R884

R884. Tax Commission, Property Tax.

R884-24P. Property Tax.

R884-24P-7. Assessment of Mining Properties Pursuant to Utah Code Ann. Section 59-2-201.

A. Definitions.

1. "Allowable costs" means those costs reasonably and necessarily incurred to own and operate a productive mining property and bring the minerals or finished product to the customary or implied point of sale.

a) Allowable costs include: salaries and wages, payroll taxes, employee benefits, workers compensation insurance, parts and supplies, maintenance and repairs, equipment rental, tools, power, fuels, utilities, water, freight, engineering, drilling, sampling and assaying, accounting and legal, management, insurance, taxes (including severance, property, sales/use, and federal and state income taxes), exempt royalties, waste disposal, actual or accrued environmental cleanup, reclamation and remediation, changes in working capital (other than those caused by increases or decreases in product inventory or other nontaxable items), and other miscellaneous costs.

b) For purposes of the discounted cash flow method, allowable costs shall include expected future capital expenditures in addition to those items outlined in A.1.a).

c) For purposes of the capitalized net revenue method, allowable costs shall include straight- line depreciation of capital expenditures in addition to those items outlined in A.1.a).

d) Allowable costs does not include interest, depletion, depreciation other than allowed in A.1.c), amortization, corporate overhead other than allowed in A.1.a), or any expenses not related to the ownership or operation of the mining property being valued.

e) To determine applicable federal and state income taxes, straight line depreciation, cost depletion, and amortization shall be used.

2. "Asset value" means the value arrived at using generally accepted cost approaches to value.

3. "Capital expenditure" means the cost of acquiring property, plant, and equipment used in the productive mining property operation and includes:

a) purchase price of an asset and its components;

b) transportation costs;

c) installation charges and construction costs; and

d) sales tax.

4. "Constant or real dollar basis" means cash flows or net revenues used in the discounted cash flow or capitalized net revenue methods, respectively, prepared on a basis where inflation or deflation are adjusted back to the lien date. For this purpose, inflation or deflation shall be determined using the gross domestic product deflator produced by the Congressional Budget Office, or long-term inflation forecasts produced by reputable analysts, other similar sources, or any combination thereof.

5. "Discount rate" means the rate that reflects the current yield requirements of investors purchasing comparable properties in the mining industry, taking into account the industry's current and projected market, financial, and economic conditions.

6. "Economic production" means the ability of the mining property to profitably produce and sell product, even if that ability is not being utilized.

7. "Exempt royalties" means royalties paid to this state or its political subdivisions, an agency of the federal government, or an Indian tribe.

8. "Expected annual production" means the economic production from a mine for each future year as estimated by an analysis of the life-of-mine mining plan for the property.

9. "Fair market value" is as defined in Section 59-2-102.

10. "Federal and state income taxes" mean regular taxes based on income computed using the marginal federal and state income tax rates for each applicable year.

11. "Implied point of sale" means the point where the minerals or finished product change hands in the normal course of business.

12. "Net cash flow" for the discounted cash flow method means, for each future year, the expected product price multiplied by the expected annual production that is anticipated to be sold or self-consumed, plus related revenue cash flows, minus allowable costs.

13. "Net revenue" for the capitalized net revenue method means, for any of the immediately preceding five years, the actual receipts from the sale of minerals (or if self - consumed, the value of the self-consumed minerals), plus actual related revenue cash flows, minus allowable costs.

14. "Non-operating mining property" means a mine that has not produced in the previous calendar year and is not currently capable of economic production, or land held under a mineral lease not reasonably necessary in the actual mining and extraction process in the current mine plan.

15. "Productive mining property" means the property of a mine that is either actively producing or currently capable of having economic production. Productive mining property includes all taxable interests in real property, improvements and tangible personal property upon or appurtenant to a mine that are used for that mine in exploration, development, engineering, mining, crushing or concentrating, processing, smelting, refining, reducing, leaching, roasting, other processes used in the separation or extraction of the product from the ore or minerals and the processing thereof, loading for shipment, marketing and sales, environmental clean-up, reclamation and remediation, general and administrative operations, or transporting the finished product or minerals to the customary point of sale or to the implied point of sale in the case of self-consumed minerals.

16. "Product price" for each mineral means the price that is most representative of the price expected to be received for the mineral in future periods.

a) Product price is determined using one or more of the following approaches:

(1) an analysis of average actual sales prices per unit of production for the minerals sold by the taxpayer for up to five years preceding the lien date; or,

(2) an analysis of the average posted prices for the minerals, if valid posted prices exist, for up to five calendar years preceding the lien date; or,

(3) the average annual forecast prices for each of up to five years succeeding the lien date for the minerals sold by the taxpayer and one average forecast price for all years thereafter for those same minerals, obtained from reputable forecasters, mutually agreed upon between the Property Tax Division and the taxpayer.

b) If self-consumed, the product price will be determined by one of the following two methods:

(1) Representative unit sales price of like minerals. The representative unit sales price is determined from:

(a) actual sales of like mineral by the taxpayer;

(b) actual sales of like mineral by other taxpayers; or

(2) If a representative unit sales price of like minerals is unavailable, an imputed product price for the self-consumed minerals may be developed by dividing the total allowable costs by one minus the taxpayer's discount rate to adjust to a cost that includes profit, and dividing the resulting figure by the number of units mined.

