SANTA CLARA
– Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone’s office has begun
accepting e-filing for 2003, a time saving program that allows
small business taxpayers to file their Business Property Statement
online, via a selection on the Assessors Web site,
www.scc-assessor.org.
SANTA CLARA – Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone’s office has begun accepting e-filing for 2003, a time saving program that allows small business taxpayers to file their Business Property Statement online, via a selection on the Assessors Web site, www.scc-assessor.org.
The 25,000 small businesses invited to participate in this program have received a letter from the assessor with filing instructions and a private access code, which acts like a signature and is required for filing online.
“Most people are familiar with residential property taxes. Less known is that certain business assets are subject to assessment, and the Business Property Statement (Form 571-L) is the form which businesses are required to file annually,” Stone said. Businesses are required by state law to annually report to the assessor the cost of their business personal property and improvements.
Last year in Santa Clara County almost 55,000 businesses reported assets in
excess of $30 billion in assessed value.
“We all recog-nize that the assess-or’s job is to fairly tax our property, but
there is no reason why the process should tax our patience,” said Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group President and CEO Carl Guardino. “Assessor Stone recognizes this fact, and his new on-line filing will save small business owners time, and money, in filing their business property statement completely online.”
Last year, the program’s trial year, over 2,700 taxpayers filed online. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Taxpayers especially liked the speed and ease of the program.
Santa Clara County is the only county in Northern California to offer electronic filing of business property statements.
