Sections

Property Tax Administrator

The Property Tax Administrator is the chief executive officer of the Property Assessment Division (Division) of the Department of Revenue. The qualifications and duties of the Property Tax Administrator are established by statute. See Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 77-701 and 77-702. The Property Tax Administrator is appointed by the Governor, with the approval of a majority of the members of the Legislature, and serves under the general supervision of the Tax Commissioner.

Policy/Legal

The Policy/Legal Section is responsible for all legal matters for the Division. This section provides policy functions such as:

• Summarizing legislation;
• Drafting regulations; 
• Drafting correspondence; 
• Providing education for county assessor's certification; 
• Promulgating the Nebraska Assessor Reference Manual;
• Representing the Division in property assessment matters in administrative hearings and before the Tax Equalization and Review Commission; 
• Drafting information guides;
• Issuing News/Press Releases; and 
• Other associated duties.

This section is also responsible for specific statutory duties, including:

• Valuation of state assessed property (railroad companies, public service entities, car companies, and air carriers);
• Distribution of car company and air carrier taxes;
• Administration of the homestead exemption and documentary stamp tax programs;
• Preparation of the Tax Increment Financing Annual Report;
• Determination of the appraised value for the public sale of educational lands; 
• Determination of the eligibility for exemption of certain personal property subject to compliance with the Employment and Investment Growth Act (LB 775) and the Nebraska Advantage Act; 
• Annual certification of school adjusted valuation used in state aid calculations;
• Administrative reports filed by counties for data collection of valuation and property tax information; 
• Preparation of the Division Annual Report;
• Annually, prepare and publish list of delinquent real property taxes;
• Administration of the Property Tax Credit Act for Real Property; 
• Administration of the Personal Property Tax Relief Act; and
• Administer the Nameplate Capacity Tax.

Field Operations

The Field Operations Section is responsible for ascertaining the level and quality of assessment of all real property in the state. This section works directly with county assessors and provides advice and guidance on all issues of the assessment process, with particular focus on the assessment of real property. 

This section develops the state sales file, and also:

• Coordinates education for county assessor's certification;
• Coordinates the Rent-Restricted Housing Projects Valuation Committee, which assembles and publishes capitalization rate information in an annual report, and certifies this information to county assessors;
• Determines the adjusted valuation for school districts; 
• Develops information for the Reports and Opinions of the Property Tax Administrator provided to the Tax Equalization and Review Commission;
• Reviews permissive exemptions for qualified organizations, approved by counties;
• Develops valuation information for use by the county assessors;
• Provides various maps as resources to the county assessors; and
• Coordinates updated soil survey conversions.

The state sales file is a statutorily required database containing sales of real property for use in valuation and measurement. The employees in this section have offices throughout the state, and are readily available to assist in the counties. They work with the county assessors on analysis of sales information and assessment practices and procedures.