District of Columbia Code
Subchapter II - Authority and Procedure to Establish Real Property Tax Rates
§ 47–811.03. Real property tax abatement for certain commercial properties

(a) For the purposes of this section, the term:
(1) “Applicant” means the landlord or the tenant.
(2) “Benefit period” means the period commencing on the first day of the month immediately following the rent commencement date and terminating no later than 60 months thereafter.
(3) “Billed assessed value” means the lesser of the taxable transitional assessed value or the taxable actual assessed value of the eligible building and the land on which the eligible building is located for the fiscal year in which the benefit period commences.
(4) “Eligible building” means a non-residential or mixed-use building.
(5) “Eligible premises” means premises located in an eligible building which are occupied and used as an office (including ancillary uses) or retail space by a Qualified High Technology Company under a lease.
(6) “Landlord” means a person who controls all non-residential portions of an eligible building, including the record owner, the lessee under a ground lease, any mortgagee in possession, or any receiver, and grants the right to occupy and use eligible premises to a tenant; provided, that the landlord shall not include a lessee who, at any time during the lease term, has occupied and used any part of the non-residential portions of the eligible building, other than premises occupied and used by the lessee to provide rental management services to the building.
(7) “Mixed-use building” means a building used for both residential and non-residential purposes.
(8) “Qualified High Technology Company” shall have the same meaning as set forth in § 47-1317.01(4).
(9) “Tenant” means a Qualified High Technology Company that executes a lease under which it occupies and uses eligible premises. The term ‘tenant’ shall include a subtenant if the subtenant is a Qualified High Technology Company.
(b)(1) If (A) a new building is constructed for which the initial certificate of occupancy or initial temporary certificate of occupancy was received after December 31, 2000, or improvements or renovations are made which are necessary to adapt or convert an existing building, or a portion thereof, for use by a Qualified High Technology Company, and (B) the building is an eligible building, to the extent of eligible premises therein, the real property tax increase attributable to the increase in the billed assessed value shall be abated for 5 years.
(2) If a tenant is liable for real property taxes, or taxes imposed pursuant to § 47-1005.01, under its lease and the tenant makes improvements or renovations necessary to adapt or convert an eligible building, or a portion thereof, for its own use as a Qualified High Technology Company, or for use by a Qualified High Technology Company as a subtenant, the tenant shall receive the abatement from the real property tax increase provided under paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(3) If a lease for eligible premises terminates during the 5-year abatement period, the abatement shall remain effective for a period not to exceed 12 months so long as the landlord or tenant, as applicable, makes a good faith effort to lease the eligible premises to a Qualified High Technology Company.
(4) The abatement shall be revoked immediately if the landlord or tenant, as applicable, shall lease the premises to a tenant other than a Qualified High Technology Company so that the premises or building no longer constitutes eligible premises or an eligible building.
(5) The abatement under this section shall be claimed by attaching to the real property tax return an original affidavit from each tenant stating that the tenant is a Qualified High Technology Company.
(Apr. 3, 2001, D.C. Law 13-256, § 304, 48 DCR 730; Oct. 22, 2015, D.C. Law 21-36, § 2172(a), 62 DCR 10905; Dec. 13, 2017, D.C. Law 22-33, § 7232(a)(1), 64 DCR 7652.)
This section is referenced in § 47-1818.06.
The 2015 amendment by D.C. Law 21-36 rewrote (a)(4).
For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 7232(a)(1) of Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2017 (D.C. Act 22-167, Oct. 24, 2017, 64 DCR 10802).
For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 7232(a)(1) of Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2017 (D.C. Act 22-104, July 20, 2017, 64 DCR 7032).
For temporary (90 day) addition of this section, see § 12(h) of Tax Clarity and Recorder of Deeds Emergency Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-381, June 6, 2002, 49 DCR 5674).
For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 2172(a) of the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2015 (D.C. Act 21-127, July 27, 2015, 62 DCR 10201).

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