Motor Vehicle, Boat, Manufactured Home & Heavy Equipment Dealer Inventory

Tax Code Amendments & Dealers

The law provides generally that the January 1 market value of an inventory to which those provisions apply is the average of monthly sales for the preceding year. Dealers subject to the special inventory law are required to file an annual declaration of their prior sales with the appraisal district before February 1. Additionally, by the 10th day of each month during the year, affected dealers must file monthly statements with the appraisal district and submit the statement and monthly tax prepayments to the county assessor-collector.

For Heavy Equipment Dealers, the tax statement is a quarterly submission. The deadline to submit the quarterly statement to the tax office is on or before the 20th day of the month following each calendar quarter. Heavy Equipment dealers are not required to send a copy of the quarterly statement to the appraisal district.

Substantial civil and criminal penalties are provided in the law for failure to file the required declarations and statements timely.

Each year, copies of reporting forms are mailed to dealers known to be operating in Harris County. To avoid penalties for late filing, dealers should use these in filing their declarations and reports with the Harris Central Appraisal District and the Harris County Tax Office. If you are a dealer and did not receive copies of these forms, notify HCAD at the number shown below.

For additional information, please contact the Harris Central Appraisal District here, or the Harris County Tax Assessor Collector's Office at (713) 368-2550.