer has thirty days after the date the auditor’s decision was mailed or delivered to the taxpayer to again request a contested case hearing. Requests for a hearing before the Administrative Law Court must be made in accordance with its rules. If the auditor fails to issue its amended decision within thirty days of the date of the remand, or a longer period ordered by the administrative law judge, the taxpayer can again request a contested case hearing. At the new hearing the facts, law, and other authority presented at the original hearing must be deemed to have been presented in a timely manner for purposes of exhausting the taxpayer’s prehearing remedy. The statute of limitations remains suspended by § 12-54-85(G) during this process.