Chapter 70

70.21(1m) (1m) For assessments made before January 1, 2024, undistributed personal property belonging to the estate of a decedent shall be assessed as follows:

70.21(1m)(a) (a) If a personal representative has been appointed and qualified, on the first day of January in the year in which the assessment is made, the property shall be assessed to the personal representative.

70.21(1m)(b) (b) If a personal representative has not been appointed and qualified, on the first day of January in the year in which the assessment is made, the property may be assessed to the decedent’s estate. The tax on the property shall be paid by the personal representative if one is subsequently appointed, or by the person or persons in possession of the property at the time of the assessment if a personal representative is not appointed.

70.21(2) (2) For assessments made before January 1, 2024, the personal property of a limited liability partnership shall be assessed in the name of the partnership, and each partner shall be liable for the taxes levied thereon only to the extent permitted under s. 178.0306.

70.21 History History: 1977 c. 29 s. 1646 (3); 1995 a. 97; 2001 a. 102; 2015 a. 295; 2023 a. 12.

70.22 70.22 Personal property being administered, how assessed.

70.22(1) (1) For assessments made before January 1, 2024, in case one or more of 2 or more personal representatives or trustees of the estate of a decedent who died domiciled in this state are not residents of the state, the taxable personal property belonging to the estate shall be assessed to the personal representatives or trustees residing in this state. In case there are 2 or more personal representatives or trustees of the same estate residing in this state, but in different taxation districts, the assessment of the taxable personal property belonging to the estate shall be in the names of all of the personal representatives or trustees of the estate residing in this state. In case no personal representative or trustee resides in this state, the taxable personal property belonging to the estate may be assessed in the name of the personal representative or trustee, or in the names of all of the personal representatives or trustees if there are more than one, or in the name of the estate.

70.22(2) (2) 

70.22(2)(a) (a) For taxes levied before January 1, 2024, the taxes imposed pursuant to an assessment under sub. (1) may be enforced as a claim against the estate, upon presentation of a claim for the taxes by the treasurer of the taxation district to the court in which the proceedings for the probate of the estate are pending. Upon due proof, the court shall allow and order the claim to be paid.

70.22(2)(b) (b) Before allowing the final account of a nonresident personal representative or trustee, the court shall ascertain whether there are or will be any taxes remaining unpaid or to be paid on account of personal property belonging to the estate, and shall make any order or direction that is necessary to provide for the payment of the taxes.

70.22(3) (3) The provisions of this section shall not impair or affect any remedy given by other provisions of law for the collection or enforcement of taxes upon personal property assessed to personal representatives or trustees.

70.22 History History: 1991 a. 316; 1997 a. 253; 2001 a. 102; 2023 a. 12.

70.23 70.23 Duties of assessors; entry of parcels on assessment roll.

70.23(1) (1) The assessor shall enter upon the assessment roll opposite to the name of the person to whom assessed, if any, as before provided in regular order as to lots and blocks, sections and parts of sections, a correct and pertinent description of each parcel of real property in the assessment district and the number of acres in each tract containing more than one acre.

70.23(2) (2) When 2 or more lots or tracts owned by the same person are considered by the assessor to be so improved or occupied with buildings as to be practically incapable of separate valuation, the lots or tracts may be entered as one parcel. Whenever any tract, parcel or lot of land has been surveyed and platted and a plat of the platted ground filed or recorded according to law, the assessor shall designate the several lots and subdivisions of the platted ground as the lots and subdivisions are fixed and designated by the plat.

70.23 History History: 1971 c. 215; 1983 a. 532; 1993 a. 491; 1997 a. 35, 253; 1999 a. 96.

70.24 70.24 Public lands and land mortgaged to state. The secretary of state shall annually, before January 1, make and transmit to the county clerk of each county an abstract containing a correct and full statement and description of all public lands sold and not patented by the state, and of all lands mortgaged to the state lying in the county; and immediately on receipt thereof the county clerk shall make and transmit to the county assessor and to the clerk of each town, village or city in the county not under the assessment jurisdiction of the county assessor a list from said abstract of such lands lying in such town, village or city. Every assessor shall enter on the assessment roll, in a separate column, under distinct headings, a list of all such public and mortgaged lands, and the same shall be assessed and taxed in the same manner as other lands, without regard to any balance of purchase money or loans remaining unpaid on the same.

