SPRINGFIELD -- Some Greene County personal property tax assessment lists will be a little easier to complete this year.  Greene County Assessor Rick Kessinger says, for the first time this year, the forms include details of information submitted in the assessment lists for 2007.  That means, if nothing has changed from last year, property owners don’t have to rewrite the details before mailing them back.

   Kessinger is mailing the lists on Thursday.  By state law, residents and business owners in every county have to submit property lists by March 1 or incur penalties.  County collectors use the lists to make tax bills that are due Dec. 31.
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   Edited news release from Kessinger:

  For the first time, individual 2008 personal property assessments will include details taxpayers submitted in 2007 assessment lists.  Kessinger said taxpayers who filled out their personal property assessments on time last year will receive assessment lists preprinted with their 2007 details.

   “We are responding to taxpayers’ requests to include the prior year’s information on the current year’s list,” said Kessinger.  “If you own the same personal property as last year, all you need to do is carefully review the information then sign and return the list.”

   This year, business owners will receive new assessment forms requesting additional details, as required by state law.  These forms will not be preprinted with the information from the 2007 assessment list.

   Missouri law (RSMo. 137.115) requires all Greene County residents and business owners as of Jan. 1, 2008, to declare all taxable personal and business property to the assessor, including motor vehicles, boats, trailers, livestock, farm machinery and business-related equipment.  The assessment lists are the basis of 2008 personal and business property tax bills, which county residents and business owners receive in November.

   Both personal property and business assessment lists must be returned to the Assessor’s Office no later than March 1 to avoid late penalties, which range from $10 to $100, depending on assessed value.

   Residents and business owners who have not received an assessment list by Jan. 31 should call the Greene County Assessor’s Office at 868-4195 or 868-4101, or visit the Historic Greene County Courthouse, 940 Boonville Ave., Room 37, in Springfield.