17. "Related revenue cash flows" mean non-product related cash flows related to the ownership or operation of the mining property being valued. Examples of related revenue cash flows include royalties and proceeds from the sale of mining equipment.

18. "Self consumed minerals" means the minerals produced from the mining property that the mining entity consumes or utilizes for the manufacture or construction of other goods and services.

19. "Straight line depreciation" means depreciation computed using the straight line method applicable in calculating the regular federal tax. For this purpose, the applicable recovery period shall be seven years for depreciable tangible personal mining property and depreciable tangible personal property appurtenant to a mine, and 39 years for depreciable real mining property and depreciable real property appurtenant to a mine.

B. Valuation.

1. The discounted cash flow method is the preferred method of valuing productive mining properties. Under this method the taxable value of the mine shall be determined by:

a) discounting the future net cash flows for the remaining life of the mine to their present value as of the lien date; and

b) subtracting from that present value the fair market value, as of the lien date, of licensed vehicles and nontaxable items.

2. The mining company shall provide to the Property Tax Division an estimate of future cash flows for the remaining life of the mine. These future cash flows shall be prepared on a constant or real dollar basis and shall be based on factors including the life-of-mine mining plan for proven and probable reserves, existing plant in place, capital projects underway, capital projects approved by the mining company board of directors, and capital necessary for sustaining operations. All factors included in the future cash flows, or which should be included in the future cash flows, shall be subject to verification and review for reasonableness by the Property Tax Division.

3. If the taxpayer does not furnish the information necessary to determine a value using the discounted cash flow method, the Property Tax Division may use the capitalized net revenue method. This method is outlined as follows:

a) Determine annual net revenue, both net losses and net gains, from the productive mining property for each of the immediate past five years, or years in operation, if less than five years. Each year's net revenue shall be adjusted to a constant or real dollar basis.

b) Determine the average annual net revenue by summing the values obtained in B.3.a) and dividing by the number of operative years, five or less.

c) Divide the average annual net revenue by the discount rate to determine the fair market value of the entire productive mining property.

d) Subtract from the fair market value of the entire productive mining property the fair market value, as of the lien date, of licensed vehicles and nontaxable items, to determine the taxable value of the productive mining property.

4. The discount rate shall be determined by the Property Tax Division.

a) The discount rate shall be determined using the weighted average cost of capital method, a survey of reputable mining industry analysts, any other accepted methodology, or any combination thereof.

b) If using the weighted average cost of capital method, the Property Tax Division shall include an after-tax cost of debt and of equity. The cost of debt will consider market yields. The cost of equity shall be determined by the capital asset pricing model, arbitrage pricing model, risk premium model, discounted cash flow model, a survey of reputable mining industry analysts, any other accepted methodology, or a combination thereof.

5. Where the discount rate is derived through the use of publicly available information of other companies, the Property Tax Division shall select companies that are comparable to the productive mining property. In making this selection and in determining the discount rate, the Property Tax Division shall consider criteria that includes size, profitability, risk, diversification, or growth opportunities.

6. A non-operating mine will be valued at fair market value consistent with other taxable property.

7. If, in the opinion of the Property Tax Division, these methods are not reasonable to determine the fair market value, the Property Tax Division may use other valuation methods to estimate the fair market value of a mining property.

8. The fair market value of a productive mining property may not be less than the fair market value of the land, improvements, and tangible personal property upon or appurtenant to the mining property. The mine value shall include all equipment, improvements and real estate upon or appurtenant to the mine. All other tangible property not appurtenant to the mining property will be separately valued at fair market value.

9. Where the fair market value of assets upon or appurtenant to the mining property is determined under the cost method, the Property Tax Division shall use the replacement cost new less depreciation approach. This approach shall consider the cost to acquire or build an asset with like utility at current prices using modern design and materials, adjusted for loss in value due to physical deterioration or obsolescence for technical, functional and economic factors.

C. When the fair market value of a productive mining property in more than one tax area exceeds the asset value, the fair market value will be divided into two components and apportioned as follows:

1. Asset value that includes machinery and equipment, improvements, and land surface values will be apportioned to the tax areas where the assets are located.

2. The fair market value less the asset value will give an income increment of value. The income increment will be apportioned as follows:

a) Divide the asset value by the fair market value to determine a quotient. Multiply the quotient by the income increment of value. This value will be apportioned to each tax area based on the percentage of the total asset value in that tax area.

b) The remainder of the income increment will be apportioned to the tax areas based on the percentage of the known mineral reserves according to the mine plan.

D. The provisions of this rule shall be implemented and become binding on taxpayers beginning January 1, 1998.

KEY: taxation, personal property, property tax, appraisal

Effective: 5/28/91