Title 36, Title 36

Except as provided in section 506, a taxpayer who pays an amount in excess of that finally assessed must be repaid the amount of the overpayment plus interest from the date of overpayment at a rate to be established by the municipality. The rate of interest may not exceed the int…

A municipality that issues a property tax bill to a taxpayer must issue the following information. [PL 2007, c. 432, §1 (RPR); PL 2007, c. 432, §2 (AFF).] 1. Reductions to tax. The property tax bill must contain a statement or calculation that demonstrates the amount or percentag…

1. Imposition. A municipality may impose service charges on the owner of residential property, other than student housing or parsonages, that is totally exempt from taxation under section 652 and that is used to provide rental income. Such service charges must be calculated accor…

Real estate, for the purposes of taxation under this Part, includes all lands in the State and all buildings, mobile homes, camper trailers and other things that are affixed to land, together with any appurtenant water power, shore privileges and rights, forests and mineral depos…

There shall be a lien to secure the payment of all taxes legally assessed on real estate as defined in section 551, provided in the inventory and valuation upon which the assessment is made there shall be a description of the real estate taxed sufficiently accurate to identify it…

All real estate shall be taxed in the place where it is to the owner or person in possession, whether resident or nonresident.

In cases of mortgaged real estate, the mortgagor, for the purposes of taxation, shall be deemed the owner, until the mortgagee takes possession, after which the mortgagee shall be deemed the owner. Any mortgagee of real estate, on which any taxes remain unpaid for a period of 8 m…

A tenant in common or a joint tenant may be considered sole owner for the purposes of taxation, unless the tenant notifies the assessor on or before April 1st in the year in which a separate assessment is first requested what the tenant's interest is and provides an accurate desc…

When a tenant paying rent for real estate is taxed therefor, the tenant may retain out of the tenant's rent half of the taxes paid by the tenant. When a landlord is taxed for such real estate, the landlord may recover half of the taxes paid by the landlord and the landlord's rent…

When assessors continue to assess real estate to the person to whom it was last assessed, such assessment is valid, although the ownership or occupancy has changed, unless previous written notice to the assessors has been given of such change and of the name of the person to whom…

In the case of real property for which no owner is known to the assessors for at least the preceding 20 tax years and for which the assessor has, with reasonable diligence, attempted to determine ownership, the following assessment procedure must be used. [PL 1993, c. 422, §3 (AM…

A purchaser of real estate may agree with the previous owner or party to whom the real estate was formerly taxed to pay the pro rata or proportional share of taxes. Unless otherwise specified by the parties to the agreement, the taxes shall be prorated over the period of the fisc…

1. Civil action authorized. If after a real estate closing in which the parties have prorated property taxes pursuant to section 558, any party knowingly fails to pay that party's share of the taxes, which results in a lien being filed, any other party to the transaction who pays…

Until notice is given to the assessors of the division of the estate and the name of the several heirs or devisees, the undivided real estate of a deceased person may be taxed to the deceased person's heirs or devisees or may be taxed to the deceased person's personal representat…

All real estate, including vaults and safe deposit plants, in the State owned by any bank incorporated by this State, or by any national bank or banking association, or by any corporation organized under the laws of this State for the purpose of doing a loan, trust or banking bus…

The buildings of every railroad corporation or association, whether within or without the located right-of-way, its lands and fixtures outside of its located right-of-way, and so much of its located right-of-way over which all railroad service has been abandoned, are subject to t…

Whenever the owner of real estate notifies the assessors that any part of the wood, bark and timber standing thereon has been sold by contract in writing, and exhibits to them proper evidence, they shall tax such wood, bark and timber to the purchaser. A lien is created on such w…

It is declared to be the public policy of the State, by which all officials of the State and of its municipal subdivisions are to be guided in the performance of their official duties, to encourage by the maintenance of adequate incentive the operation of all forest lands on a su…

An assessment of forest land for purposes of taxation must be held to be in excess of just value by any court of competent jurisdiction upon proof by the owner that the tax burden imposed by the assessment creates an incentive to abandon the land, strip the land or otherwise oper…

This subchapter may be cited as the "Maine Tree Growth Tax Law."

