ASSESSMENT
assessment,n.1. Determination of the rate or amount of something, such as a tax or damages
<assessment of the losses covered by insurance>. [Cases: Damages 95–126; Internal Revenue
4520; Taxation 308.C.J.S. Damages §§ 105–153, 163–164; Internal Revenue § 641; Parent and
Child § 344; Taxation § 1673.] 2. Imposition of something, such as a tax or fine, according to an
established rate; the tax or fine so imposed < assessment of a luxury tax>. [Cases: Internal
Revenue 4520; Taxation 308. C.J.S. Internal Revenue § 641; Taxation § 1673.]
“There is a distinction between public improvements, which benefit the entire community,
and local improve-ments, which benefit particular real estate or limited areas of land. The latter
improvements are usually financed by means of special, or local, assessments. These assessments
are, in a certain sense, taxes. But an assessment differs from a general tax in that an assessment is
levied only on property in the immediate vicinity of some local municipal improvement and is
valid only where the property assessed receives some special benefit differing from the benefit
that the general public enjoys.” Robert Kratovil, Real Estate Law 465 (6th ed. 1974).
assessment for benefits.See special assessment.
deficiency assessment.An assessment by the IRS — after administrative review and tax-court
adjudication — of additional tax owed by a taxpayer who underpaid. See DEFICIENCY(2).
[Cases: Internal Revenue 4520. C.J.S. Internal Revenue § 641.]
double assessment.The act of requiring that tax be paid twice for the same property. See
double taxation under TAXATION.
erroneous assessment.An assessment that deviates from the law and creates a jurisdictional
defect, and that is therefore invalid.
excessive assessment.A tax assessment that is grossly disproportionate as compared with
other assessments. [Cases: Taxation 40(7). C.J.S. Taxation § 35.]
frontage assessment.A municipal tax charged to a property owner for local improvements that
abut a street or highway, such as sidewalks, pavements, or sewage lines. [Cases: Municipal
Corporations 469. C.J.S. Mu-nicipal Corporations §§ 1281–1283, 1285.]
jeopardy assessment.An assessment by the IRS — without the usual review procedures — of
additional tax owed by a taxpayer who underpaid, based on the IRS’s belief that collection of the
deficiency would be jeopardized by delay. IRC (26 USCA) §§ 6811 et seq. [Cases: Internal
Revenue 4548. C.J.S. Internal Revenue § 651.]
local assessment.A tax to pay for improvements (such as sewers and sidewalks) in a
designated area, levied on property owners who will benefit from the improvements. — Also
termed local-improvement assessment. [Cases: Municipal Corporations 405. C.J.S. Municipal
Corporations §§ 1116–1118.]
“Since there is [an] important and fundamental distinction between the tax in the more
limited sense and the local assessment, the question often arises whether provisions in
constitutions and statutes which refer by name to taxes, include also local assessments. This is
primarily a question of legislative intention. In the absence of anything to show the specific
intention of the legislature, the general rule is that the local assessment possesses such marked
peculiarities differentiating it from the tax in the more limited sense of the term, that the use of the
term ‘tax’ does not prima facie show an intention to include local assessments.” 1 William H. Page
& Paul Jones, A Treatise on the Law of Taxation by Local and Special Assessments § 39, at 67 (1909).
maintenance assessment.See MAINTENANCE FEE(2).
political assessment.Hist. A charge levied on officeholders and political candidates by a
political party to defray the expenses for a political canvass.
special assessment.The assessment of a tax on property that benefits in some important way
from a public improvement. — Also termed assessment for benefits. [Cases: Municipal
Corporations 405. C.J.S. Municipal Corporations §§ 1116–1118.]
- Official valuation of property for purposes of taxation <assessment of the beach house>.
— Also termed tax assessment. Cf. APPRAISAL. [Cases: Taxation 309. C.J.S. Taxation §§
478–480.] 4. An audit or review < internal financial assessment> <environmental site assessment>.
— assess,vb[Blacks Law 8th]