No Tax on Subdivision

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A panel of the Commonwealth Court held that taxpayers could not be reassessed when they subdivided a parcel into two parcels but retained title. Raup v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals, No. 237 C.D. 2014 (Pa. Commw. Jan. 14, 2015). The taxpayers owned a property that they subdivided into two lots. One of the parcels had been improved with half of a duplex property long before the subdivision. The court held that the subdivision could not be the occasion for a reassessment when the improvements were not made contemporaneously, citing 53 Pa. C. S. § 8817(a). Any improvement to the property could justify a reassessment at the time the improvements are made but not at an arbitrary time in the future. A subdivision does not constitute an improvement; an improvement requires an addition to the property. The court further held that the subdivision by a deed for $1.00 did not constitute a sale taking the conveyance out of the protection of the subdivision.

 

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