70.24 History History: 1977 c. 29 s. 1646 (3); 1977 c. 273.

70.25 70.25 Lands, described on rolls. In all assessments and tax rolls in all advertisements, certificates, papers, conveyances, or proceedings for the assessment and collection of taxes and in all related proceedings, except in tax bills, any descriptions of land that indicate the land intended with ordinary and reasonable certainty and that would be sufficient between grantor and grantee in an ordinary conveyance are sufficient. No description of land according to the United States survey is insufficient by reason of the omission of the word quarter or the figures or signs representing it in connection with the words or initial letters indicating any legal subdivision of lands according to government survey. Where a more complete description may not be practicable, and the deed or a mortgage describing any piece of real property is recorded in the office of the register of deeds for the county, an abbreviated description including the document number of the deed or mortgage or the volume and page where the deed or mortgage is recorded, and the section, village, or city where the property is situated, is sufficient. Where a more complete description may not be practicable, and the piece of property is described in any certificate, order, or judgment of a court of record in the county, an abbreviated description including the document number of the court record or the volume and page where the court record is recorded, and the section, village, or city where the property is situated, is sufficient. Descriptions in property tax bills shall be as provided under s. 74.09 (3) (a).

70.25 History History: 1987 a. 378, 399, 403; 2017 a. 102.

70.27 70.27 Assessor’s plat.

70.27(1) (1) Who may order. Whenever any area of platted or unplatted land or land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land is owned by 2 or more persons in severalty, and when in the judgment of the governing body having jurisdiction, the description of one or more of the different parcels thereof cannot be made sufficiently certain and accurate for the purposes of assessment, taxation, or tax title procedures without noting the correct metes and bounds of the same, or when such gross errors exist in lot measurements or locations that difficulty is encountered in locating new structures, public utilities, or streets, such governing body may cause a plat to be made for such purposes. Such plat shall be called “assessor’s plat,” and shall plainly define the boundary of each parcel, building, improvement, and fixture, and each street, alley, lane, or roadway, or dedication to public or special use, as such is evidenced by the records of the register of deeds or a court of record. Such plats in cities may be ordered by the city council, in villages by the village board, in towns by the town board, or the county board. A plat or part of a plat included in an assessor’s plat shall be deemed vacated to the extent it is included in or altered by an assessor’s plat. The actual and necessary costs and expenses of making assessors’ plats shall be paid out of the treasury of the city, village, town, or county whose governing body ordered the plat, and all or any part of such cost may be charged to the land, without inclusion of improvements, so platted in the proportion that the last assessed valuation of each parcel bears to the last assessed total valuation of all property included in the assessor’s plat, and collected as a special assessment on such property, as provided by s. 66.0703.

70.27(2) (2) Certification, approval, recording. Such plat, when completed and certified as provided by this section, and when approved by the governing body, shall be acknowledged by the clerk thereof and recorded in the office of the register of deeds. No plat may be recorded in the office of the register of deeds unless it is produced on media that is acceptable to the register of deeds.

70.27(3) (3) Assessment, taxation, conveyancing.

70.27(3)(a) (a) Reference to any land or land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land as the reference appears on a recorded assessor’s plat is deemed sufficient for purposes of assessment and taxation. Conveyance may be made by reference to such plat and shall be as effective to pass title to the land so described as it would be if the same premises had been described by metes and bounds. Such plat or record thereof shall be received in evidence in all courts and places as correctly describing the several parcels of land or land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land therein designated. After an assessor’s plat has been made and recorded with the register of deeds as provided by this section, all conveyances of lands or land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land included in such assessor’s plat shall be by reference to such plat. Any instrument dated and acknowledged after September 1, 1955, purporting to convey, mortgage, or otherwise give notice of an interest in land or land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land that is within or part of an assessor’s plat shall describe the affected land by the name of the assessor’s plat, lot, block, or outlot.

70.27(3)(b) (b) Notwithstanding par. (a), lands within an assessor’s plat that are divided by a subdivision plat that is prepared, approved and recorded and filed in compliance with ch. 236 or a certified survey map that is prepared and recorded and filed in compliance with s. 236.34 shall be described for all purposes with reference to the subdivision plat or certified survey map, as provided in ss. 236.28 and 236.34 (3).

