Understanding Intangible Assets and Real Estate: A Response to the IAAO Committee’s Guide

By Cris K. O’Neall & C. Stephen Davis¹

In early 2017 the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) Special Committee on Intangibles issued a white paper addressing the scope of the intangible asset exemption: "Understanding Intangible Assets and Real Estate: A Guide for Real Property Valuation Professionals,"² hereafter the "IAAO Guide" or "Guide." The IAAO describes the purpose of the IAAO Guide as follows: "This guide is intended to assist assessors in understanding and addressing intangible assets in property tax valuation" and "to assist in identifying intangible assets and exclude them from real property assessments." ³ The Guide purports to describe the legal and appraisal requirements for removing the value of intangible assets and rights in the assessment of real estate for property tax purposes. However, the Guide advocates appraisal methods that do not remove the value of intangible assets from assessment, omits essential appraisal authority, mis-cites court decisions, and ignores controlling law. This paper exposes the unbalanced nature of and errors in the Guide, including techniques which purportedly minimize or eliminate the value of intangible assets from assessment and other omissions.

I. THE QUALIFIED NATURE OF THE IAAO GUIDE

Not all IAAO publications have equal weight. The IAAO Guide expressly provides the following self-limiting disclosure immediately below the title of the paper: "This guide was developed by the IAAO Special Committee on Intangibles for informational purposes only and does not necessarily represent a policy position of IAAO. This guide is not a Technical Standard and was developed for the benefit of assessment professionals."⁴