It has for many years been the declared public policy of the State of Maine, as stated in sections 563 and 564, to tax all forest lands according to their productivity and thereby to encourage their operation on a sustained yield basis. However, the present system of ad valorem t…

As used in this subchapter, unless the context requires otherwise, the following words shall have the following meanings: [PL 1971, c. 616, §8 (NEW).] 1. Assessor. 2. Average annual net wood production rate. "Average annual net wood production rate" means the estimated average ne…

The Legislature finds that when the value of a recreational use lease of forest land exceeds the value of the tree growth that can be extracted from that land on a sustained basis per acre as determined pursuant to section 576, then the land is no longer primarily used for the co…

An owner of a parcel containing forest land may apply at the landowner's election by filing with the assessor the schedule provided for in section 579, except that this subchapter does not apply to any parcel containing less than 10 acres of forest land. For purposes of this subc…

If a parcel of land for which an owner seeks classification under this subchapter on or after August 1, 2012 contains a structure for which a minimum lot size is required under state law or by municipal ordinance, the owner in the schedule under section 579 shall apply the follow…

The State Tax Assessor may adopt rules necessary to carry out this subchapter. Rules adopted under this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.

1. Assistance to assessor. Upon request of a municipal assessor or the State Tax Assessor and in accordance with section 579, the Director of the Bureau of Forestry within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry may provide assistance in evaluating a forest manag…

The State Tax Assessor shall determine the average annual net wood production rate for each forest type described in section 573, subsections 5, 6 and 7, in each county or region to be used in determining valuations applicable to forest land under this subchapter, on the basis of…

Areas other than forest land within any parcel of forest land shall be valued on the basis of fair market value.

The percentage factor by which the growth rates set by the State Tax Assessor pursuant to section 576 must be reduced to reflect the growth that can be extracted on a sustained basis is 10%. The capitalization rate applied to the value of the annual net wood production pursuant t…

1. On January 1, 1972. 2. Destruction by natural disaster. In the case of forest land areas upon which the trees are destroyed by fire, disease, insect infestation or other natural disaster, so that the area contains not more than 3 cords per acre of wood that is merchantable for…

1. Organized areas. The municipal assessors or chief assessor of a primary assessing area shall adjust the State Tax Assessor's 100% valuation per acre for each forest type of their county by whatever ratio, or percentage of current just value, is applied to other property within…

The owner or owners of forest land subject to valuation under this subchapter shall submit a signed schedule, on or before April 1st of the year in which that land first becomes subject to valuation under this subchapter, to the assessor upon a form prescribed by the State Tax As…

Land subject to taxes under this subchapter may be reclassified as to forest type by the assessor upon application of the owner with a proper showing of the reasons justifying such reclassification or upon the initiative of the respective assessor where the facts justify same.

1. Assessor determination; owner request. If the assessor determines that land subject to this subchapter no longer meets the requirements of this subchapter, the assessor must withdraw the land from taxation under this subchapter. An owner of land subject to taxation under this …

Sale of a portion of a parcel of forest land subject to taxation under this subchapter does not affect the taxation under this subchapter of the resulting parcels, unless any is less than 10 forested acres in area. Each resulting parcel must be taxed to the owners under this subc…

If forest land in the unorganized territory is reclassified or withdrawn from taxation under this subchapter, the State Tax Assessor shall make supplementary assessments or abatements as necessary to carry out the provisions of this subchapter.

Any statutory or constitutional penalty imposed as a result of withdrawal or a change of use, whether imposed before or after January 1, 1984, shall be determined without regard to the presence of minerals, provided that when payment of the penalty is made or demanded, whichever …

On or before September 1st of each year, the State Tax Assessor shall provide to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Forestry information on land within the unorganized territory taxed according to this subchapter. The information must include the …

1. Municipal report. The municipal assessor or chief assessor of a primary assessing area shall report annually to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Forestry by November 1st or 30 days following the tax commitment date, whichever is sooner, the f…

Assessments made under this subchapter and denials of applications for valuation under this subchapter are subject to the abatement procedures provided by section 841. Appeal from an abatement decision rendered under section 841 shall be to the State Board of Property Tax Review.

This subchapter shall be broadly construed to achieve its purpose. The invalidity of any provision shall be deemed not to affect the validity of other provisions.

Personal property for the purposes of taxation includes all tangible goods and chattels wheresoever they are and all vessels, at home or abroad.

All personal property within or without the State, except in cases enumerated in section 603, must be taxed to the owner in the place where the owner resides.

The excepted cases referred to in section 602 are the following. [PL 2025, c. 113, Pt. D, §14 (AMD).] 1. Personal property employed in trade. All personal property employed in trade, in the erection of buildings or vessels or in the mechanic arts must be taxed in the place where …

When personal property is mortgaged, pledged or conveyed with the seller retaining title for security purposes, it shall, for the purposes of taxation, be deemed the property of the person who has it in possession, and it may be distrained for the tax thereon.