70.27(4) (4) Amendments. Amendments or corrections to an assessor’s plat may be made at any time by the governing body by recording with the register of deeds a plat of the area affected by such amendment or correction, made and authenticated as provided by this section. It shall not be necessary to refer to any amendment of the plat, but all assessments or instruments wherein any parcel of land or land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land are described as being in an assessor’s plat, shall be construed to mean the assessor’s plat of lands or land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land with its amendments or corrections as it stood on the date of making such assessment or instrument, or such plats may be identified by number. This subsection does not prohibit the division of lands or land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land that are included in an assessor’s plat by subdivision plat, as provided in s. 236.03, or by certified survey map, as provided in s. 236.34.

70.27(5) (5) Surveys, reconciliations. The surveyor making the plat shall be a professional land surveyor licensed under ch. 443 and shall survey and lay out the boundaries of each parcel, building, improvement, fixture, street, alley, lane, roadway, or dedication to public or private use, according to the records of the register of deeds, and whatever evidence that may be available to show the intent of the buyer and seller, in the chronological order of their conveyance or dedication, and set temporary monuments to show the results of such survey which shall be made permanent upon recording of the plat as provided for in this section. The map shall be at a scale of not more than 100 feet per inch, unless waived in writing by the department of administration under s. 236.20 (2) (L). The owners of record of lands or the land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land in the plat shall be notified by certified letter mailed to their last-known addresses, in order that they shall have opportunity to examine the map, view the temporary monuments, and make known any disagreement with the boundaries as shown by the temporary monuments. It is the duty of the professional land surveyor making the plat to reconcile any discrepancies that may be revealed so that the plat as certified to the governing body is in conformity with the records of the register of deeds as nearly as is practicable. When boundary lines between adjacent parcels, as evidenced on the ground, are mutually agreed to in writing by the owners of record, those lines shall be the true boundaries for all purposes thereafter, even though they may vary from the metes and bounds descriptions previously of record. Such written agreements shall be recorded in the office of the register of deeds. On every assessor’s plat, as certified to the governing body, shall appear the document number of the record and, if given on the record, the volume and page where the record is recorded for the record that contains the metes and bounds description of each parcel, as recorded in the office of the register of deeds, which shall be identified with the number by which such parcel is designated on the plat, except that a lot that has been conveyed or otherwise acquired but upon which no deed is recorded in the office of register of deeds may be shown on an assessor’s plat and when so shown shall contain a full metes and bounds description.

70.27(6) (6) Monuments, plat requirements. The provisions of s. 236.15 as to monuments, and the provisions of s. 236.20 as to form and procedure, insofar as they are applicable to the purposes of assessors’ plats, shall apply. Any stake or monument found and accepted as correct by a professional land surveyor laying out an assessor’s plat shall be indicated as “stake found” or “monument found” when mapping the plat and such stake or monument shall not be removed or replaced even though it is inconsistent with the standards of s. 236.15.

70.27(7) (7) Certificate. When completed, the assessor’s plat shall be filed with the clerk of the governing body that ordered the plat. On its title page shall appear the sworn certificate of the professional land surveyor who made the plat, which shall state and contain:

70.27(7)(a) (a) The name of the governing body by whose order the plat was made, and the date of the order.

70.27(7)(b) (b) A clear and concise description of the land or the land and the buildings, improvements, and fixtures on that land so surveyed and mapped, by government lot, quarter quarter-section, township, range and county, or if located in a city or village or platted area, then according to the plat; otherwise by metes and bounds beginning with some corner marked and established in the United States land survey.

70.27(7)(c) (c) A statement that the plat is a correct representation of all the exterior boundaries of the land surveyed and each parcel thereof.

70.27(7)(d) (d) A statement that the professional land surveyor has fully complied with the provisions of this section in filing the same.

