The California State Board of Equalization recently released a draft of the proposed Guidelines for Substantiating Additional Obsolescence for Personal Property and Fixtures as part of a project to assist county assessors’ staff in identifying and quantifying obsolescence for personal property tax valuation.

Although the proposed guidelines do not offer anything that can be considered groundbreaking, they do serve as an overview of the process for identifying and calculating extraordinary obsolescence.

In the recent case of Level 3 Communications, LLC v. Arizona Department of Revenue, the Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the Arizona Tax Court’s decision rejecting the taxpayer’s claims of obsolescence regarding the valuation of personal property. 

The taxpayer’s contention was that the utility and salability of its property were impaired as a result of  overbuilding its network of fiber and conduit. 

The Court of Appeals agreed with the Tax Court’s opinion that obsolescence cannot be established by factors within the taxpayer’s control. In its decision the Tax Court states: 

“Taxpayer’s evidence did not satisfy its requirements because ‘the loss in value of the property was not caused by obsolescence.’ Rather, ‘Level 3 simply underestimated the future supply of fiber-optic capacity. Mere erroneous business judgment does not create obsolescence.’” 

The Tax Court relied heavily upon the Eurofresh case in arriving at its decision.