Owners of Nebraska real property that suffered significant damage as a result of flooding or other natural disasters occurring on or after January 1, 2019, and before July 1, 2019, can seek a temporary reduction in assessed value for the current assessment year.  This is a result of new regulations included in Nebraska Legislative Bill 512, which was signed by the Governor on May 30, 2019.

Significant property damage means:

1. Damage to an improvement exceeding 20% of the improvement’s assessed value in the current tax year.
2. Damage to land exceeding 20% of a parcel’s assessed value.
3. Damage to property exceeding 20% of the property’s assessed value if located in a disaster area declared by the Governor and is determined uninhabitable by a housing or health inspector.

Significant property damage does NOT include:

1. Real property damaged by the owner or occupant of the property.
2. The loss of crops or livestock.

To request an adjustment to the assessed value of the property, the owner must file Form 425 Report of Destroyed Real Property with the respective County Board of Equalization (CBOE) AND county clerk by July 15, 2019. No extensions are available. It is the responsibility of the property owner to attach to Form 425 any documents supporting the damage incurred including but not limited to: photographs, damage estimates, repair estimates, and insurance documents.  A separate Form 425 must be filed for each property parcel that the owner wishes the CBOE to consider.

Form 425 and additional information are available on the Nebraska Department of Revenue Property Assessment Division website.  The CBOE must act on your request by July 25 unless they adopt a resolution to extend the response deadline to August 15, 2019.  Protests to the CDOE’s determination are available.