70.27(8) (8) Plat filed with governing body. Within 2 days after the assessor’s plat is filed with the governing body, it shall be transmitted to the department of administration by the clerk of the governing body which ordered the plat. The department of administration shall review the plat within 30 days of its receipt. No such plat may be given final approval by the local governing body until the department of administration has certified on the face of the original plat that it complies with the applicable provisions of ss. 236.15 and 236.20. After the plat has been so certified the clerk shall promptly publish a class 3 notice thereof, under ch. 985. The plat shall remain on file in the clerk’s office for 30 days after the first publication. At any time within the 30-day period any person or public body having an interest in any lands affected by the plat may bring a suit to have the plat corrected. If no suit is brought within the 30-day period, the plat may be approved by the governing body, and filed for record. If a suit is brought, approval shall be withheld until the suit is decided. The plat shall then be revised in accordance with the decision if necessary, and, without rereferral to the department of administration unless rereferral is ordered by the court. The plat may then be approved by the governing body and filed for record. When so filed the plat shall carry on its face the certificate of the clerk that all provisions of this section have been complied with. When recorded after approval by the governing body, the plat shall have the same effect for all purposes as if it were a land division plat made by the owners in full compliance with ch. 236. Before January 1 of each year, the register of deeds shall notify the town clerks of the recording of any assessors’ plats made or amended during the preceding year, affecting lands in their towns.

70.27 History History: 1977 c. 29 s. 1646 (3); 1979 c. 221, 248, 355, 361; 1983 a. 473; 1987 a. 172; 1989 a. 31, 56; 1991 a. 316; 1995 a. 27 ss. 3361, 3362, 9116 (5); 1997 a. 27, 99; 1999 a. 96; 1999 a. 150 s. 672; 2005 a. 41, 254; 2013 a. 358; 2017 a. 102; 2023 a. 12.

70.27 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See also ch. Adm 49, Wis. adm. code.

70.27 Annotation The reference to s. 66.60 [now s. 66.0703] in sub. (1) refers only to the collection procedures; it does not make all of that section apply. Dittner v. Town of Spencer, 55 Wis. 2d 707, 201 N.W.2d 45 (1972).

70.27 Annotation The division of a lot within an assessor’s plat is an amendment of the plat and must be made by following the procedure under this section. Ahlgren v. Pierce County, 198 Wis. 2d 576, 543 N.W.2d 812 (Ct. App. 1995), 95-2088.

70.27 Annotation The provisions of s. 236.41 relating to vacation of streets are inapplicable to assessors’ plats. Once properly filed and recorded, an assessor’s plat becomes the operative document of record, and only sections specified in s. 236.03 (2) apply to assessors’ plats. Schaetz v. Town of Scott, 222 Wis. 2d 90, 585 N.W.2d 889 (Ct. App. 1998), 98-0841.

70.27 Annotation Section 236.03 (2) sets forth the “applicable provisions” of ss. 236.15 and 236.20 with which assessors’ plats must comply under sub. (8). A determination by the state under sub. (8) that an assessor’s plat does not comply with the applicable provisions of ss. 236.15 and 236.20 may be reviewed under ch. 227. 58 Atty. Gen. 198.

70.27 Annotation The temporary survey monuments required to be set in the field prior to the submission of an assessor’s plat for state level review are not made permanent until the recording of the assessor’s plat. 59 Atty. Gen. 262.

70.27 Annotation Section 236.295 does not apply to assessors’ plats. The amendment or correction of an assessor’s plat under sub. (4) is an exercise of the police power that is accomplished for the same purposes and in the same manner as the original assessor’s plat. The governing body involved is not required to conduct a public hearing concerning a proposed amendment or correction to an assessor’s plat of record. Other questions concerning the amendment or correction of an assessor’s plat are answered. 61 Atty. Gen. 25.

70.28 70.28 Assessment as one parcel. No assessment of real property which has been or shall be made shall be held invalid or irregular for the reason that several lots, tracts or parcels of land have been assessed and valued together as one parcel and not separately, where the same are contiguous and owned by the same person at the time of such assessment.

70.29 70.29 Personalty, how entered. For assessments made before January 1, 2024, the assessor shall place in one distinct and continuous part of the assessment roll all the names of persons assessed for personal property, with a statement of such property in each village in the assessor’s assessment district, and foot up the valuation thereof separately; otherwise the assessor shall arrange all names of persons assessed for personal property on the roll alphabetically so far as convenient. The assessor shall also place upon the assessment roll, in a separate column and opposite the name of each person assessed for personal property, the number of the school district in which such personal property is subject to taxation.

