Lessor Business Filing

All businesses which lease or rent assets to entities located within Washoe County must file a Personal Property Declaration annually with the Assessor. Nevada Revised Statute 361.265 requires the owner of the assets to declare those assets regardless of the type of lease (operating, capital, conditional sale, etc.) and without consideration of any agreement for tax liability.

The reported acquisition cost for leased equipment is the actual cost of the equipment that would have been paid by the user to purchase the equipment at the time the lease began. Please do not report a depreciated cost, wholesale cost, or other annual value adjustments in lieu of the original price.

All capital and $1 buy-out leases must be included in your report to the Assessor. We endeavor to verify that these types of leases are reported by the lessee, and you will not be billed if the lessee has claimed the tax liability. However, if the lessee does not report the equipment, doesn’t report the cost, or claims the item as a lease with no tax liability, you as the lessor are responsible for the tax.

If your leased assets number more than twenty, or are distributed among more than one account number, we strongly recommend that you file by uploading an Excel spreadsheet per the instructions below;

  • Please upload only one file per business entity. A second upload simply over-writes the first.
  • If your business has more than one account number you do not need to upload the same excel file to each individual account. Choose the lowest numbered account (for example: of 2191330, 2190548 and 2922747, this is 2190548) for your upload.
  • Your excel file should include two tabs: one for Active Assets and one for Inactive Assets. Each tab should have a line-item list of assets and must include separate columns for:
    • lessee name
    • address of the physical location in Washoe County
    • specific item description
    • purchase year
    • purchase price
    • scheduled termination date (month and year)
    • retention option by lessee (yes or no)

The Inactive Assets tab should, in addition, include a column indicating whether the lessee has retained or returned the item.

You may include additional columns for a lease number and/or a serial number if you wish. They will appear on the Valuation Summary after your account has been billed.

We do not accept summarized totals either by year or location; all leased equipment must be itemized as specified above.

Please note: Washoe County is not able to send “working papers” or otherwise provide assessment information prior to the issuance of a tax bill. Once you have received your bill you may view the assessment details online at this e-Dec site.