Chapter 59

Section 11. Taxes on real estate shall be assessed, in the town where it lies, to the person who is the owner on January 1, and the person appearing of record, in the records of the county, or of the district, if such county is divided into districts, where the estate lies, as ow…

Section 12. If any person has an interest in real estate, not exempt from taxation under section five, as holder of a duly recorded mortgage given to secure the payment of a fixed and certain sum of money, the amount of his interest as mortgagee shall be assessed as real estate i…

Section 12A. If the holder of such mortgage fails to file in the assessor's office a sworn statement of all his estate liable to taxation under the preceding section, including a statement of the full amount remaining unpaid upon such mortgage and of his interest therein, the amo…

Section 12B. Mortgagors and mortgagees referred to in the two preceding sections shall for the purpose of taxation be deemed joint owners until the mortgagee takes possession; and until such possession is taken by a first mortgagee, an assessor or the collector of taxes, upon app…

Section 12C. If a tenant paying rent for real estate is taxed therefor he may retain out of his rent the taxes paid by him, or may recover the same in an action against his landlord, unless there is a different agreement between them.

Section 12D. The undivided real estate of a deceased person may be assessed to his heirs or devisees, without designating any of them by name, until the names of such heirs or devisees appear in the probate court records in the county in which said real estate lies; and each heir…

Section 12E. The real estate of a person deceased, the right or title to which is doubtful or unascertained by reason of litigation concerning the will of the deceased or the validity thereof, may be assessed in general terms to his estate, and said tax shall constitute a lien up…

Section 12F. Wherever real estate has been unassessed because the right or title thereto has been doubtful or unascertained because of missing records or otherwise, and a municipality has conducted a search and has determined the record ownership of said real estate, the said rea…

Section 18. All taxable personal estate within or without the commonwealth shall be assessed to the owner in the town where he is an inhabitant on January first, except as provided in chapter sixty-three and in the following clauses of this section: First, All tangible personal p…

Section 19. Personal property mortgaged or pledged shall be assessed to the owner or to the mortgagee or pledgee in actual physical possession thereof on January first.

Section 2. All property, real and personal, situated within the commonwealth, and all personal property of the inhabitants of the commonwealth wherever situated, unless expressly exempt, shall be subject to taxation; provided, however, that the personal property of a person havin…

Section 20. The state treasurer, not later than August twentieth in each year, shall send formal notice by mail to the assessors and treasurers of the several cities and towns for the payment of charges and assessments under general or special law which may be due and payable to …

Section 20A. No county, district, public authority, the commonwealth, or other governmental entity authorized by law to assess costs, charges or fees upon cities and towns, except regional school districts, regional water districts and regional sewerage districts, may increase th…

Section 20B. No regional veterans' district, regional water district or regional sewerage district authorized by law to assess costs, charges or fees upon cities and towns may increase the total of such costs, charges or fees by more than the sum of: (1) two and one-half per cent…

Section 21. The assessors shall assess state and county taxes duly certified to them. The assessors shall also assess as estimated in advance by the commissioner charges and assessments for which the state treasurer will be required under section twenty to send his warrant not la…

Section 21A. In any city or town which accepts this section, an assessor or assistant assessor who has completed the necessary courses of study and training and has been awarded a certificate by the International Association of Assessing Officers as a certified assessment evaluat…

Section 21B. The assessors shall attend such training programs conducted or sponsored by the commissioner under the provisions of section one of chapter fifty-eight as said commissioner shall deem necessary.

Section 21C. (a) Whenever used in the text of this section, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:— ''Full and fair cash valuation'', the fair cash value of all real estate and personal property as defined in this chapter, as certified by the commissione…

Section 21D. The commissioner of revenue shall calculate the total limit applicable pursuant to sections twenty A and twenty-one C and section thirty-four of chapter seventy-one; provided, however, that he may adjust any such limit upon written application and pursuant to written…

Section 23. The assessors shall annually assess taxes to an amount not less than the aggregate of all amounts appropriated, granted or lawfully expended by their respective towns since the last preceding annual assessment and not provided for therein, of all amounts required by l…

Section 23A. The assessors, as soon as the tax rates are fixed for a fiscal year, shall notify the auditor or similar officer in cities and towns, the town accountant, if any, otherwise the town treasurer, of the amount to be raised for state, county, and city or town purposes, a…

Section 23B. The assessors shall, as often as once a month, notify the auditor or similar officer in cities and towns, the town accountant, if any, otherwise the town treasurer, of the amounts of abatements of taxes.

Section 23D. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, a city or town is hereby authorized to issue a notice of preliminary tax in any fiscal year, with the prior written approval of the commissioner of revenue for each fiscal year, and require…

Section 24. The assessors of a town owing debts incurred to obtain funds for subscriptions for the capital stock and securities of a railroad corporation shall annually assess, in addition to the other amounts required by law, an amount sufficient to pay the excess of such intere…

Section 25. The assessors of each city or town shall raise by taxation each year a reasonable amount of overlay as the commissioner may approve. The overlay account may be used only for avoiding fractional divisions of the amount to be assessed, for abatements granted on account …

Section 26. The assessors may include state, county, city and town taxes, or any two of them, in the same assessment.