70.29 History History: 1991 a. 316; 2023 a. 12.

70.30 70.30 Aggregate values. For assessments made before January 1, 2024, every assessor shall ascertain and set down in separate columns prepared for that purpose on the assessment roll and opposite to the names of all persons assessed for personal property the number and value of the following named items of personal property assessed to such person, which shall constitute the assessed valuation of the several items of property therein described, to wit:

70.30(9) (9) The number and value of steam and other vessels.

70.30(11) (11) The value of machinery, tools and patterns.

70.30(12) (12) The value of furniture, fixture and equipment.

70.30(13) (13) The value of all other personal property except such as is exempt from taxation.

70.30 History History: 1981 c. 20; 1983 a. 27 s. 2202 (45); 1983 a. 405; 1991 a. 39; 2023 a. 12.

70.32 70.32 Real estate, how valued.

70.32(1) (1) Real property shall be valued by the assessor in the manner specified in the Wisconsin property assessment manual provided under s. 73.03 (2a) from actual view or from the best information that the assessor can practicably obtain, at the full value which could ordinarily be obtained therefor at private sale. In determining the value, the assessor shall consider recent arm’s-length sales of the property to be assessed if according to professionally acceptable appraisal practices those sales conform to recent arm’s-length sales of reasonably comparable property; recent arm’s-length sales of reasonably comparable property; and all factors that, according to professionally acceptable appraisal practices, affect the value of the property to be assessed.

70.32(1g) (1g) In addition to the factors set out in sub. (1), the assessor shall consider the effect on the value of the property of any zoning ordinance under s. 59.692, 61.351, 61.353, 62.231, or 62.233, any conservation easement under s. 700.40, any conservation restriction under an agreement with the federal government and any restrictions under ch. 91. Beginning with the property tax assessments as of January 1, 2000, the assessor may not consider the effect on the value of the property of any federal income tax credit that is extended to the property owner under section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code.

70.32(1m) (1m) In addition to the factors set out in sub. (1), the assessor shall consider the impairment of the value of the property because of the presence of a solid or hazardous waste disposal facility or because of environmental pollution, as defined in s. 299.01 (4).

70.32(2) (2) The assessor, having fixed a value, shall enter the same opposite the proper tract or lot in the assessment roll, following the instruction prescribed therein.

70.32(2)(a) (a) The assessor shall segregate into the following classes on the basis of use and set down separately in proper columns the values of the land, exclusive of improvements, and, except for subds. 5., 5m., and 6., the improvements in each class:

70.32(2)(a)1. 1. Residential.

70.32(2)(a)2. 2. Commercial.

70.32(2)(a)3. 3. Manufacturing.

70.32(2)(a)4. 4. Agricultural.

70.32(2)(a)5. 5. Undeveloped.

70.32(2)(a)5m. 5m. Agricultural forest.

70.32(2)(a)6. 6. Productive forest land.

70.32(2)(a)7. 7. Other.

70.32(2)(c) (c) In this section:

70.32(2)(c)1d. 1d. “Agricultural forest land” means land that is producing or is capable of producing commercial forest products, if the land satisfies any of the following conditions:

70.32(2)(c)1d.a. a. It is contiguous to a parcel that has been classified in whole as agricultural land under this subsection, if the contiguous parcel is owned by the same person that owns the land that is producing or is capable of producing commercial forest products. In this subdivision, “contiguous” includes separated only by a road.

70.32(2)(c)1d.b. b. It is located on a parcel that contains land that is classified as agricultural land in the property tax assessment on January 1, 2004, and on January 1 of the year of assessment.

70.32(2)(c)1d.c. c. It is located on a parcel at least 50 percent of which, by acreage, was converted to land that is classified as agricultural land in the property tax assessment on January 1, 2005, or thereafter.

70.32(2)(c)1g. 1g. “Agricultural land” means land, exclusive of buildings and improvements and the land necessary for their location and convenience, that is devoted primarily to agricultural use.

70.32(2)(c)1i. 1i. “Agricultural use” means agricultural use as defined by the department of revenue by rule and includes the growing of short rotation woody crops, including poplars and willows, using agronomic practices.

