STATE OF CALIFORNIA
March 9, 2004
TO COUNTY ASSESSORS AND INTERESTED
PARTIES:
EXEMPTION FOR AIRCRAFT OF HISTORICAL
SIGNIFICANCE
CERTIFICATE OF ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT
Four previous Letters To Assessors
(LTA’s) have been issued on the Historical Aircraft
Exemption: LTA’s 87/67, 88/36,
89/84 and 2002/90. These LTA’s announced passage of the
exemption, identified the applicable
statutory provisions, discussed implementation procedures,
announced adoption of a statutory
time frame for annual filing for the exemption, and provided
additional clarifying information
about subdivisions (b) and (c) of Revenue and Taxation Code
section 220.5. LTA 2002/90 consolidated
the issues identified in the earlier LTA’s, and clarified
the meaning of the term “general
transportation.” LTA 2002/90 superseded all of the prior
LTA’s regarding this topic.
In the continued interest of promoting
uniformity in the application of the exemption, this Letter
To Assessors is intended to provide
guidance regarding the new “certificate of attendance”
requirement, and to supplement
Letter To Assessors No. 2002/90, dated December 20, 2002.
Senate Bill 1059 (Stats. 2003,
Ch. 604) went into effect January 1, 2004. Among its other
provisions, Senate Bill 1059 amended
subdivision (b)(3) of section 220.5 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code by adding a requirement
for a claimant to provide an attendance certificate for
each event at which the aircraft
was displayed during the prior year. This provision is set forth
as follows:
When applying for an exemption
pursuant to this section, the claimant shall attach
to that application a certificate
of attendance from the event coordinator of the event
at which the aircraft was displayed
as required by this paragraph.
Because the legislation was approved
and chaptered in the fall, most aircraft owners were
unaware that they would be subject
to the certification of attendance requirement during the prior
spring and summer when most display
events occur. Therefore, we advise assessors to recognize
that the requirement became effective
after most aircraft had already been displayed at various
times during 2003 and to waive
the requirement for lien date 2004 claims.
In addition, to afford historical
aircraft exemption claimants a reasonable opportunity to comply
with this new requirement, we suggest
assessors do the following:
CAROLE MIGDEN
First District, San Francisco
BILL LEONARD
Second District, Ontario
CLAUDE PARRISH
Third District, Long Beach
JOHN CHIANG
Fourth District, Los Angeles
STEVE WESTLY
State Controller, Sacramento
TIMOTHY W. BOYER
Interim Executive Director
No. 2004/012
STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
PROPERTY AND SPECIAL TAXES DEPARTMENT
450 N STREET, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
PO BOX 942879, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
94279-0064
916 445-4982 l FAX 916 323-8765
www.boe.ca.gov
TO COUNTY ASSESSORS 2 March 9,
2004
(1) Advise historical aircraft
owners of the new requirement.
(2) Make available to historical
aircraft owners a certificate of attendance form that may
be used in lieu of attendance certificates
from individual events. A sample form,
provided by the California Assessors’
Association, is enclosed.
(3) Inform historical aircraft
owners that, for purposes of claiming the exemption for lien
date 2005, certificates of attendance
must be completed for displays attended in 2004
and must be provided with the historical
aircraft exemption application.
For lien date 2004, applications
for historical aircraft exemption should be processed in the same
manner as in prior years. Implementation
of the amendments enacted by SB 1059 has been
discussed with the California Assessors’
Association (CAA) Business Property Subcommittee.
The recommendation of the CAA regarding
administration of the certificate of attendance
requirement for lien dates 2004
and 2005 is consistent with the guidance outlined above.
If you have any questions, please
contact Lloyd B. Allred of our Technical Services Unit at
(916) 324-7361.
Sincerely,
/s/ David J. Gau
David J. Gau
Deputy Director
Property and Special Taxes Department