Section 27. If assessors neglect to assess a state, county, city, town or district tax required by law, the commissioner shall forthwith appoint other persons in accordance with section twenty-seven of chapter forty-one.

Section 28. If a state or county tax is not assessed, and paid by the town, within the time prescribed, and remains unpaid at the expiration of five months after the receipt of a warrant from the state treasurer or of a certificate from the county commissioners requiring its asse…

Section 29. Assessors before making an assessment shall give seasonable notice thereof to all persons subject to taxation in their respective towns. Such notice shall be posted in one or more public places in each town, or shall be given in some other sufficient manner, and shall…

Section 2A. (a) Real property for the purpose of taxation shall include all land within the commonwealth and all buildings and other things thereon or affixed thereto, unless otherwise exempted from taxation under other provisions of law. The assessors of each city and town shall…

Section 2B. Except as otherwise provided in section three E, real estate owned in fee or otherwise or held in trust for the benefit of the United States, the commonwealth, or a county, city or town, or any instrumentality thereof, if used in connection with a business conducted f…

Section 2C. Except as provided in section sixty-three A of chapter forty-four, whenever in any fiscal year the United States, the commonwealth, or a county, city or town, or any instrumentality thereof, or any entity whose real estate is exempt under clauses Third, Four, Four A, …

Section 2D. (a) Whenever in any fiscal year real estate improved in assessed value by over 50 per cent excluding the value of the land by new construction is issued a temporary or permanent occupancy permit after January 1 in any year, the owner of the real estate shall pay a pro…

Section 30. The assessors shall furnish a blank list prescribed by the commissioner under section five of chapter fifty-eight to any person liable to taxation.

Section 31. The assessors shall in all cases require a person bringing in a list to make oath that it is true. The oath may be administered by any of the assessors or by their secretary or head clerk, or by any notary public, whose jurat shall be duly authenticated by his seal, o…

Section 31A. For the purpose of verifying that a person required to file a true list of taxable personal property under section 29 has made a complete and accurate accounting of that property, the assessors may at any time within 3 years after the date the list was due, or within…

Section 32. Lists filed under section 29 and books, papers, records and other data obtained under section 31A shall be open to the inspection of the assessors, the commissioner, the deputies, clerks and assistants of either the assessors or the commissioner and any designated pri…

Section 33. All persons engaged in the business of storing or keeping merchandise in storage warehouses shall, within ten days after request therefor by the assessors of the town where said property is so stored or kept, permit said assessors to copy from their records a list of …

Section 34. A mortgagor or mortgagee of real estate may bring in to the assessors of the town where it lies, within the time prescribed by the notice under section twenty-nine, a sworn statement of the amount secured thereon or on each separate parcel thereof, with the name and r…

Section 36. Assessors shall ascertain as nearly as possible the particulars of the personal estate, and of the real estate in possession or occupation, as owner or otherwise, of any person not bringing in such list, and shall estimate its just value, according to their best infor…

Section 37. Such estimate shall be entered in the valuation book, and, except as provided in section sixty-one, shall be conclusive upon any person not seasonably bringing in such list, unless he shows a reasonable excuse for the omission.

Section 38. The assessors of each city and town shall at the time appointed therefor make a fair cash valuation of all the estate, real and personal, subject to taxation therein, and such determination shall be the assessed valuation of such estate. In cities, the assessors may, …

Section 38A. Every person, other than a gas or electric company as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and sixty-four, owning a pipeline used for transmitting for a distance of twenty-five miles or more natural gas or petroleum or the products or by-products of either, …

Section 38D. A board of assessors may request the owner or lessee of any real property to make a written return under oath within sixty days containing such information as may reasonably be required by it to determine the actual fair cash valuation of such property. Failure of an…

Section 38E. A board of assessors may require testimony under oath of a taxpayer relative to his written return filed under section thirty-eight D and may also require testimony under oath of any applicant for abatement under section fifty-nine.

Section 38F. A board of assessors may request the owner or lessee of any personal property to make a written return under oath within sixty days containing such information as may reasonably be required by it to determine the actual fair cash valuation of such property. Failure o…

Section 38G. A board of assessors may require testimony under oath of a taxpayer relative to his written return filed under section thirty-eight F and may also require testimony under oath of any applicant for abatement under section fifty-nine.

Section 38H. (a) For the purposes of this section, the term department shall refer to the department of telecommunications and energy. Any electric company as defined in section 1 of chapter 164 which generates electricity or any distribution company as defined in said section 1 …

Section 39. The valuation at which the machinery, poles, wires and underground conduits and wires and pipes of all telephone companies shall be assessed by the assessors of the respective cities and towns where such property is subject to taxation shall be determined annually by …