70.32(2)(c)1k. 1k. “Agronomic practices” means agricultural practices generally associated with field crop production, including soil management, cultivation, and row cropping.

70.32(2)(c)1m. 1m. “Other,” as it relates to par. (a) 7., means buildings and improvements; including any residence for the farm operator’s spouse, children, parents, or grandparents; and the land necessary for the location and convenience of those buildings and improvements.

70.32(2)(c)2. 2. “Productive forest land” means land that is producing or is capable of producing commercial forest products and is not otherwise classified under this subsection.

70.32(2)(c)3. 3. “Residential” includes any parcel or part of a parcel of untilled land that is not suitable for the production of row crops, on which a dwelling or other form of human abode is located and which is not otherwise classified under this subsection.

70.32(2)(c)4. 4. “Undeveloped land” means bog, marsh, lowland brush, uncultivated land zoned as shoreland under s. 59.692 and shown as a wetland on a final map under s. 23.32 or other nonproductive lands not otherwise classified under this subsection.

70.32(2r) (2r) Agricultural land shall be assessed according to the income that could be generated from its rental for agricultural use.

70.32(3) (3) Manufacturing property subject to assessment under s. 70.995 shall be assessed according to that section.

70.32(4) (4) Beginning with the assessments as of January 1, 2004, agricultural forest land shall be assessed at 50 percent of its full value, as determined under sub. (1), and undeveloped land shall be assessed at 50 percent of its full value, as determined under sub. (1).

70.32(5) (5) Beginning with the assessments as of January 1, 2017, the assessor shall assess the land within a district corridor described under s. 88.74 in the same class under sub. (2) (a) as the land adjoining the corridor, if the adjoining land and the land within the corridor are owned by the same person.

70.32 History History: 1973 c. 90; 1977 c. 29, 418; 1979 c. 34; 1981 c. 20, 390; 1983 a. 36; 1983 a. 275 s. 15 (8); 1983 a. 410; 1985 a. 54, 153; 1991 a. 39, 316; 1993 a. 337; 1995 a. 27, 201, 227; 1999 a. 9; 2001 a. 109; 2003 a. 33, 230; 2009 a. 177, 235, 276, 401; 2013 a. 80; 2017 a. 115.

70.32 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See also ch. Tax 18, Wis. adm. code.

70.32 Annotation When market value is established by a fair sale of the property or sales of reasonably comparable property are available, it is error for an assessor to resort to other factors to determine fair market value, although such factors in the absence of such sales would have a bearing on market value. Rules on judicial review of valuation presuppose that the method of evaluation is in accordance with the statutes; hence errors of law should be corrected by the court on certiorari and the failure to make an assessment on the statutory basis is an error of law. State ex rel. Markarian v. City of Cudahy, 45 Wis. 2d 683, 173 N.W.2d 627 (1970).

70.32 Annotation While a sale establishes value, the assessment still has to be equal to that on comparable property. Sub. (2) requires the assessor to fix a value before classifying the land; it does not prohibit the assessor from considering the zoning of the property when it is used for some other purpose. State ex rel. Hensel v. Town of Wilson, 55 Wis. 2d 101, 197 N.W.2d 794 (1972).

70.32 Annotation In making an assessment based on a recent sale of the property, the assessor cannot increase the value because no commission was paid to a broker. State ex rel. Lincoln Fireproof Warehouse Co. v. Board of Review, 60 Wis. 2d 84, 208 N.W.2d 380 (1973).

70.32 Annotation Under an option agreement, the sellers’ right to repurchase their homestead and their right of first refusal for the purchase of industrial buildings to be constructed on the property were factors going only to the willingness of the parties to deal, not their compulsion to do so; the value of these rights, together with the monetary amount per acre, comprised the total sale price of the land. State ex rel. Geipel v. City of Milwaukee, 68 Wis. 2d 726, 229 N.W.2d 585 (1975).

70.32 Annotation Evidence of net income from unique property was admissible to show market value. An assessor’s unconfirmed valuation based on estimated replacement cost less depreciation could not stand alone because of uncontroverted evidence of actual costs of recent construction. Rosen v. City of Milwaukee, 72 Wis. 2d 653, 242 N.W.2d 681 (1976).