Fresno County Assessor-Recorder Paul Dictos is asking business owners to provide valuation for their equipment in an effort to bring Covid-19 tax relief.

Dictos said in a news release there are two types of relief his office can provide to property owners. This includes a route for the owners of the buildings and land and another for the owners of business equipment and machinery.

“… It is businesses, such as hotels, restaurants and retail that have been most severely impacted,” Dictos said. “COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the government have severely impacted many businesses. For others, there has been no measurable impact. The Assessor’s Office intends to provide proactive reductions where warranted.”

To assist business operators, he is inviting the owners of businesses such as movie theaters, gyms and fitness facilities to submit information about their equipment in order to evaluate it. The Assessor’s Office is legally required to assess business personal property such as machinery and equipment valued more than $5,000 as of Jan. 1.

“Clearly, many business have suffered due to the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order and other health restrictions,” Dictos said. “We intend to review potential value reductions if the market value of equipment and machinery has declined.”

To do this, the Assessor’s Office is legally required to have qualitative evidence to support a reduction. To do that, his office is requesting business owners proactively provide information such as how long they had been closed or experienced reduced hours of operation in 2020, how business income may have been affected and the extent to which the utilization of business equipment has been impaired.

The information can be filed via the online filing system https://public.calbpsfile.org/home. Businesses must file property statement filings, due April 1, and no later than May 7, without penalty.