Assessing personal property

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At the beginning of every year, the City of Saco Assessor's Office sends out a declaration letter and form to all business taxpayers. Businesses are requested to provide the Assessor with a true and perfect inventory list of all personal property which was in the possession of the business as of April 1st of that year. For your convenience, the personal property declaration letter and form are available to download in pdf form from our webpage. The deadline to file a personal property list is May 1st of each year. Owners of park model/camper trailers also receive a letter and form.

What is personal property? Personal property includes but is not limited to the following categories:

• Machinery & Equipment: Presses, tools, machining equipment, garage equipment, heavy-duty shelving and other machinery or manufacturing equipment, telephone equipment, vending machines, televisions, amusement apparatuses, typewriters, calculators, fax machines, copiers and other office items of this type, cargo trailers and any self propelled machinery that is not subject to excise tax.
• Computer Equipment: CPUs, monitors, servers, network wiring, printers and other computer equipment.
• Furniture & Fixtures: Business office furnishings such as desks, chairs, bookcases, file cabinets, tables, and sofas. This category also includes fixtures specific to a business that may be attached to the real estate, but is generally removed when the business relocates.
• Signs: Any business advertisement sign which requires a City permit to display.
• Park Models/Camper Trailers: Per Maine State Law, municipalities are required to assess (park model/camper trailers) housed year round in a Maine campground as personal property. Personal property is assessed only on the Park Model/Camper Trailer itself except for any additional structures attached to the dwelling or outbuildings (such as a shed). The following information will be requested yearly regarding Park Model/Camper Trailers: Year, Make, Model, Size and Serial Number and original purchase price (if available).

The State of Maine provides two separate programs to business taxpayer's reference to personal property. Those programs are:

• BETE (Exemption) Program: Business Equipment Tax Exemption Program
• BETR (Reimbursement) Program: Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement Program

For more information regarding these programs, you may download the BETE & BETR program info, or you can visit the State of Maine website at www.maine.gov/revenue.

For your convenience, we have provided links to related documents below:

• Depreciation Schedule, 2012 PDF file, 70K
• Personal Property Declaration Letter & form for business owners PDF file, 139K
• Personal Property Declaration Letter & form for park model or camper trailer owners PDF file, 98K