New Law and Web Site Clarify Role of Highest Tax Tribunal in State of Kansas

“The new law helps clarify the agency’s function. For years there has been confusion about the role of this office. When you are called a board, many assume you are a regulatory or investigative agency,” said Trevor Wohlford, the court’s Executive Director and Chief Counsel. “The new law makes it clear to the public that we are neither. We are an independent and impartial decision-making body.”

The court’s job is to hear and decide disputed cases. The court weighs the facts of each case individually and makes a determination based only on the evidence and the governing law. All tax court decisions are appealable directly to the Kansas Court of Appeals. Detailed information about the new tax court and how it can serve the citizens of Kansas can be found at the new Web site, http://www.kansas.gov/cota/.

“When a citizen transacts business with any government office – including a court – they should know exactly what that office can and cannot do for them,” Wohlford said. “But just as important, the citizen should have ready access to resources that take them directly to an office where they can be helped. This is the kind of integrated service our new Web site provides by delivering citizens better context of how the tax court fits within the overall system of state and local taxation in Kansas.”

The court processes approximately eleven thousand cases each year involving all types of state and local tax appeals and applications. The former members of the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, now called tax court judges, will continue their service throughout the remainder of their terms, including chief judge Rebecca Crotty, and judges J. Fred Kubik and Bruce Larkin.

INFORMATION NETWORK OF KANSAS