On August 19, 2008, the Michigan State Tax Commission voted to seek comment on proposed principles for classification of personal property.  The State Tax Commission is trusted with the responsibility to oversee the administration of the Michigan property tax system.  Since the adoption of the Single Business Tax and Michigan Business Tax personal property tax credits and millage exemptions for some personal property, based on the classification of the personal property, many assessors have questions their previous determinations of classification. The proposed classification principles are intended to focus on the original goal of property classification, which was to provide a technical tool to assure uniformity of assessments from one type of property use to the next.

The proposal lists sixteen principles to guide the classification process and covers almost eleven complete pages with the explanations.  The complete text of the proposal can be found on the State Tax Commission website at:  http://michigan.gov/documents/treasury/ClassMemo221_246017_7.pdf 

Comments should be sent to to:  StateTaxCommission@michigan.gov by October 1, 2008.