Starting in property tax Year 2026, any taxpayer that renders personal property on a LAT form and wishes to submit any additional documents or materials to an assessor, “shall” submit the new LAT Form VF, or Verification Form. This new form must accompany any documents submitted to the assessor in addition to the LAT and must be signed by a “bona fide” representative of the taxpayer. Under LAC 61:V.307(A)(12), the Commission regulation that puts this new requirement in place, the LAT VF must be signed by an executive or employee with personal knowledge of the information submitted (the Regulation specifically provides that the LAT VF should not be signed by a third-party tax representative). The LAT VF form includes a “verification” as follows:

The undersigned declares, under the penalty of perjury and the penalties for filing false reports, the following:

1. that he/she is a bona fide representative of the business identified above;
2. that the materials and documents furnished to the assessor along with the above identified business’s property tax rendition(s) (LAT Forms) have been examined by me and to the best of my knowledge and belief, are true, correct, and complete; and
3. that he/she has personal knowledge and information in order to verify the accuracy of the information contained in the materials and documents furnished to the assessor along with the above identified business’s property tax rendition(s) (LAT Forms).

Based on this new requirement, taxpayers that render personal property, and supply data to support a claim of obsolescence, or any other support for a reduction in value, such as an appraisal, throughput data, or data on market conditions, must accompany those materials with a sworn LAT VF. The LAT VF specifically provides that it “shall be completed and filed” whenever materials are provided to the assessor. Thus, any time a taxpayer submits materials to an assessor, even during the open roll periods, LAT VF should be provided. While there is no stated penalty for the failure to submit the LAT VF, it is possible that an assessor could ignore any submitted materials and point to the failure to submit the LAT VF as a basis, and the data then may not be available for later use in support of an appeal.