H.B. No. 645

AN ACT
relating to the information required to be included on a form for an
application for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of property
owned by a charitable organization.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 11.43(f), Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(f) The comptroller, in prescribing the contents of the
application form for each kind of exemption, shall ensure that the
form requires an applicant to furnish the information necessary to
determine the validity of the exemption claim. The form must
require an applicant to provide the applicant’s name and driver’s
license number, personal identification certificate number, or
social security account number. If the applicant is a charitable
organization with a federal tax identification number, the form
must allow the applicant to provide the organization’s federal tax
identification number in lieu of a driver’s license number,
personal identification certificate number, or social security
account number. The comptroller shall include on the forms a notice
of the penalties prescribed by Section 37.10, Penal Code, for
making or filing an application containing a false statement. The
comptroller shall include, on application forms for exemptions that
do not have to be claimed annually, a statement explaining that the
application need not be made annually and that if the exemption is
allowed, the applicant has a duty to notify the chief appraiser when
the applicant’s entitlement to the exemption ends. In this
subsection:
(1) “Driver’s license” has the meaning assigned that
term by Section 521.001, Transportation Code.
(2) “Personal identification certificate” means a
certificate issued by the Department of Public Safety under
Subchapter E, Chapter 521, Transportation Code.
SECTION 2. Section 11.43, Tax Code, as amended by this Act,
applies only to an application for an exemption from ad valorem
taxation of property owned by a charitable organization filed with
a chief appraiser on or after September 1, 2011. An application for
an exemption from ad valorem taxation of property owned by a
charitable organization filed with a chief appraiser before
September 1, 2011, is governed by the law in effect when the
application was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.

______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate            Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 645 was passed by the House on April
6, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.

______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 645 was passed by the Senate on May
25, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date

_____________________
Governor