PER CURIAM.
Petitioner, Autodie LLC, appeals as of right the Tax Tribunal's order granting summary disposition in favor of respondent, the city of Grand Rapids, under MCR 2.116(I)(1), and dismissing respondents Department of Treasury (the Department) and State Tax Commission (the Commission) from the case. We affirm.
The parties do not dispute the facts of this case. Automobile manufacturers may use Form 4798, which the Department issues, to report their personal property. Form 4798 uses lower valuation multipliers than assessors use for other types of personal property, and its use results in a lower true cash value for the personal property.
Autodie is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chrysler Group, LLC, that manufactures dies for use by Chrysler. In 2011, Autodie used Form 4798 to submit its personal property statement to the Grand Rapids assessor. The assessor concluded that Autodie was not entitled to use Form 4798, rejected the form, and independently calculated the value of Autodie's personal property.
In October 2011, Autodie filed a petition with the Commission, asserting that the Commission had subject-matter jurisdiction under MCL 211.154 because its personal property was "incorrectly reported or omitted[.]" Autodie asserted that the Grand Rapids assessor had "incorrectly reported and/or omitted from the 2011
On October 2, 2012, the Commission dismissed Autodie's petition. The Commission concluded that it did not have subject-matter jurisdiction over Autodie's petition. Reasoning that "it is clear that no part of the real property in question has been omitted from assessment and it is also clear that the assessor did not base his or her assessment on an incorrect taxpayer report," the Commission determined that Autodie was actually challenging the assessor's determination of the personal property's value. Because the Tax Tribunal has exclusive jurisdiction to review final determinations of value, the Commission concluded that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to hear Autodie's petition.
On November 5, 2012, Autodie filed a petition in the Tax Tribunal. Autodie asked the Tax Tribunal to review the Commission's decision, contending that the Commission erred by dismissing its petition. Autodie contended that the assessor's "complete disregard or misinterpretation" of its status as a qualified automobile manufacturer, and subsequent rejection of Form 4798, was "an incorrectly reported or omitted property issue" over which the Commission had subject-matter jurisdiction. Additionally, Autodie asserted for the first time that the Commission had jurisdiction to review the assessor's decision as an improper assessment under MCL 211.150(3).
On December 4, 2012, the Department and the Commission moved to be dismissed from the petition, asserting that they were not necessary parties to the action. Autodie responded that the Commission was a necessary party because the Grand Rapids assessor acted on its advice and because it sought to bind the Commission to the Tax Tribunal's decision.
On January 15, 2013, the Tax Tribunal granted the Department and Commission's motion to be dismissed as parties. The Tax Tribunal reviewed and affirmed the Commission's decision that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over Autodie's petition:
The Tax Tribunal then sua sponte granted Grand Rapids summary disposition after determining that it did not have original jurisdiction to resolve Autodie's valuation dispute because Autodie had not timely
This Court's review of a decision by the Tax Tribunal is limited.
When interpreting a statute, our goal is to give effect to the intent of the Legislature.
This case concerns the interplay between statutes that grant subject-matter jurisdiction over property tax disputes to two distinct bodies: the Commission and the Tax Tribunal. The Tax Tribunal "has exclusive and original jurisdiction" over proceedings involving "direct review of a final decision, finding, ruling, determination, or order of an agency relating to assessment, valuation, rates, special assessments, allocation, or equalization, under the property tax laws of this state."
Because the Legislature has granted the Tax Tribunal exclusive appellate jurisdiction over decisions related to assessment, the Commission no longer has power to hear such cases an as appellate body.
MCL 211.154 provides that the Commission may correct assessment values if it determines that "property subject to taxation... has been incorrectly reported or omitted...."
Thus, there are four areas in which the Commission has original subject-matter jurisdiction to initially hear and investigate petitions: property fraudulently assessed under MCL 211.150(3), property improperly assessed under MCL 211.150(3), property omitted under MCL 211.154, and property incorrectly reported under MCL 211.154.
Autodie did not assert that the assessor in this case fraudulently assessed the property. Therefore, this ground for jurisdiction does not apply.
On appeal, Autodie asserts that the assessor's failure to use Form 4798 was an improper assessment under MCL 211.150(3). We decline to review this unpreserved issue.
One of the administrative functions that the Commission retains is "exercising general supervision over the assessing officers of this state...."
In this case, Autodie did not raise MCL 211.150(3) before the Commission. Autodie instead asserted only that the assessor omitted or incorrectly reported its property under MCL 211.154. Autodie did not ask the Commission to investigate whether an assessor's decision to reject Form 4798 when the taxpayer submitting the form is a wholly owned subsidiary of an automobile manufacturer is improper. And the Commission did not investigate that issue or render a decision on it.
