Business personal property is all the personal property, income producing property, supplies and leasehold improvements owned by a business or used by an individual for income purposes.
Businesses must list property owned as of January 1st at its historical installed cost. The Assessor’s business personal property auditors will determine the depreciation schedules that apply based on the type of business (or property) being valued. Mecklenburg County uses the North Carolina Department of Revenue’s
Cost Index & Depreciation Schedules for most business personal property.
The following items are considered taxable business property in North Carolina and are required to be listed by the owner and are subject to tax based on their January 1st value.
(Machinery/Equipment, Office Furniture, Computer hardware and software, Supplies, Leasehold Improvements, Vehicles)
An extension of time to list business personal property with the Mecklenburg County Assessor’s Office may be obtained by sending a written request showing "good cause" for the request. These requests must be United States Post Office postmarked no later than January 31st.
Business personal property listing extension requests should be mailed to:
County Assessor’s Office
BPP Extension Request
P.O. Box 36819
Charlotte, North Carolina 28236-6819
These requests may also be emailed to
BPPEMAIL@MECKNC.GOV with
"Extension Request" in the subject line and must be United States Post Office postmarked prior to the listing deadline,
January 31st. An extension is granted through
April 15th.
For more information on filing an extension,
watch this video.
For Standard Filing (Not Electronic Listing):
- Business Name (Doing business as) and corporate name
- Abstract number (can be located on the upper left side of the listing form)
- Contact information for individual filing the extension.
- Request of extension showing good cause
- Update to any account mailing address or physical location if known.
For new businesses filing for the first time, extension requests must contain the information above and the following in order to have the required data to create an account to apply the extension to:
- Full mailing address
- Physical location of the business/business assets
To request an extension for online listing, use the system through January 31st.
Extensions received after January 31st are considered late and no extension will be applied. A letter will be sent to the filers of any denied extension, notifying them of the decision.
Extensions missing required information may also be denied.
North Carolina state law requires that all business personal property be listed each year by any business operating in the County.
To make sure businesses are properly listing their taxable property in Mecklenburg County, any business may be subject to an audit of their Business Personal Property. These audits may review tax and asset records five prior years.
An audit may result in compliance with no additional tax due, or may result in a discovery of unreported or misclassified business personal property, which will be billed when the audit closes.
For audit inquiries email:
BPPEMAIL@MECKNC.GOV
Audit Process for Contracted Audit Program:
- Audit Engagement letter sent
- Audit scheduled and appointment letter sent
- Audit conducted where tax records are kept
- Audit Conference and close out
- Audit Findings letter mailed including Appeal information
- If applicable, tax bills for value of unreported property created and mailed
Closing or selling a business involves several steps. When you opened your business, there may have been several other agencies you contacted that need to be notified you are now out of business or are selling your business. Some but not all are listed below:
You are required to notify the County Assessor’s Office and the Office of the Tax Collector at least 48 hours prior to the closure or sale of the business. They can be reached at 311 (inside the county) or
980-314-4226 (outside the county).
The best information about a business comes from the owner or principal officer. Providing this information in writing to the County Assessor’s Office and The Office of the Tax Collector is complying with the legal requirements and allows us to update our tax records and any tax liability associated with your business. This is much easier when you have all the paperwork and facts about the sale or closure on hand. Since we request this information be provided to the County Assessor’s Office in writing, you may do any of the following:
Walk-in at:
3205 Freedom Drive
Suite 3500
Charlotte, NC, 28208
Email: BPPEMAIL@MECKNC.GOV
Mail to:
County Assessor’s Office
Business Personal Property
P.O. Box 36819
Charlotte, North Carolina 28236-6819
This will ensure all your tax business with Mecklenburg County is complete.
The Tax Collector will determine if any tax liability is owed and let you know if you need to hold out funds from the sale of the assets to pay the taxes.
IMPORTANT: Taxes are not prorated by any Mecklenburg County office. Any proration is a private matter between the buyer and seller.
Health Alert: To prevent spread of COVID-19, County services are operating at a limited capacity.