EQT Gas Producers Can Get Tax Reassessment, Says Virginia Court

Three gas producers, including two EQT Corp. subsidiaries, are entitled to a reassessment of their mineral lands’ taxable value because the county’s assessment excluded gas reserves, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

“As the record establishes that the County failed to assess a critical component of the fair market value analysis without being statutorily excused, its assessment of the Taxpayer’s property was incomplete and, therefore, plainly wrong,” Chief Justice Cleo E. Powell wrote for the unanimous court.

Virginia law allows counties three different approaches to taxing mineral lands. One is to “specially and separately assess at the fair market value ...