Homeowners’ Association Application for Special Valuation – Charleston County, SC

The Homeowners’ Association Application for Special Valuation is the Charleston County Office of the County Assessor form that a homeowners’ association uses to ask for special valuation of its property under South Carolina Code of Laws section 12-43-227, based on nonqualified gross receipts.

The form exists because the General Assembly added section 12-43-227 in 1996 and amended section 12-43-230, which defines a homeowners’ association and its property. The form tells the County Assessor whether the organization meets those requirements and what qualified income should be capitalized into the taxable value. Under section 12-43-227, the value of the property is its nonqualified earnings value, found by capitalizing the property’s nonqualified gross receipts. Dues, fees and assessments from members, and amounts received from the developer, are not counted as nonqualified gross receipts.

The form asks for the association’s name and address per deed, the land it owns (acres, lots and buildings), prior-year gross receipts, its officers, the property location and the parcel ID number. The text of both statute sections is printed on the form. The form is not an exemption application: it requests a different method of valuation.

The owners of real property held by a homeowners’ association, or their agents, make this application to the assessor of the county where the property is located. Under section 12-43-230, as printed on the form, property qualifies as homeowners’ association property only if:

• it is held for the use, benefit and enjoyment of the association’s members;
• each member has an irrevocable right to use and enjoy it on an equal basis, subject to restrictions in the conveying instruments or the association’s rules, regulations or bylaws; and
• each member’s right to use it is appurtenant to taxable real property the member owns.

The statute defines a homeowners’ association as an organization organized and operated to provide for the acquisition, construction, management and maintenance of property. An association may designate one or any number of its qualifying tracts or parcels.

An officer of the association signs the application. An agent may sign instead, but only with a valid letter of authorization. The deed must be recorded in the name of the homeowners’ association, and the corporation should be registered with the South Carolina Secretary of State by the application deadline.

Individual homeowners do not file this form for their own homes.

The application must be received by the County Assessor on or before the first penalty date for taxes due, which the form gives as January 16th. The statute printed on the form requires it by that date for the first tax year in which special valuation is claimed, and failure to apply waives special valuation for that year. The deed note on the form refers to a January 15th filing deadline and requires the deed to be recorded in the association’s name by December 31st before it, so plan to deliver the application by January 15th.

No additional annual filing is required while the property remains homeowners’ association property and ownership stays the same. A new application is required if nonqualified gross receipts for the most recent completed tax year are 10 percent or more above, or less than 90 percent of, the amount reported on the most recently filed application.

The form names one channel: delivery of the signed original to the Office of the County Assessor, 4050 Bridge View Drive, Suite 100, North Charleston, SC 29406. The telephone number printed on the form is 843.958.4100.

• Original signature required. The form states "DO NOT FAX OR EMAIL – ORIGINAL SIGNATURE REQUIRED." Print the completed PDF and sign it by hand.
• Attachments. Include a copy of the association’s bylaws. If an agent signs, include the valid letter of authorization. If you list sources of gross receipts on a separate sheet, include that sheet.
• Deadline. The County Assessor must receive the application on or before January 16th.

The form does not mention a fee. Call the Assessor’s office with any other question. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the channels above.