Autodie raised this issue for the first time before the Tax Tribunal. However, the Tax Tribunal was acting as an appellate body reviewing the Commission's decision. The Tax Tribunal did not address
Similarly, we decline to address this unpreserved issue on appeal. This Court will generally decline to address unpreserved issues unless "a miscarriage of justice will result from a failure to pass on them, ... the question is one of law and all the facts necessary for its resolution have been presented, or [it is] necessary for a proper determination of the case."
Autodie contends that the Tribunal should have determined that this case concerned omitted property. Grand Rapids contends that this suit did not involve an omission. We agree with Grand Rapids.
We conclude that this Court's decision in Superior Hotels, LLC v. Mackinaw Township does not support Autodie's contention that the assessor's decision to reject Form 4798 resulted in omitted property. In Superior Hotels, a taxpayer had built a new motel on its property. The township assessor calculated the property's taxable value in 2001, 2002, and 2003 on the basis of the taxable value that had been established when the construction was only half completed. However, construction had been completed in 1999. The State Tax Commission adjusted the property's value upward for the tax years at issue. The Tax Tribunal ruled that the Commission did not have jurisdiction to do so under MCL 211.154 because it reasoned that the property had not been incorrectly reported or omitted.
This Court reversed the Tax Tribunal's judgment.
We conclude that the facts in Superior Hotels are distinguishable from the facts in this case. In Superior Hotels, the assessor failed to count 50% of the taxpayer's property. Here, the assessor counted
Property is not omitted when an assessor determines a property's value.
Autodie contends that its property was incorrectly reported under MCL 211.154 because the assessor incorrectly reported the property's type (disqualifying it as automotive manufacturing equipment) by rejecting Form 4798. Grand Rapids contends that an assessor cannot incorrectly report property because the taxpayer reports the property, not the assessor. We agree with Grand Rapids. An assessor does not "report" under MCL 211.154, and therefore the property was not incorrectly reported.
In sum, we agree with the Tax Tribunal's succinct statement, "[t]he taxpayer `reports' and the taxing authority `assesses.'"
The statutory scheme for taxing personal property assigns distinct duties to taxpayers and assessors. Personal property located in Michigan is subject to property taxes.
Autodie contends that the assessor's action is a report. When the Legislature has not defined a statute's terms, we may consider dictionary definitions to aid our interpretation.
We have also considered whether both the taxpayer and the assessor may incorrectly report under MCL 211.154, and we conclude that this interpretation would not be consistent with the statute as a whole. The use of different terms within the same statute indicates that the terms have different meanings.
The difference between reporting, which is the activity of the taxpayer, and assessing, which is the activity of the assessor, becomes clear when we read and consider the statutory scheme as a whole. Under the act, it is clear that the assessor's duty is more specific than simply making a statement of the taxpayer's personal property. The assessor must also estimate the property's value and make and complete the assessment roll. To put it another way, the assessor does not simply give a formal account of the personal property or make it known, but also processes the information and applies his or her judgment to determine the property's true cash value. In contrast, the taxpayer's only duty in this regard is to make the property known by making a statement of the property. The taxpayer's duty activity adheres much more closely to the common meaning of "report."
Considering the statute's plain language, the statute as a whole, and the Legislature's use of different terms, we conclude that the Legislature intended MCL 211.154 to apply to situations in which the taxpayer incorrectly reported its personal property on a personal property statement.
We also conclude that Autodie's allegations did not involve incorrect reporting under MCL 211.154. Autodie did not contend that it-the taxpayer-had incorrectly submitted its personal property statement. Autodie instead contended that the assessor had incorrectly reported its personal property by rejecting the form on which it made that statement. But the assessor does not report: the assessor assesses. Because there is no indication that Autodie's allegations involved an incorrect report, we conclude that the Commission properly determined that it lacked jurisdiction under MCL 211.154.
Autodie raises several additional arguments in its statement of issues presented. Autodie premises these arguments on its assertion that the Tax Tribunal improperly affirmed the Commission's decision to reject Autodie's petition. Because we have concluded that the Tax Tribunal properly
We conclude that the Tax Tribunal properly affirmed the Commission's decision to dismiss Autodie's petition because it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. The assessor's rejection of Form 4798 was not an issue of omitted or incorrectly reported property under MCL 211.154. It may have been an issue of improperly assessed property under MCL 211.150(3), but Autodie did not raise that issue or argue it before the Tax Commission, and we decline to review it. We do not reach the remainder of Autodie's issues on appeal because the Tax Tribunal properly dismissed Autodie's case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
We affirm.
FITZGERALD, P.J., and SAAD and WHITBECK, JJ., concurred.